Uncertainties: a collection

Collated by Chetha Nawana

Art by Sian Williams

We never know what will happen tomorrow. We never even know what will happen in the next few hours of each day. We have so many questions and not enough answers. We make plans just for them to change. Life itself will always be uncertain, but isn’t that what we should love about it? The possibilities are always endless. But sometimes all we yearn for is confirmation that everything will be okay. That we’ll be happy and healthy and that all our dreams will come true. 

 

Do you have any uncertainties in your life at the moment? What do you wish you could confirm, if life was to be ever so generous?

 

Whether or not I can study abroad in Japan this year?! Anonymous, 20. 

 

COVID! Everything is really uncertain in jobs, travel, education and socialising. It’s changing so often that it’s hard to keep up to date. Ruby, 19. 

 

What I’ll be doing one year from now. Will COVID catch me if I go to Europe in the middle of the year? Clancy, 20. 

 

I wish the world would tell me if he liked me back. Anonymous, 23. 

 

I feel like I have many uncertainties in my life that I wish I knew all the answers to. But to be honest, the beauty of life is this idea of not knowing. You have no idea what will be happening in a week, a month or a year, etc. Anonymous, 19. 

 

Whether I will be successful, not just career but whether I will be happy and content with my life. Anonymous, 20. 

 

My love life lol. Anonymous, 19. 

 

Will life, in particular uni, ever actually get back to normal? I feel as though I might never get the uni experience I was looking forward to for years and talked about by friends and family. Dacey, 19. 

 

As I approach my graduation, I feel very uncertain about what my life will be like in one year’s time. Where will I be? What will I be doing? Who will I be? Will I enjoy it? Rose, 21. 

 

My fit for Badger on Thursday. Anonymous, 18. 

 

Where I can confidently handle being COVID positive in the inevitable situation that I contract the virus and what my health will be life after. Anonymous, 47. 

 

My future. Anonymous, 19. 

 

Everything, I guess. Mainly if I’ll end up where I want to, even if that plan changes. Jasie, 19. 

 

I want to know if I’m liked. I want to know whether people find me annoying or not, not so that I can dial down my personality for others, but so I can find a balance which will make everyone feel comfortable around me. Anonymous, 18. 

 

If my family is happy and healthy. Anonymous, 20. 

 

I feel uncertain with my place in the world as a person of colour. I’ve so often been belittled by white people. It’s hard to feel safe when quite often, white people speak over POC or try to suppress them. Anonymous, 23. 

 

If this is going to be the year of my burn out or revival. Anonymous, 20. 

 

Employment and financial future. Currently super poor, I wish I could be told that everything will be okay. Pete, 20.

 

What I’m eating for dinner tonight. Matilda, 19. 

 

I worry about the fact that I’ll probably never be able to buy a house. Anonymous, 20. 

 

Whether I’ll fail my supplementary exam, lmao. Anonymous, 19. 

 

Uncertain on the direction of uni life and my career following. Gus, 18. 

 

Uni experience and whether it will be fun or sad. When will COVID stop defining our lives? When will I pull myself together? How to get rid of pantry moths. Anonymous, 19. 

 

If I have COVID or not or if I’m going to get it in the near future. James, 19. 

 

I’m uncertain about what the world is going to look like in 10, 20, 30 years etc. When, from an environmental standpoint, the path that we humans have been on isn’t a reciprocal one, but a more linear destructive one. And that’s the reason I’m doing the degree that I’m doing. Because I’m uncertain about what the natural world is going to look like in 30 years. I want to be a part of those who try their best to preserve it and find more sustainable and regenerative ways for us humans to live. Jack, 19. 

 

Whether I will ever eat a quesadilla as good as the one I just had. Tiarna, 20.   

 

I’m really uncertain about where I’ll be in 10 years from now. Sean, 21. 

 

If my car’s going to break down today or tomorrow. Sarah, 21. 

 

I’m uncertain about my future, like whether I will succeed in life and be happy and content. I’m uncertain about the future security of the world, both in war ways but also access to resources such as food. Maddie, 20. 

 

Whether my package is going to arrive on time. Olivia, 20. 

 

Uncertainties abound and yet the most troubling of all seems to be my own indeterminate feelings! How much could the going-ons of the outer world matter when my own inner world is wildly thrashing shades of sensation that I must say are the emotions and thoughts of a sentient being? Anonymous, 19. 

 

I am uncertain as to whether I am on the right path and if the decisions I am making now are leading me to the life I want to lead. Ollie, 19.

 

Originally published in Woroni Vol. 72 Issue 2 ‘To Be Confirmed’

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