How Looking Forward to Things Can Brighten Your Day

OSCIE
Sasha Balasingam

As humans, we crave things, people, events- honestly anything- if it brings us joy. We look forward to it throughout the week and might catch ourselves zoning out and fill our brains with the excitement and anticipation from the upcoming event instead of working or studying. However it’s not a bad thing. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Having the feeling of something to look forward to is actually an extremely crucial and motivating part of our lives that help us keep moving and working. Especially because most of our days seem like a continuously repetitive cycle, we struggle to feel excitement and motivation to get through the day’s agenda.

Many scientists and psychologists have acknowledged the immense benefits of having something to look forward to. Not only does it help relieve stress about current problems, but it takes our mind away from the negativity in our lives and helps us shift to a more positive mindset. When we focus too much on the past or too much on the present, we miss out on the fact that we have so many good things to look forward to.

So it’s true when they say to give yourself something to look forward to every week. But how do we do that when we don’t have an extremely fulfilling or exciting event in the nearby future? That’s okay because there are so many ways to give ourselves something to look forward to. For example, if you don’t have any upcoming scheduled parties or vacations coming up, schedule something small in your calendar for yourself. Whether it’s going to the gym, setting a few hours aside to go on a hike, spending a Saturday night binge watching a TV series, or just anything that gives you a thrill to look forward to after a tough week.

Honestly, just find something that makes you really happy and it can truly brighten up your day, week, or month. Because it’s really the little things in life that make it count. And after all, it’s just what Anne of Green Gables once said, “Looking forward to things is half the pleasure of them.”

Team O.S.C.I.E

Optimism

Strength

Confidence

Independence

Empathy

This article was written by a group of students who deeply want to help young teenagers find a safe place in their minds. Their goal is to eliminate negative stigmas towards mental health and make it a topic that is thoroughly addressed and becomes normalized for everyone.