Tuesday, July 14, 2009

How to Properly Look Forward to Something

" Me being overly excited"

It doesn't happen often, but sometimes life confronts us with something we can look forward to. Be it a long awaited chance for a vacation or a reunion with an old friend, these exciting events give us something to think about in our spare time. In this post I will give you a step-by-step guide on how to look forward to things in a way that leaves you in a good mood for days on end.

Step One: Find something to look forward to. It doesn't have to be an extremely important event but it helps if it's something big or out of the ordinary.

Step two: As part of your daily routine begin thinking about your event. (As an example we will use mine which is that next week I'm flying to Ohio to visit my friend on her farm.)I try to think about my trip at least twice a day. Whenever I have a free moment, such as when I'm laying in bed before I go to sleep or when or when I'm feeling lazy in the afternoon, I travel to Ohio in my mind. I see my friend's face and I imagine all the fun things we're going to do together.

Step three: Create a countdown. Figure out how many days are left until the fun begins. In the evening you can cross it off and and say to yourself, "Only ___ days left!"

Step four: Plan and Prepare. One of my favorite parts of going on trips is packing. I make a master list of everything I need and check things off as I go along. Since I'm flying by myself for the first time I read a lot about how to handle going on a plane alone.I also learned about ways to get over my fear of turbulence and bought peppermints to settle my stomach, just in case.

Step five: Brag! It's ok to talk to friends and family about your special event. Just be careful not to rub it in their faces too much or you may have a grudge (or several) to deal with!

Step six: If you are sick with anticipation and can't keep yourself from bouncing up and down in excitement, you can figure out the specifics of how to make time "go faster." Should you do things faster? Like working harder on a project and finishing dinner in 15 minutes? Don't choke! Or should you draw everything out? This usually works best if your event is only a day or so away so that you won't be changing the speed at which you do things for weeks on end.

Step seven: Enjoy yourself. These steps don't have to be followed exactly, but if you do most of them you are bound to have almost as fun looking forward to an event as you are when it actually comes. And when it does come, take in every minute of it! :)

Well, thats all for now, but thanks for reading! If you have any more suggestions on how to look forward to things please comment.



1 comment:

Indigo said...

Great steps! I especially like six and seven, although I think 1 can be hard sometimes. :D

Don't forget gum! I hate the thing planes and high places do to your ear. And napping! I like making myself tired enough to fall asleep on the plane, because otherwise its hours of boredom(and you can snatch more napping room if you fall asleep first. Haven't you noticed that sleeping people always take up your seat space so you can't move your elbows?).

Have fun and take plenty of pictures! Don't have too much fun without us-friends-not-in-Ohio!

Haha, I'm just kidding. But send us letters anyway. :)