Someone tried to assassinate Trump this past weekend. I read the headlines and watched the news coverage of what little was known in the immediate aftermath. Within hours, lurid speculation and accusations began to circulate online in a nauseatingly familiar way.

My dad was an old-school TV news anchor, and he drummed into his staff (and children!) that news was factual reportage only. He thought it should be separated from opinion, and that opinions should be discussed in other, clearly-marked forums. I didn’t agree with my dad about much, but I actually DO agree with him on this. Without demarcation, many people cannot discern fact from opinion from fantasy.

Whenever something newsworthy occurs, I notice how often the facts and speculation about the facts are mixed, and how little it helps. For me personally, speculation makes me more nervous, closer to “fight or flight,” and less able to stay grounded. When a pundit is speculating, I sense that they are trying to get a rise out of me, even though I’m only here trying to get information about what happened.

In recent months I’ve had an “a-ha!”: speculating ramps up my nervous system in a way that makes me suffer. When speculating starts, I need to take cover.

So many of us have decided to take breaks from the news, yet I’ve wondered: is it really the news that we need to abstain from, or all of the pyrotechnics ABOUT the news? I get it that our nervous systems detest uncertainty and not knowing, but does loudly voiced speculation actually make the uncertain more certain? Does speculation really help steady us and show us a way forward?

Speculation is not grounded in a rigorous analysis of facts, it’s informal and not necessarily based on firm evidence. Speculation is often fear-based, emotional or inflammatory in tone. Speculating generates lively conversation, but rarely generates viable action. Too often, speculating is a way of advancing dressed up conspiracy theories or taking others down. It is amazingly effective at distracting people from the true issues at hand.

In my view the true issues are these:

-Our world is complex. Very few issues or problems have simple solutions. Most of the time “either/or” thinking is useless or harmful.

-Because many of our issues—politically, socially, and in the workplace—are complex and uncertain, we have to confront and manage what happens to our nervous systems when the stakes are high and we don’t know what to do. Not managing your nervous system means you will spend a LOT of time in “fight, flight, or freeze.” Not fun.

-Our brains hate being uncertain and want to rush to judgment and action. Often that is the WORST path forward.

-An alternative to freaking out is to learn how to ground ourselves, even when in extended periods of chaos and uncertainty. If your mind is inflamed, sound thinking and nuanced conversations cannot happen.

-NO ONE has a crystal ball. NO ONE can predict the future. We give away our agency when we let ourselves be blown around by fear mongering, rabble rousing, and speculation.

Perhaps speculating does not cause suffering for everyone. There may be people for whom speculation is calming, because speculating makes them feel more in control—I don’t know. What I do know is that it behooves each of us to figure out how our particular nervous system responds to perceived threat and uncertainty. Individually and collectively we must learn to befriend our nervous systems, in order to make consistent, clear-eyed choices.

Perhaps now I myself am speculating (!) but I don’t see the world getting less volatile, uncertain, complex or ambiguous anytime soon. Withdrawing from it can be temporarily helpful, but what has the most impact is learning how to be in this world, with a steadier nervous system. Let’s work on THAT.

**

I have expanded my coaching practice to include the whys and hows of nervous system regulation, which can be tailored to you, your work setting and your leadership demands. If you might benefit from this sort of executive coaching, please contact me for an exploratory session, at danamgallagher@gmail.com.

Shisa, Okinawan Lion/Dogs Protecting Against Evil