Do you ever feel fear about the future? Does the unknown of the future make you feel overwhelmed sometimes? Do you ever feel like you are just not doing enough today to set yourself up for success? Do not worry, I have said “yes” to all of those questions before.
As I enter my second semester of senior year, these thoughts have been running through my head, not knowing what the next season of life will look like. Some days are fine; other days, thoughts about the future can run through my mind constantly. This can be challenging because I do not want my days to be wasted dealing with fear or feeling as though I am not doing enough to prepare for my future self and/or family, even though, realistically, I am taking steps and still trying to figure out life every day.
Oftentimes, fear about the future leads me to think that everything needs to be perfect before I can take steps. This is false because nothing will be perfect. Everything grows over time, so sitting in fear is not going to help me.
Whenever I begin to feel fearful about my future, I CHOOSE to change my thoughts to gratitude. The keyword is “choose.” That means choosing the behavior even if I feel the opposite. So, when I feel overwhelmed, I choose gratitude to combat fear and anxiety. It gives me motivation to take more helpful steps toward my future instead of being paralyzed by fear. It reminds me that no day is a waste and that being anxious about my future is not going to reap anything beneficial for my future family and me. It shows me that my many days of not having things perfect still got me to where I am today. It is not about having it all figured out today; it is about choosing how I will look at the future with what I have today. Take a step and do not let the lies of fear hold you back.
It is also important to note that gratitude and anxiety cannot coexist in the brain at the same time. One has to overpower the other. If anxiety speaks loud, we have to speak loud with gratitude. Anxiety may not stop speaking, so we cannot stop combating it if we actually want to see progress in our lives. If I do not want to fear the future, I need to focus on and be grateful for what I have today, which can be used to benefit my future. For example, currently, I am in school. School can be overwhelming and hard; however, it was used as a tool in my life to help me. I should not fear the future or fear leaving this phase of life when it is being used as a seed for the next stage.
Are days going to continue to pass by? Yes. Is time going to stop for me because I am dealing with fear? No. Therefore, choose gratitude to help you combat that fear.
To help you combat the fear and win the war in your mind, I created a FREE digital journal to help you keep track of your gratitude journey.
Click on the picture below and duplicate the page to receive your FREE journal!
