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Why Waiting Is So Damn Stressful
How to cope with anticipatory anxiety
After the election, many of us found ourselves gripped by a new, specific type of stress: anticipatory anxiety. As the name suggests, it’s a kind of anxiety that’s triggered by an event or experience that has yet to happen. For instance, you may have experienced anticipatory anxiety with regard to upcoming doctors’ appointments or job interviews. The phenomenon known colloquially as cold feet could be seen as anticipatory anxiety before a wedding ceremony.
And you may be feeling it, at this very moment, about the transition of presidential power. What happens now?
The uncomfortable unknown
Anticipatory anxiety makes very specific demands of us: Namely, we must tolerate ambiguity, which is something our brains don’t like very much. We are anxious for the event — the peaceful transition to a new presidential administration — and we are anxious about the effects of the event, which we can’t yet discern. Some of us are also concerned about what may happen between now and then.
These situational unknowns come with personal ones, too. Many of us are anxious about how we will feel once the unknowns are answered. We’re worried about how our lives might change in the aftermath.
We are in no man’s land. But it’s important to at least try to bring ourselves back to the present and to what we do know.
A technique to reground yourself
Getting grounded in the present can be as simple as looking around the room and taking stock of what information is being filtered through your senses, physically, right now: What do you see, smell, touch, taste, and hear? What are you aware of around you?
From there, turn your focus inward. What changes in your body if you encourage yourself to focus on what is happening right now rather than spinning off into catastrophic narratives set in the future? Notice the pace and rhythm of your heartbeat and breathing. How is your body affected by what you’re thinking and feeling?
This type of mind-body communication awareness is known as interoception, which is associated with healthy emotional regulation — and, crucially, with…
