When the Need for Certainty / Comfort is Important to You

  • You need to feel secure, safe, and comfortable at all times, now and in the future.
  • Avoiding pain is critical to you.
  • You can't be happy when uncertain about things.
A high need for Certainty/Comfort means you continually strive to feel safe and secure.

You want predictability and a sense of Comfort, which gives you peace of mind and helps ward off stress, anxiety, and worry.

The need for Certainty is often characterized by the need to acquire short-term pleasure, irrelevant of whether it will lead to long-term pain.

When you strive to satisfy the need for Certainty, you might eat or drink alcohol excessively, smoke, or use recreational drugs.

Additionally, you might procrastinate or attempt to control other people.

These behaviors provide you with a sense of Comfort in the present moment, but they could also potentially lead to pain in the long run.

Certainty is sometimes necessary because it provides emotional stability and financial security.

Who wants to deal with problems when you can instead feel certain that tomorrow will be like today?

How the Need for Certainty / Comfort Serves You

  • You avoid risks, and you carefully plan for the future.
  • You are careful and take care of yourself.
  • People know you are predictable.
  • You know how to be organized.

How the Need for Certainty / Comfort Hurts You

  • You limit your new experiences.
  • You have trouble letting love flow when you don't feel secure and comfortable.
  • You have trouble involving yourself with people for fear that they will cause you pain.
  • People sometimes think you are controlling.
  • You may seem unenthusiastic and boring.
  • You are predictable at the cost of being spontaneous.
Remember, the future is unpredictable; all we have is the present moment, and it is possible to be uncertain about the future and be happy in the present. And where there is no risk, there is no gain.

Certainty / Comfort Focus

  • You focus on stability, habitual routines, and on preparing and saving for the future.
  • You prefer work that is stable and easy instead of work that is challenging and stretches your abilities.

Certainty / Comfort Energy

  • You put your energy into organizing a secure and comfortable environment.
  • You're focused inwardly on evaluating your level of comfort-discomfort.

Certainty / Comfort Health

  • You like to take care of yourself, but your need for comfort may lead you to over-eating or drinking.

Certainty / Comfort Avoidance

  • You tend to avoid new people and new experiences.
  • You avoid relationships where there is not a full commitment.
  • You avoid threats and hazards.
  • You fear not being in control.

Certainty / Comfort Strengths

  • You are organized, reliable, and dependable.
  • You can create a home and work environment that is pleasing and where people can feel comfortable.

Certainty / Comfort Communication Style

  • You often talk about your internal states, emphasizing whether you feel grounded, protected, and safe.
  • Words you frequently use are comfort, security, stability, and predictability.

Certainty / Comfort Stress

  • You are stressed when something new is required of you when you don't know what's going to happen next.
  • Changes in plans, even if there are new opportunities, stress you out.
  • You pressure yourself to ensure you don't feel insecure.

Certainty / Comfort Defensiveness

  • You get defensive when you're required to change your habits or deal with new people and situations.
  • You can get angry when people challenge your need to feel comfortable and to have predictability in your life.

Certainty / Comfort Emotions

  • You worry a great deal about the future.
  • You're very sensitive to danger and experience fear easily.
  • You sometimes envy people with more money or a larger income than you do.

Goal for Achieving Certainty / Comfort Growth and Balance

Your goal for achieving Certainty / Comfort, Growth, and Balance is to live in the present, to experience the moment without focusing on what will happen next and what the future might hold.

What to do?
  • You need to take some risks to reap some benefits.
  • You need to accept that uncertainty and insecurity are part of life.
  • You need to stretch yourself by learning new things and having new experiences.
  • Instead of fear and anxiety, you need to learn to experience excitement and joy.
  • You need to learn to enjoy a challenge.
  • You need to develop courage and be able to act even when you feel insecure.
  • You need to get a reality check from others about your fears and concerns.
What interferes with your goal?
  • Your wish to feel comfortable and plan for the future interferes with your goal.
  • You can be overprotective and controlling.
  • You require too much certainty.
  • You can be pessimistic about the future.
How can others support you?
  • Others can support you by introducing you to new experiences and by encouraging more spontaneity and fun.
  • They can counter your doubts and fears in realistic ways.

Certainty / Comfort Advice

  • You need to stretch yourself by learning new things and having new experiences.
  • Instead of fear and anxiety, you need to learn to experience excitement and joy.
  • You need to learn to enjoy a challenge.
  • You need to develop courage and be able to act even when you feel insecure.
  • You need to get a reality check from others about your fears and concerns.