Thinking too much about the future distracts us from our life as it happens in the present; It fuels anxiety about what might happen tomorrow, next week, next year or even decades from now. Most worry is unnecessary. Most of the things we worry about never happen, and if they do, they never turn out as bad as we imagined. 

According to Dan W. Grupe and Jack B. Nitschke, professors in the Psychiatry and Psychology department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, uncertainty about a future threat disrupts our ability to avoid it or to reduce its negative impact, and thus leads to anxiety. Grupe and Nitschke believe the human brain is an “anticipation machine, and ‘making future’ is the most important thing it does.” 

Focusing on one’s future can be all-consuming, especially for a high school student. The pressures of future decisions are placed on us at a very young age, and ongoing changes in society have made our obsession with the future even worse. 

“I’ve been aware of [my future] for a long time, but I actually started caring a lot in seventh or eighth grade,” junior Elizabeth Herbin said. 

We rarely receive continuous feedback about our progress toward our important goals; no matter how hard you work today you have no assurance you will achieve your long-term goals. Having to face this reality at such a young age can lead to a difficult struggle on whether to dream big or play it safe when it comes to making those long-term goals. 

“[The future] crosses my mind a lot, especially with all the talks of college visits and the ACT,” Herbin said. “[But] we all want to impact the world positively and feel optimistic [despite being] nervous of our futures.” 

In light of everything that has been going on in the world, the future looks very unclear for people now. The coronavirus outbreak has put a strain on future plans and has caused the cancellation of a multitude of events. For students, school has been cancelled for the rest of the year. This means no spring sports, prom, ACT, AP exams, school trips or May graduation for seniors. 

“I’m worried about things like the ACT and getting a good score on it,” Herbin said. “I also can’t exactly control what happens, so I’m trying to just do what I can and stress later.” 

This pandemic has put a lot of stress on students, especially seniors. With such unprecedented circumstances, seniors don’t know whether they will be attending their respective colleges in the fall. Some seniors were saving fourth quarter to make their final college decisions. Whether it was visits, college showcase camps for sports or help from their counselors with scholarships in person — it has all been stripped away. 

As a senior, I have experienced all of this. I don’t know if I can attend school in the fall anymore, I don’t know whether I should take my AP exams and I don’t know whether my dual credit will transfer without being present this last quarter. All of the unknowns is what makes an already bad situation worse. 

As high school students, this is our first time living through a major world event; Our worry about the future and what is going to happen is constant and ever-changing.

The term that describes worrying about the future is “anticipatory anxiety.” According to VeryWell Mind, a website that provides guidance to improve mental health and find balance, anticipatory anxiety happens when people experience increased anxiety and stress when they think about an event that will happen in the future. 

Anticipation signifies the beginning of expected relief. But, life guarantees disappointment at times, and as we register our fears, this perfect outcome we build up in our head becomes translated into a disappointment that we expect long before it happens in real life. For everything we want in life, a disaster anticipation wants to take root in the mind; We think we anticipate to prevent disasters, but that’s often not the case.  

Anticipatory anxiety may occur in response to large events like taking the ACT, but it also occurs with everyday activities, such as driving to work or emailing your teacher. Anticipatory anxiety can be a symptom of other conditions, including panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, but ultimately, it is closely associated with the way you think. 

Though anticipatory anxiety can cause undesired stress, Assistant Clinical Professor Srini Pillay, M.D., at Harvard Medical School, has tips to help cope. 

The first tip is “emotion interrupt.” Pillay said that instead of thinking about your fears as one-time events, think of them as landslides, and simply interrupt the anticipatory fear with a random positive thought. If you can’t think of one in time, keep positive images or sayings nearby. 

The second tip is learning how to convert anticipatory anxiety into hope. Anticipatory anxiety is a negative projection of an unknown outcome, and hope is the positive anticipation. Pillay said positivity not only reflects reality, but it also creates reality. 

The third tip is distracting yourself. Rather than focusing on how fast your heart is beating or thinking about every negative outcome, shift your attention to something completely different. Read a book, watch a movie, draw or do anything that will distract you from your thoughts. 

The fourth tip is placing your attention on the anxiety in a way that isn’t judgmental or analytical. Take note of where your anxiety is (your heart; your stomach), and simply watch it without judgement. Pillay said if you do this, a sudden calmness will come over you. Resist the temptation to analyze. 

The fifth tip is to answer the following questions: 

• If this is bad, what’s good?
• If this is so horrible, what can I look forward to? 
• If this makes me feel sick, what makes me feel great? 

Learning the answers to these questions will get you to instill them into your life more naturally, and maybe even schedule them. 

Following these tips is only a start to making changes, but they are important moves. Doing them will help you understand that anticipatory anxiety creates an illusion of control, and in life, the key is not to control everything, but to recognize what you can and what you can’t, and to live accordingly.