Anticipation Trick
This is another how-to-live-life-better trick I read recently about using anticipation on a daily basis because “looking forward to something can be almost as good as experiencing it.”
So true.
The best part of a trip is usually the planning stage. I mean, yes, it’s wonderful when you’re there. But when you’re there, you’re hot or tired or your feet hurt or you can’t see over everyone’s head. But when you’re planning, all possibilities for how it will unfold are in front of you. And it’s perfect.
So the trick comes from Carrie Wyland:
“At the end of every day, write down one thing you’re excited for tomorrow … Maybe it’s a new book or getting doughnuts or a package you’re expecting.”
It means you get to experience that anticipation every night. Sure, the actuality of the experience or item may be disappointing, but you still get those sweet anticipation minutes.
3 comments
Looking forward to something every day is a good idea. There’s no way I could have done this during my years of fertility treatments and trying to conceive. I could have said things like getting a chocolate croissant or watching tv with my dog, but it would have been half-hearted and weak at best. But maybe it’s like strengthening a muscle. Maybe I’ve gotten better at it over time with practice. Now I can look forward to something every day. Of course, now my days aren’t filled with blood draws, ultrasounds, and profound loneliness so there’s that too.
I don’t know… I find the more I look forward to something, the more excited I feel about it, the less I end up enjoying the thing.
On the other hand, if I downplay it in my mind (as in, “ugh, getting together with all this people is going to be so stressful and overwhelming”), I often end up having a blast.
It’s like the dream-vision in my mind will never match the reality, and I end up either disappointed or pleasantly surprised, depending on my earlier attitude.
I don’t plan trips… Once we get there, we figure out what we want to do, depending on mood, weather, etc, etc.
Maybe I am missing out on a whole new dimension of happiness? We have a trip to Maine coming up at the end of month. Perhaps I’ll try to look into a couple of activities that I can be cautiously excited about… Mel, what does “planning stage” of a trip look like for you?
I really like the idea of thinking up something to look forward to the next day… I think I can do that and I think it would not generate disappointment as long as it’s something simple, like “I’m excited about enjoying my coffee and cake on the porch tomorrow”. Because hey, if I mess that up – who care, it’s just coffee and cake!
Sometimes I worry that I spend so much energy anticipating a trip (it’s usually trips for me too) that I forget to actually live in the moment. So I try to do both. (The pandemic forced me to do that, of course! It killed me not to be able to plan any trips!) My husband and I are on the verge of cancelling a trip we were thinking about for September, mainly because neither of us can get very excited over the prospect. If we’re not getting pleasure anticipating the trip, then is it worth wasting our money on? lol That’s our reasoning anyway. I think I’ll give it a day of planning (maybe tomorrow or Sunday) before we give up on it completely.
And yes, the pleasure of anticipation is wonderful, as much as reminiscing also brings pleasure afterwards. Tomorrow, I’m anticipating the enjoyment of a lazy Saturday morning in bed with a cup of tea in bed from my husband and a book that I haven’t been able to pay much attention to the last few days but is very good.