I nominate protean as the word of the year for 2026.

Late December is the customary time for dictionaries to declare their choice of a single term that captures the annum that was. But in the wildly uncertain times in which we live, there’s an argument for selecting a defining word at the start of the year—kind of like a resolution in vocabulary form.

Protean (prō-tē-ən; adjective): displaying great diversity or variety; versatile. Tending or able to change frequently or easily.

What do you hope the new year brings—a return of civil discourse? A political turn in the fall US midterms? A reprieve in global conflicts? A raise? A job? Whatever plans and wishes you have for the year ahead, having a protean attitude, a mindset of adaptability, might be the single best coping strategy for handling the strong likelihood that things may not go as planned.

Psychologists say the anxiety we feel around not knowing what could happen tomorrow is rooted in our attachment to outcomes. What if we could let go of our attachment to how we believe the story should go and be open to all the potential that comes with twists in the plot? When you stop and think about it, it’s absurd to be attached to a predicted outcome—we cannot possibly know what life has in store for us and what the future holds.

In martial arts, the most highly valued state is called mushin, a Japanese word that comes from Zen Buddhism, and translates to “no-mind” or “mind without mind.” It’s not an empty-headedness, rather a keenly aware openness, poised for whatever comes. Mushin allows practitioners to react quickly and effectively to what comes at them without being hindered by hesitation, fears, assumptions, or analysis.

If the world feels out of control, check your certainties. When things feel unstable, human familiarity bias kicks in: we cling to the familiar and feel fearful at the prospect of what might change. We tend to get stuck in our own cognitive rigidity. Niche media validate the opinions we already hold, echo-chamber reinforcement of your pre-existing convictions; an edifying layer to buttress your certainty. Reluctant to rethink things, we assume we know what outcomes would be best. How often do we reject ideas and opinions that differ from our own, or from what feels familiar? The result is stasis; a fixed attachment to how we think things should be.

Certainty is not just an illusion, it’s a trap.

Intolerance to discomfort and to different points of view makes us grab with greater and greater desperation at the false promise of order and command. Clinging to certainty makes for a short trip to autocracy. New rules, new policies, new restrictions are almost always a reaction to some degree of uncertainty. But you cannot manage uncertainty with control. This world in polycrisis, this unprecedented level of uncertainty, calls for a whole new way of living, of leading, of learning. 

Now more than ever is the time for a protean attitude. Many of us feel utterly overwhelmed at the whirlwind of change and unpredictability of this moment in history. And our devices aren’t helping—training us to expect instant answers, tidy solutions, and highly-polished functionality, not the ragged imperfection and inescapable unknowns of real life. Technology has bestowed many gifts on the modern world, but the illusion of being able to control outcomes is not one of them.

Being open to compromising our assumptions, laying down our certainties, is the only way to arrive at fresh ideas and solutions. Letting go of our staunchness, the absolute belief that we know what outcome would be best, is a key step not only for compromise but innovation. Fewer things are possible, pathways of new learning and opportunity are closed off, when we think we know how things are supposed to go. Isaac Asimov famously said that the most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not “Eureka!” but “That’s funny…” We’ll never find solutions to our problems if we remain incurious and closed off to possibility.

How can we cultivate a protean attitude? The good news is it can be fun.

It could start with something as simple as taking a new route home from work. Shake up your commute and pay attention to what you notice. Try cooking some new ingredients; order something different at the restaurant. Strike up a conversation with a stranger or explore a new part of town. Stepping out of our routines and comfort zones is the cheat code for versatility. The more we do it, the wider our comfort zones expand, and the more confident we feel to handle whatever uncertainty may come.

Any given day has an openness to it; the quality of possibility is literally baked into every minute of our existence—anything can happen. We just have to decide, this new year, to look for what else there is to see, to learn and to be curious about.

Learn more about Gillian's new book, A Love Affair with the Unknown.