Anticipation is a complex emotion that involves pleasure and anxiety while thinking or waiting for an expected event. The complex nature of the emotion makes us think about it in divergent ways.

How Do We Look at Anticipation?

Anticipation is viewed in two completely different ways. For some it is an expectant feeling of something great about to happen. For others, it can be a debilitating emotion that leads to manifestation of anxiety, panic, and fear. Most evidently, the direction in which anticipation moves is dependent on what you expect to happen in the near future. It involves hope when pleasant things are expected and anxiety when negative ones otherwise.

Given that this emotion has two polarized manifestations, there is no obvious jury on how we perceive anticipation. It is neither considered bad nor good.

The manifestations of anticipation include smiling uncontrollably, feeling sick in the stomach, and experiencing jumpiness. It is best explained by the feeling you may have experienced just before getting on to a stage to give a presentation or talk.

Understanding Anticipation

Anticipation manifests itself when we bring the future into the present by prophesizing about it and believing that our prophecy is true. There is no evidence to show how accurate the prophesizing is and therefore anticipation is an emotion brought on by imagination.

The thing about this emotion is that it is often exaggerated because our assessment of how we will feel when the expected moment arrives is almost always flawed. We feel that the feeling of exuberance or doom will be much higher in intensity and last much longer than it actually does. In fact, we extend the feeling of doom or exuberance merely by feeling the anticipation of the event. In some ways, it is like carrying out a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Those who feel exuberant while waiting to receive a financial reward feel that they will be happier for much longer than they actually end up being. Similarly, people feel that they will never be able to get over the death of a loved one, but they eventually always do, and much sooner than they would have expected.

Science shows that most people anticipate positive events in the future much more than negative things. While this may feel contrary to popular belief, the fact is that people enjoy their positive predictions and do not feel the need to share those with others. Negative predictions, on the other hand, have them on an edge and most people share those in order to seek comfort.

Anticipation is controlled by the cerebellum (the non-thinking and more automatic part of the brain). The feeling of positive anticipation leads to dopamine production, the chemical neurotransmitter responsible for preventing pain perception, stimulating arousal states, and causing excitement.

However, past experiences shape future expectations. Those with unpleasant past experiences are expected to have a higher level of negative anticipation episodes than others.

The Necessity of Anticipation

Anticipation is an emotion that can prepare us for the future. It allows us to plan and coordinate aspects of our lives based on what we expect. It is therefore an action-oriented emotion. In business circles, anticipatory management is a process in which managers scan for possible future events, assign probabilities to those events, prioritize issues, and be prepared for possible outcomes.

The Red Queen says to Alice (in Alice in Wonderland), “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!” In a world that requires us to keep moving in order to avoid becoming irrelevant, anticipation plays a big role in keeping is on our feet.

Managing Anticipation

It may seem that positive anticipation does not need to be managed since it is a positive emotion. The only time positive anticipation needs to be controlled is when it becomes totally unrealistic and leads to deep depression when expected events do not happen. Most other times, positive anticipation is a great feeling to have and enjoy.

Negative anticipation, however, can be crippling. It multiplies the time that we spend feeling the pain, worry, fear, and anxiety than is necessary.

Learning relaxation techniques can help in managing the anxiety associated with it. Deep breathing and Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) can give signals to the mind that ‘all is well’. This reduces the intensity of the emotion, almost immediately after you practice these techniques. Guided imagery and mindfulness teach you how to be in the ‘here and now’ so you can focus on the fact that everything is fine currently. Positive visualizations in the moment of negative anticipation can help bring comfort. For this you have to have a ‘go-to’ place in your mind to be able to do this effectively.

If you are a rational and cognitively oriented person, challenging your thoughts can help gain a more cognitive understanding of the emotion. Acknowledging the thought that is causing anticipation and then preparing for various eventualities also works well. It leads you towards positive preparatory action and therefore distraction. If your anticipation is entering the realms of anticipatory anxiety or you feel you need professional help in order to understand the real reasons for negative anticipation, contact an empowerment coach or a stress coach to help you understand better.

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Talk to me if you feel your anticipation causes you nervousness and keeps you from being most effective. Get in touch for an introductory chat on how coaching can help!