These ARE the Good Old Days, Learn To Appreciate Them

Anticipation.

Function: noun

1 the act of looking forward; especially : pleasurable expectation
2 visualization of a future event or state

These are just a couple of the benign definitions of the word "anticipation", the clinical version of the word. We learn from an early age to anticipate events in our lives, both good and bad. We start to look forward in life and not backward. The butterfly feeling in the stomach, the feeling of being on pins and needles, hoping that time will hurry and pass so that we can get to the "good" stuff, you know the feeling. I have personally learned to love and to enjoy that time, to find ways to heighten it, so that when what I've been yearning for is happening, it's not merely good, but great...memorable.

When we are young, we learn to look forward to special treats. Remember the feeling of waking up on a summer's day and knowing that "sometime" during the course of the afternoon, the ice cream truck might make a trip through your neighborhood? You prepared for it. Made sure that you alerted Mom to the possibility that you'd need money at a moment's notice. You stayed almost on point, listening for the bell that heralded it's arrival. You looked forward when you were young to any special treat promised for good behavior. Vacations or trips were planned and before you ever loaded up the car to head out, there had been weeks of preparation and sleepless nights when you absolutely couldn't wait to leave and get started on your adventure.

If we are really clever, as we get older and travel along life's paths, we learn how to use anticipation to draw out the time prior to good events we know are upcoming. We use anticipation almost as foreplay in the days leading up to special times we hope to cherish and remember always. We think about what special unexpected things might happen. We ponder the variables that could either enhance or detract from our experience. We dream of what might be, both when we are awake and sleeping. The time seems to crawl, but by the same token...that in itself can be delicious in piquing the senses if done correctly. We anticipate...we feel fully alive. It's exciting, it's vital to life to look forward to things.

We look forward to our first love, our first kiss. We look forward (hopefully) to our wedding. The birth of our first child is a time of worry, joy and hope...that doesn't diminish with all the children that follow. We look forward to special vacations, to graduations. We anticipate new jobs and new relationships...to anniversaries and to new homes. So many things to look forward to and absolutely savor if we pay attention...if we don't try wish our lives away and hope that the time flies rather than enjoying the journey to get there, using it as a part of the good part.

Some of us remember when Carly Simon brought the word Anticipation to life in a song. She gave it texture and locked it in our minds, it was a theme song for many teenagers and 20 somethings as to what our lives would hold. (Of course, this was BEFORE the song was forever linked to ketchup slowly oozing it's way out to give us something thick and tasty to eat) Okay, back to my basic point...learn to feel anticipation again. There are no guarantees in life of how something will turn out...look forward to the possibilities anyway. Keep that childlike magic alive of wanting and yearning for something that is to come so that you don't grow old and stagnant in your life. Don't over plan or try to regiment every detail as we tend to do as adults...try going with the flow and letting your dreams guide you. Take chances, go after the things that are important or rare without fear or second guessing...trust your intuition.

LET yourself feel the butterflies. Be on pins and needles, laugh out loud or share secrets with someone. Daydream and "feel" what is to come. Want it, need it, embrace that special time beforehand...then enjoy the heck out of the actual event. Learn to live in the moment now and then when you can...when the times call for it. Let go and give yourself permission to reach out and grab what you need or want. Take the time for yourself...trust me...it's important. Don't miss out on life by always choosing what is safe or expected. Take a few chances along the way, you just might find they pay off.

It's amazing how time really does fly and the thing you've looked forward to, does indeed arrive in it's own time. Spectacularly.