The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding for the main concern of indivi­duals living with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) and what they did to hand­le it. The study group consisted of 16 patients, who had experienced a cardiac arrest or life-threatening arrhythmias, with a mean age of 56 years. In-depth interviews, con­duc­ted 6-24 months after ICD implant, were analysed using the grounded theory method. Four emergent categories were labelled economizing resources, distracting oneself, sub­mitting to one’s fate and re­valuing life. The core category, striving to resume command of one’s life, describes the uncertain process of living with discomfort of not knowing. The participants economized with their limited resources by restricting and planning every day and distracted themselves by divert attention away from the problems at hand and en­gaged physically or mentally in something else. They felt omitted when they could not in­fluence their situation and what happened to them. They had no or little control over the disease and the device and must accept physical and social changes. As time had passed, they were grateful for having survived, felt secure and accepted the ICD treatment. How­ever, a subgroup that had experienced complications as ICD shocks had hard to accept the changed life situation.