The Mental Health Benefits of Looking Forward

Looking forward is a positive mental habit that is not only good for your mind and spirit but also your physical health. Having something in your future that is worthwhile reminds you of your purpose, gives you a reward to attain, and becomes a critical touchpoint when your mental and spiritual strength is waning.

 Developing a ritual of looking forward, then, is an important life skill that can help you achieve well-being and happiness.

Not only do we enjoy having something to look forward to, but anticipation is incredibly good for your overall mental well-being. When we have positive things to wait for and consider, it provides us with hope, purpose, determination, and optimism, all of which are necessary for maintaining a positive outlook.

Without something positive to look toward, it would be difficult to maintain motivation in tough times. The anticipated outcome or reward is what allows you to stay inspired and to continue to toil away when you are not enjoying life or your current situation.

Anticipation helps to boost our mood and improve our ability to cope and recover, as well. Consider the weeks leading up to your vacation. The very thought of time away is enough to help you tackle whatever life throws your way and enable you to bounce back from setbacks or disappointments, too.

When you have nothing ahead of you, nothing to which you can look forward or hope for, it results in feelings of hopelessness, purposelessness, emptiness, and depression. Extended periods of this type of thinking can even lead to thoughts of suicide as you wonder why you should bother trying to live your life anymore with nothing in your future.

Looking forward to something can even help you to curb your impulses and delay gratification for something later. The anticipation of future rewards, especially those that we really want, can help us to say “no” to unhealthy or unproductive choices and choose to wait for later rewards that we know will be even better.