What Your Post-Pandemic Fantasy Says About You
Anticipating joy is good for your mental health
Quick, don’t overthink it: What are you most looking forward to doing when things get a little easier? Is it eating at your favorite restaurant? Drinking too many cocktails and then taking a cab home? Booking a day at a spa? Dropping your kids off at their fully vaccinated grandparents’ home for the night? What’s one thing you’ve been longing to do — just one! — that would help restore your sanity?
My number one post-pandemic fantasy is entertaining at my house again. I can’t stop thinking about what that will look like when it finally happens — and even without knowing exactly what that will be, it feels amazing to make a plan, and specifically to make plans for fun.
Cultivating anticipation of something fun through planning can be even more satisfying than the event itself. A 2010 study found that while vacations had little effect on long-term happiness, people were generally happier than their peers just before going on holiday. Elizabeth Dunn, a happiness researcher…
