Facing Fears of the Future

Anxiety is part of life. Anticipatory anxiety is a form of anxiety related to fear or dread of a future event, situation, or setting. It is natural and common, and it is something we can experience at any age or any stage in life. We are hard-wired to pay attention to threats to our safety. It is why perceived threats—imagined or real—trigger our flight-flight and other stress responses. The same innate stress responses that allowed our ancestors to survive can undermine our faith in our ability to handle the stressors of modern life.

Anticipatory anxiety can drive us to ruminate over what ifs and imagine worst-case scenarios. It can erode our self-confidence and resilience and can trigger a range of distressing symptoms, including loss of appetite, upset stomach, muscle aches, and sleep disruptions. In the throes of anticipatory anxiety, it can be difficult to concentrate. We feel on edge and exhausted. We may choose to isolate or look for ways to avoid dreaded events and settings.

Often, our fears are rooted in modeled behavior and blueprints from early childhood, many of which may be irrational, outdated, or inaccurate. What’s more, anticipatory anxiety feeds the fears of generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder. Avoidance behaviors, over time, can seriously diminish the quality of our lives.

Strategies to Help Conquer Anticipatory Anxiety

Recognizing the signs and symptoms of anticipatory anxiety is key to acting in our best interests in the face of fear. Here are seven strategies to help conquer anticipatory anxiety.

1. Acknowledge your anxiety: The first step to dealing with any problem is awareness. Pay attention to your feelings of anxiety. Bring awareness to how you experience anticipatory anxiety in your body, where your thoughts go, and how feeling anxious impacts your choices and actions.
2. Allow yourself to sit with uncomfortable emotions: What goes up must come down. Try to remember that emotional states—including anxiety—are transient. They come and go. Anxiety rises and falls. Sitting with, rather than distracting yourself or numbing, uncomfortable emotions, creates a positive memory. Practice riding out an uncomfortable emotion. When you have successfully—and mindfully—sat through the passing discomfort of anticipatory anxiety, you will have created a positive memory and will feel more confident and capable the next time you feel overwhelmed.
3. Think about the upcoming event or situation that is triggering your anxiety: Whatever the approaching event, responsibility, or situation that is causing you to worry or imagine catastrophic outcomes, chances are it is something you care about a great deal. Think about what your anticipatory anxiety is showing you. If, for example, you feel unprepared to speak in front of a group of work colleagues, you could consider steps you could take to build your self-confidence and ensure that you are well prepared. And consider the probability versus the possibility of a worst-case imagined scenario actually happening.
4. Pay attention to your negative thoughts: Imagined catastrophic outcomes are essentially negative thoughts run amok! Negative thoughts and self-limiting beliefs can cause a great deal of hurt and harm. It is important that we recognize and pay attention to negative thoughts, such as “I’m not capable” or “I can’t do it.” We need to challenge that negative thought, rewrite it, and replace it with a more accurate, adaptive, and supportive one. Why not replace the self-defeating “I’m not capable” with the more adaptive and supportive “I will work hard, be prepared, and do the best I can. I will take this challenge as an opportunity to learn and grow.” And talk to yourself about imagined catastrophic outcomes as you would to your best friend. You would not sit with your best friend and suggest they imagine their worst-case scenarios coming true. You would talk kindly to them and remind them of their strengths, abilities, and attributes.
5. Apply quality self-care: Take a break. Take a walk. Watch an uplifting movie. Call a friend. Spend time doing something you enjoy and love. Self-care gives you time to pause, reflect, and reset negative patterns of thinking, feeling, and reacting. A walk in nature, for example, is a great way to calm a racing mind and manage stress and feelings of overwhelm.
6. Avoid avoidance: It is natural for us to want to protect ourselves from hurt and harm and to avoid situations and settings that may have caused us stress and overwhelm in the past. But the reality is that over time avoidance behaviors do us more harm than good. Avoidance behaviors feed fears, and when we feed our fears, they grow and expand.
7. Seek the help of a mental health professional: If you are struggling, overwhelmed, and unable to manage your anxiety, a mental health professional can help you manage your negative thoughts. Through highly effective evidence-based treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), people struggling with anxiety can learn coping strategies and skill sets and begin to challenge and replace harmful negative thoughts with more positive and adaptive ones.