The Healing Power Of Having Something To Look Forward To

"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best," and then he had to stop and think. Because although eating honey was very good, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called." – A.A. Milne 

Excitement is an underrated emotion. It’s pleasure, hope, nervousness, courage, purposefulness, motivation and curiosity all mixed together. It shifts something in you. 

It brings you closer in touch with your present, mostly because of how it’s a response to a spike in the bleakly monotonous graph of our present reality. The scope of what this spike could be is infinite- from looking forward to having your favorite dish for dinner, to being excited about an upcoming concert of your favorite musician in your city. 

Is a vehicle of hope and courage 

Excitement is very closely linked to hope in that it allows us to feel relief in the thought that the future that’s soon going to become our present need not look just like the past. This matters so much when we’re going through an especially tough time, where the excitement and the event you’re excited for pose as a break- not just in terms of breaking the loop of overwhelm and distress; but sometimes also a break in the emotional numbness that’s brought about by a nervous system that’s going through a lot. This is because it creates an opportunity to experience safety while feeling activated, rather positively activated for a change. This can help access more energy because expending it feels worth it. Even if it’s fleeting, the sense of meaning and purpose that it brings can offset the general pointlessness that most activities during a tough time can make you feel. Yes, the power of excitement to break through a numb, shut down nervous system is a bigger deal than it seems because this breakthrough means a lot of things- a sense of really feeling alive after a long time, discovery of a source of safety amidst turmoil, or reassurance that you have it in you to feel more than a few emotions at the same time. Excitement helps create some space around the dread. 

Helps increase your emotional tolerance

Excitement also increases our emotional tolerance by a notch, because it gives us a reason to move towards a future event even if a part of us might be afraid of being disappointed if our expectations are not met. Because the power of excitement doesn’t depend solely on the event panning out exactly as we wanted, but more on the small shifts in our mood and energy levels that come from looking forward to something, in the period of anticipation before the actual event. The process of anticipation works on the principle of delayed gratification- it counts on the motivation that arises from seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, making efforts in the present seem worthwhile even if you’d be rewarded for it only later. This is why harnessing the power of excitement to get unstuck from procrastination is recommended- you could either make your work more exciting, or keep an exciting reward for successfully completing your work!

Helps identify what really matters to you

The more personally meaningful an event is to you, the greater your excitement leading up to it would be. This allows us to construct our awareness regarding the core values and goals that are the most dear and personal to us. For someone who’s confused about their sense of self, noticing what naturally excites them and beckons to them can be a solid first step towards discovering their identity. 

Having something, anything, to look forward to creates a glimmer of positive certainty amidst the dark overall uncertainty of the future. And there’s so much resilience and character in choosing to focus on a glimmer and draw strength from it even when it’s a tiny sparkle in a dense darkness.

References:

Akhmetzyanova, A. I. (2016). The Theoretical Analysis of the Phenomenon of Anticipation in Psychology. International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 11(7), 1559-1570. https://doi.org/10.12973/ijese.2016.359a 

Kunde, W., Elsner, K., & Kiesel, A. (2007). No anticipation–no action: the role of anticipation in action and perception. Cognitive processing, 8(2), 71-78. https://doi.org/10.1108/14636681011049839 

Lindner, R. M. (1938). An Experimental Study of Anticipation. The American Journal of Psychology, 51(2), 253–260. https://doi.org/10.2307/1415655 

Pezzulo, G., Hoffmann, J., & Falcone, R. (2007). Anticipation and anticipatory behavior. Cognitive processing, 8(2), 67-70. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-007-0173-z 

Disclaimer: This blog post is meant for awareness/entertainment purposes only. It is not medical advice and one must refrain from self-diagnosing. It is in no way a substitute for therapy with a mental health professional and it is not meant to be clinical. To consult with a psychotherapist on our team, you can contact us on fettle.counselling@gmail.com.