Am always worried about my future and how it's gonna be soon, is this wrong?

I am always worried about my future, how am I gonna live, in the nearest future, I feel lost choosing what I want or how I want my life to be, really hard for me to focus on things, I really wanna do a lot but when it's time to execute this, I can't.
Asked by kendrick
Answered
10/26/2022

Thank you for reaching out, Kendrick.  It sounds to me that you may be experiencing anticipatory anxiety; which describes a fear or worry around things that could happen, more often being bad things. It can happen in a lot of different contexts, but it commonly focuses on things you can’t predict or control, but these worries are normal. They can become signs of anticipatory anxiety if they start to impact your day-to-day life.  Anticipatory anxiety can range from a passing nervousness to a debilitating sense of dread. You might notice; difficulty concentrating, trouble managing emotions and mood, emotional numbness, loss of interest in your usual hobbies, jumpiness or restlessness, nausea, appetite loss and sleep problems to name a few.  With anticipatory anxiety, you might spend a lot of time imagining worst-case scenarios. Over-focusing on these unwanted outcomes can also increase your frustration and hopelessness. Anticipatory anxiety isn’t a mental health diagnosis on its own, but it can appear as a symptom of generalized anxiety disorder.

Anticipatory anxiety can cause plenty of distress and keep you stuck in looping anxious thoughts. Here are some coping tips that can help you take action to break this cycle.

  • Physical needs: things like sleep, nutrition, and exercise can play an important part in the management of anxiety symptoms, including anticipatory anxiety. Cutting back on caffeine and practicing relaxation can help with sleep habits. Physical activity can help relieve symptoms of anxiety and stress too.

  • Check in with yourself: the way you talk to yourself about anxiety matters.  It’s natural to worry about bad things happening. When these worries start to take over, remind yourself (kindly) that spending too much time thinking about negative things can prevent you from enjoying the good things in life. If you tend to criticize yourself for your fears and anxious thoughts, think about what you might say to a friend who shared similar thoughts.

  • Talk to others: It’s not always easy to talk about what you’re afraid of, but sometimes voicing those fears can help them feel less frightening. Letting loved ones know about your anxiety can also help, especially if you feel isolated by your symptoms. Friends and family can offer support by listening and providing positive distractions

  • Grounding: grounding exercises can help interrupt distressing or anxious thoughts and reconnect to the present. Some of them involve physical items, like snapping a rubber band against your wrist, holding ice, or stroking a soothing grounding object. Many grounding techniques happen in your own thoughts, so you can practice them anywhere, at any time.

  • Professional help: if your own coping strategies aren’t providing much relief, it’s worth exploring professional help. Anxiety is pretty common, and most people need a bit of extra support to live comfortably with it. Therapy is usually the best way to explore issues involving anxiety. A therapist can help you examine sources of stress in your life and begin working to address possible causes of anticipatory anxiety. Therapists can also help you identify harmful or less effective coping methods, like avoiding the source of your fear or numbing with alcohol, and offer guidance on more helpful strategies.

The future holds only surprises and uncertainties, so it’s normal to spend some time wondering what lies ahead. This can actually help you and it’s never a bad idea to prepare for a range of possibilities. However, when anticipatory anxiety becomes so severe it prevents you from enjoying the present, it may be time to seek professional support, so if your quality of life is affected, maybe it’s time to seek professional or external help.