My longtime friend is having a, let’s say, milestone birthday in a few weeks. And because we’re in a pandemic and I wanted to make sure she had an extra good birthday, I asked if she’d like to come and stay with me for her birthday week. I promised to spoil her completely rotten of course 😉
After giving it some thought she most happily agreed and before long we were having a total ball over Zoom brainstorming pandemic birthday week activities for the trip: cooking yummy meals, sledding, coloring, puzzling, movie nights, nature walks, nighttime bonfires … you name it.
In the midst of our conversation, my friend said she’d recently read an article claiming that we get just as much joy out of looking forward to vacations as we do out of actually taking vacations. In fact, sometimes we actually get more joy out of the anticipation than the event itself.
So at that moment, my friend and I made a vow to each other: we were going to get as MUCH joy as possible out of not just our actual time together, but also the two weeks leading up to it. Starting right now.
And you know what? It’s been awesome. Intentionally thinking of and anticipating the good times ahead with my friend has brought real brightness and happiness to these otherwise cold and lonely days. (And little did we know that there are actually real psychological benefits to having things to look forward to!)
So, this week, my question to you is this: what are you looking forward to? What are you REALLY looking forward to? It doesn’t matter if it’s in one week or two months. If you’re truly looking forward to something, then really look forward to it, every day. Close your eyes. Feel the joy you’re going to feel. It’s a gift to yourself before the actual gift.
Wishing you a wonderful week, filled with anticipation of good things.
PS: If you enjoyed this post, also check out my post Recipe For a Staycation or even better, The Vast Rewards of a “You-cation”!
xo
Janelle at Ellanyze
