In this BIT: What is anticipation? How can I become more excited? Below, you’ll uncover why excitement is important and hacks to feel more excited!
Christmas, Halloween, vacations, our birthdays. These are all events that we highly anticipate and get super excited to experience. Do you decorate for holidays in advance or make seasonal arts and crafts? We definitely do. For upcoming birthdays, we put together exciting plans to make the day memorable and special. Who doesn’t love having a fun and special cake? Or, planning a party!? Moreover, science shows that anticipating a special day or event can make us happier than the event itself.
Think about it: the countdown to Christmas, finalizing vacation plans, anticipating your favorite holiday of the year. All of these moments before the event bring us joy. This isn’t to say that Christmas or vacations don’t make us happy. However, it is interesting that anticipation plays into our mood. The question of why excitement is important has circulated our brains for a while, and the answer is fascinating…
A large part of our brain is actually built for anticipating rewards! Even more, studies have found that the act of looking forward to an event is more exciting than the day/event itself. Thinking about the future typically involves our brain imagining scenarios. This act of thinking triggers a release of dopamine, a happiness hormone. For example, thinking of Christmas and all of the tasty food and joyful traditions with friends and family can bring a smile to our face.
Create an inspiration board: This could be on Pinterest, Canva, or any other platform that allows you to make a vision or mood board. Create a board for a specific event but also consider making one for your ideal future. Place photos that make you excited! Activities, food, or images that you want to live out. Once finished, print it off. Finally, hang this anywhere that is very visible. Perhaps make it your phone/desktop screensaver.
Visualize positive outcomes: When it comes to future-planning and goal setting, this tip is one to take into practice. Take a few minutes out of each day and focus on the feeling that would come after this desired outcome. When we can picture the details and see ourselves achieving whatever goal we have set, we can boost our mood and motivation. Generally, this also increases the likelihood of obtaining the goal.
Be grateful for small moments and excited for the future: Journal about the present (which is incredibly important!). However, take a moment to write about the good coming up. A powerful way to feel more excited is to truly notice all the good coming up. It is too easy to focus on the major occurrences, but don’t overlook the small things.
Christian Waugh, Ph.D., found that “having things to look forward to is a major coping strategy. It helps us recover and adapt to stressors.” Having something that can push us through hard times and long days can boost our morale and make those difficult moments more bearable. Further, it can act as a sort of reward for all of the hard work that we have put into school or work. Remember, the moments to look forward to don’t have to be as big as Christmas or our birthday. Small, exciting, daily things we enjoy count too! This could be a delicious dinner, fun activity over the weekend or maybe having a movie night with family.
Above all, anticipating upcoming events and getting excited about them can make us happier. Use this intentional anticipation as a way to feel more excited. Share these findings about why excitement is important with a friend or someone who needs to hear it. Send them a link to this BITS post! Perhaps, send this to someone who struggles to look forward to small and daily moments, or to someone who finds excitement in daily occurrences. Finding small moments to build anticipation around is an easy tool to incorporate into our lives. Finding exciting moments in daily life brings us a Small Bit of Happiness.
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