Here’s a question for you: When you think about the next few days or the next few weeks or the next few months or even the next few years, what are you looking forward to?
Maybe something immediately springs to mind. An upcoming wedding (yours or someone else’s). A vacation you have been planning and saving for. Your weekly game night with good friends.
It is also possible that nothing springs immediately to mind. If that’s the case—if you cannot think of anything in particular you are looking forward to—it is probably a good moment to take stock of your situation. This is especially true if you are a person in recovery from a substance use disorder because having something to look forward to bolsters your efforts to maintain your sobriety.
We are going to take a look at the benefits of anticipation. But before we do, we want to address another way people tend to think about the future that tends not to be terribly helpful.
We Are Not Talking About Anticipation as Worry
We have written about mindfulness a number of times in previous blog posts, and each time we have noted that the purpose of the practice is to help you get more adept at staying present. Keeping your focus in the present moment—rather than ruminating about your regrets from the past or worrying about what might go wrong in the future—is an excellent idea when you are in recovery. After all, rumination and worry tend to stir up difficult emotions, and those feelings can tempt you toward a return to drug or alcohol use.
So, if we have been steadfast in our advice that you should not spend your time worrying and wondering about the future, it might seem odd that we are now talking about the positive aspects of anticipation.
But the difference between worrying about the future and looking forward to something in the future is as big as the difference between night and day. We are not encouraging you to look to the future with a sense of apprehension. Anticipation is, for all intents and purposes, the opposite of apprehension.
You Don’t Have to Make it a Big Thing
It might be tempting to conclude that the only sorts of things worth anticipating in any serious way are big milestone moments. But the benefits of anticipation are available even when the thing you are looking forward to is quite small.
Writing in Slate, Elana Spivack makes this case in an article titled, “Every Day, Look Forward to a Really Good Sandwich.” Spivack writes:
Personally, when I need something to look forward to, my favorite thing to stick in my schedule is getting a really good sandwich. Usually a deli sandwich on quality bread that’s impractical to keep at home and fresh ingredients that had I combined them myself just wouldn’t taste as good.
But truly anything can be the sandwich. Grabbing coffee. Having tea and a cookie every night before bed. Sometimes, I’ll just go through what I already have planned and think about what good things I have coming up that I can focus on.
These things are small. Sure, it’s nice to look forward to a luxurious vacation, a graduation—something huge. But the most important part is not necessarily the thing itself but the act. The thing matters less than the fact that you’re simply looking forward.
How would we even describe such a feeling? We know that anticipation of bad things is anxiety, but is there a word for anticipation of good things? Ah, yes: excitement.
That sense of excitement supports your mental well-being and your sobriety because it helps you stay positive even as you face the big and little challenges that pop up in everyone’s life. (For deeper reading on this subject, check out the two studies Spivack cites here and here.)
Our advice mirrors Spivack’s: Find the little things that you can look forward to with real excitement. And when the big things arise, make sure you revel in the exciting anticipation of those, too.
We Anticipate That We Can Help You Get Sober
The Aviary Recovery Center, located near St. Louis, Missouri, has been recognized for the second consecutive year as one of the country’s best substance use disorder treatment centers. We are dedicated to helping each person we serve regain and maintain their sobriety—and their life. Our residential program includes medically supervised detoxification and a robust rehabilitation program centered on group and individual therapy. We also offer outpatient and virtual treatment options that are underpinned by the same experience, expertise, and empathy we bring to our inpatient program. And we provide ongoing support so that you can begin your recovery journey with confidence.
Looking for something to look forward to? It is hard to think of anything more exciting than reclaiming your life by leaving drugs and alcohol behind. We are looking forward to helping you do just that.
