Several tips to avoid fear of the future and manage anxiety about what is to come.
In times of uncertainty like the present, it is normal to harbor some doubts or some concerns about the immediate or long-term future that lies ahead. The important thing is that these fears do not paralyze us or make us enter into a dynamic of self-sabotage, harming ourselves without realizing it.
And it is that some people presently present a more or less exacerbated fear of their future, something that generates great discomfort and that on many occasions keeps them in a state of not daring to make important decisions, of living day to day passively, something that prevents them from achieving their goals and, in general, enjoying emotional well-being. For this reason, in this article we will review the keys to avoid fear of the future , or at least not let it become a constant problem.
- Related article: “What is fear? Characteristics of this emotion”
Strategies and tips to manage fear of the future
There are many fears that can overwhelm us throughout our lives, from the fear of losing our job, the fear of the situation of our sentimental relationship or the fear of economic crises. All these cases involve focusing our attention on hypotheses about what we believe the future holds for us; sometimes, faced with the impossibility of knowing exactly what will happen, we tend to obsess over the most pessimistic predictions .
Fear can sometimes be a good ally that allows us to avoid conflicting or dangerous situations, however, when it dominates our lives and prevents us from progressing or prospering positively, it becomes a major problem that must be tackled.
In order to learn how to correctly manage this fear of the future and to acquire a series of practical strategies and tools that allow us to live our lives fully and without fear of what may happen, below we will see a series of effective tips and practices that we can apply in the day to day in this sense.
- Set short-term goals
Some long-term goals can end up generating frustration in many people due to the time it takes to achieve them, which in turn also ends up causing uncertainty and discomfort about the future.
To overcome this feeling of uncertainty, it is highly recommended to set short-term goals on a weekly, monthly or even daily level , to know at all times what is the specific objective on which we should focus at a given time.
These short-term goals are more accessible and the fact of reaching them in a short time helps us to have a greater sense of well-being and satisfaction with a job well done, even if they are small achievements .
Each of these small daily achievements, added together, will allow us to become aware of the progress we are making, which will have a positive impact on our mental and emotional health.
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- Avoid trying to block fear-based thoughts
Pretending to block thoughts based on fear is counterproductive: in addition to being ineffective, this will achieve the opposite effect, by being more “defensive” against those ideas and mental images.
On the contrary, it is necessary to analyze one’s own thoughts rationally and be clear at all times that these are the product of the fear we have of the future that is presented to us in our lives; We must accept that we do not have total control over what goes through our heads, and also accept a certain level of discomfort as something natural , without giving it more importance than it has, so as not to frustrate us.
To successfully overcome these types of thoughts, it is advisable to redirect our attention towards more constructive and stimulating activities that make us feel better and allow us to stay active and motivated.
This means that we can, for example, carry out pleasurable activities that motivate us, such as playing sports, reading, meeting friends, participating in sports competitions or any type of hobby that keeps us busy.
- Related article: “Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): principles and characteristics”
- Practice relaxation techniques
Practicing various relaxation techniques on a daily or weekly basis that may be useful to us will help us to reach much more balanced and calm states of consciousness and physical level in our daily lives .
These states of relaxation will allow us to carry out with greater efficiency and diligence all the activities and personal or professional responsibilities that we must take care of each day or each work week.
There are many relaxation techniques that we currently have to overcome all kinds of discomfort or fear of the most recent or long-term future, it is up to us to carry out those that best suit us and that best suit our particular needs.
Among the main relaxation techniques that we can practice in our day to day life we find meditation, diaphragmatic breathing , Jacobson’s progressive muscle relaxation, or tai chi.
- Learn to detect irrational worries
Many people who are worried about their future end up developing thoughts about themselves or irrational worries about catastrophic events that will happen in the future.
To overcome these types of concerns that are not based on any real and plausible fact, it is necessary to learn to detect them, analyze them and rationally judge what possibilities exist for them to happen.
A good exercise to discard this type of irrational concerns is to analyze them in retrospect and see that many of the things that we thought were going to happen have not actually happened .
- Maintain an active social life
Another piece of advice that we can follow to overcome fear of the future is to maintain an active social life on a day-to-day basis.
This will help us keep our minds distracted and allow us to be with people who make us feel better and who help us improve our mental health, our self-esteem and bring out the best in ourselves.
In addition to that, interacting with other people can also help us not to always think in the same way or fall into the confirmation bias , since by having more points of view different from ours and with different ways of interpreting reality, we can question our personal ideas about the future and life in general.
- Maybe you’re interested: “The 6 types of social skills, and what they are for”
- Go to the psychologist
Going to the psychologist is also one of the best tips we can follow to overcome the fear of the future that lies ahead, and a highly recommended practice whenever the aforementioned advice does not take effect.
