Verified by 
- RAD refers to resolving, accepting, and distracting in the face of a stressful decision.
- When faced with a question that has no clear answer, resolve the ambiguity by making an educated guess.
- Once you have made a decision, accept that you could be wrong but that thinking about it more will only increase your anxiety.
- Then, distract yourself with a compelling activity to stop yourself from thinking about the issue.
Clarity is comforting while uncertainty can be disconcerting. For example:
- If you’re vaccinated, how long will you be safe and from which variants? How transmissible will you be? You’re invited to a gathering of eight people. Do you go? How about if you'd have to get on a plane?
- Amid the COVID-shrunk economy, will you keep your job?
- How dangerous are carbs? Red meat? Saturated fat? Marijuana?
- When should you follow-up? Too early and you seem too anxious or not respectful. But the longer you wait, the more anxious you get.
- Should you invest conservatively, such as in a bank CD or in a stock mutual fund, which has greater risk but potentially greater reward?
- Is there a God worth placing faith in?
- Is there an afterlife?
Alas, there are no clear answers to such questions. So how can we deal with the uncertainty?
One approach that my clients have found helpful is RAD: Resolve, Accept, Distract.
Resolve. Try to make an educated guess. For example, after a bit of Googling, you read enough authoritative opinions to decide that you should avoid getting on that plane for the gathering. As well as is reasonable, that resolves the ambiguity.
Accept. Accept that you could be wrong, but having made a decision, thinking about it more will increase your anxiety without improving your decision.
Distract. Force yourself to not think about the issue. It helps if you distract yourself with some compelling activity, maybe that report you should have started last week, or watching the rest of that great movie you started last night.
Another example: Fear of losing your job during COVID
Resolve. Look for signs that your employer is tightening the belt: postponed expansion plans, cutbacks in spending, and of course, layoffs. Even if the signs about your workplace are good, what are the signs about you: Are you getting invited to key meetings? Given plum assignments? Training opportunities? Then, put yourself in your employer’s shoes: Would you keep you, promote you, or put you on the chopping block?
If the latter, is there anything you could and want to do to get off the block? For example, have you resisted becoming competent in key software? Are you working fewer hours than your peers do? How’s the quality of your work? In light of all that, decide what, if anything, you want to do about it: Work on improving one of the above? Look for a better-suited job? Or just keep doing what you're doing and hope for the best?
Accept. Having made your decision, you accept it by trying to suppress the thought that your plan is wrong.
Distract. It will be easier to not worry if you distract yourself with something else, perhaps part of that self-improvement plan you decided would be wise.
The takeaway
Life is filled with uncertainties. Sometimes, they're pleasurable—after all, that’s why some people go on minimally planned travel adventures. But if one or more of life’s uncertainties is troubling you, you might try RAD.
I read this aloud on YouTube.
