It is the day after Sunday and we all know what that means! It is Monday! The start of a new week, discoveries, and life experiences! Some people are not a fan of Monday because it reminds them about dread, gloom, and well, the start of a long week. Understandable, but have you ever questioned why doom and gloom shine brightest on Monday? Well, for starters you have: preconceived negative thoughts, stresses, and anticipations that have not happened yet (or at all). Especially with what is going on in today’s world *coughs* COVID *coughs*, people never know what will happen for the week ahead. (No, I am not coughing because I have COVID, thank goodness).
Monday! Monday! Monday! You have heard it in the commercials and you have especially heard it while you were sitting on your couch watching the Video Music Awards (VMAs) last night. “Ugh, here comes Monday. Why does Monday have to come so fast? I cannot wait to see what this week has in store for me.” Mondays remind our minds to start anticipating what will occur for the next seven days. Our jobs, life, projects, events, and so on. Anticipation can cause anxiety, stress, and force panic attacks or blackouts because of overwhelming emotions or thoughts.
What is anticipation, though? In my own words, it is the thinking of scenarios in your mind that have happened, can happen, and may (or may never) happen.
Have happened: Situations in your life have happened and you expect them to repeat. This causes anxiety because maybe a situation made you uncomfortable or overwhelmed, so you wait for it to happen again. You can prepare yourself for these scenarios by acting them out in your mind, and pretending what you WOULD do (not actually do) if the situation happened. [Defined by past experiences].
May (or may never) happen: These are probably the most annoying, difficult, and self-inflicting thoughts that nervous and anxious people deal with. To reiterate, these are possible situations that may or may not ever happen in your lifetime, even if you fixate on them for hours. [Defined by present feelings/thoughts].
Can happen: These are scenarios/experiences that you expect will happen either because of past incidences or anxiety-driven thoughts formed by your own fears, insecurities, or doubts. These are “if” situations, and they are a BIG “IF” most of the time–they are only our fears and we must learn to calm them down. “It is all in your head,” as people say. These scenarios usually occur when we expect a situation to happen because of events leading up to it. Also known as anticipation (surprise!). [Defined by possible future outcomes].
The reason we anticipate experiences is due to our survival instincts. We fear something (usually something new) and we prepare for it. A natural and necessary reaction for the human race to survive (yayyy!). We simply have an innate fear of the unknown, because that sh*t is terrifying! Imagine looking into a black abyss of NOTHING…gives me the chills just thinking about it…
Anticipation is a self-driven feeling that stems from our doubts, fears, and insecurities. We write our own play and put on our own drama, for good and not so good reasons. It is natural to prepare for the unknown because again, black abyss…scary…chills. Despite all of these “if” experiences, anticipation is vital for our survival and can mentally prepare ourselves for the week ahead. For this week, try to release some stress by giving yourself an “anticipation break” and clear your mind. You deserve it.
Clear-Minded,
E.
#Monday #anticipation #possibilities #anxiety #stress #panicattack #IF #prepare #survival #break #VideoMusicAwards #VMAs
thEEsmilE 