Importance of Planning Future Activities

The summer we used to plan outings with friends and eat out every year has arrived. The high rate of infections and deaths caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, and the consequent constant feeling of fear made us lose the flexibility that fun summer activities used to give us, which can take away your motivation to make plans for your life.

After all, what makes you prepare to spend another hour on Zoom when the enthusiasm to do anything has faded?

But with the collapse of the world, we may have more days of isolation as the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic escalates, so it is necessary to plan for things you are looking to achieve in the future, no matter how simple. A study published in 2015 revealed that looking to achieve something that benefits you in the future would reduce stress and improve mood.

Why is planning essential?

To give yourself a positive impulse is necessary and far from feeling selfish in light of the current situation we are going through, and here are the reasons:

1. Thinking about the future improves how you feel about the present

Given the uncertainty imposed by the pandemic, making plans is almost impossible, so who knows what the world will be like when you want to organize a road trip with your friends away from home next summer? Anything you can plan successfully and look forward to achieving - even if it's as simple as choosing the takeaway you'll order for dinner - will give you hope. Perhaps there is something positive waiting for you in the future. So, expect it to happen.

“People are really looking forward to the future,” Christian Waugh, assistant professor of psychology at Wake Forest University, told Vice. From making plans for the weekend to planning a career five years in the future, humans have a unique ability to set goals, visualize how they will be reached, and imagine how they will feel when they achieve them.

Think about your last vacation. You've probably imagined yourself relaxing on the beach sands or hiking in the streets, and it's also likely that these daydreams are giving you plenty of excitement.

A 2010 study looked specifically at this phenomenon, showing that people who plan a vacation in the future are happier than those who do not intend to do so, and suggests that the reason for this is that thinking about the joy that will flood them with their planned vacation contributes to their current happiness.

The perception that your life in the future will be better and looking forward to it makes you more optimistic, according to studies, as this mental image can make you feel glad as if this has already been achieved.

Kimberly Diggles, a marriage and family specialist, told Vice magazine that expecting something positive to happen in the future contributes to maintaining dopamine levels in the brain - the very idea of imagining something good in the future can change your brain chemistry to make you feel happier.

2. Expecting something positive to happen in the future is a powerful motivator for you

The perception of a positive event in the future solely gives you hope and positivity. It also motivates you to work towards your goals or experience, whether it is a remote friend conversation or a post-pandemic celebration. “Being positive gives us a sense that we are on the right track to achieve the goals we have always sought to achieve, which makes us feel that there is purpose and meaning in our lives, which is enough to motivate us,” says Waugh.

People are doomed to hope and look to the future, says Taisha Caldwell-Harvey, a psychiatrist and founder of The Black Girl Doctor, in a statement to Vice magazine: “When you set a goal, it pushes you to work harder and faster to achieve it, which will help you overcome the current situation imposed by the pandemic and any challenges you may face in the future.”

Of course, stress and anxiety can spur you on. For instance, the fear of catching and spreading COVID-19 can spur you to stay in and adhere to social isolation practices.

However, believing that there is hope for a positive event in the future gives your life more meaning and relieves your sense of tension. Waugh says: "The pursuit of things that interest you, provide you with positive feelings and mean you would stimulate you and enhance your mental health better than if you avoided doing so."

3. Planning ahead helps relieve the stress of the present

The uncertainty imposed by the pandemic is stressful and disturbing, according to studies, but planning for the future gives you a sense of ownership, according to Shevaun Neupert, a professor of psychology at North Carolina State University. She found in her latest research that people who plan for their future are doing a process called proactive coping, which helps reduce their stress about the pandemic.

“During the pandemic, we learned that being able to look to the future and make plans ease the stress we currently feel,” says Neubert, and this can be as easy as storing enough food at home, so you do not have to wade through the store to buy it.

In his studies, Waugh found that people who can expect something positive to happen to them after a stressful event, such as giving a public speech, are more likely to get rid of their stress than those who do not expect something positive to happen. Although we do not know yet when the pandemic will end, looking forward to future experiences, such as planning a wedding, would improve our mood to live with these difficult times.

Serious pursuit of happiness

Caldwell Harvey says, “You have to strive hard for the happiness you’ve always wanted.” When you fill your life with activities that you can look forward to and give you a sense of happiness, you can avoid depression and become more flexible in overcoming stress, so it is necessary to make plans for the future before you are overcome with feelings of despair and frustration, especially as depression leads to loss of interest in activities that you have always enjoyed doing previously.

The goal is to keep you active and effective by planning to do what you can rather than thinking about what will happen when the pandemic is over.

Making happiness one of your top priorities is the way to be able to coexist and continue, especially in the current situation. As Caldwell Harvey says: "Most of the work I do is directed at serving the black community, and I always think about the tragedy of racial discrimination, and how we always resort to withstanding pressure instead of caring about what helps us to achieve happiness, as joy is what protects you and makes you flexible and able to face challenges and overcome difficult times."

Be realistic, especially at the moment

Spending time with many of your close friends in one place may not be an option in light of the outbreak of the pandemic, so it is necessary to take into account the circumstances surrounding you when making future plans.

Also, take into account the reality of the circumstances surrounding you, and collect information about the number of injuries, travel warnings and closure orders, so that there will be nothing to hinder the progress of your plans as hoped because you prepared them based on the facts surrounding you, according to Caldwell Harvey.

“There is no harm in making future plans for the post-pandemic period, as long as you are aware of what is going on around you,” says Neubert. For example, you can plan what you will wear on your first outing with your friends to a party when it is available. Your construction of these perceptions as if they were real is nothing but evidence of your belief that they will be realized soon.

Waugh believes that there are many ways to anticipate your future aspirations. You can start looking to accomplish something simple the next day, such as spending the night watching movies with your friend.

Then, you can begin planning to complete work during the next week, for example, a phone call with a close friend to reassure him, and then looking forward to implementing plans during the next month, such as cooking food by following a new recipe, or exchanging messages with your family members and friends.

Neupert suggests checking your e-mail weekly, especially as it is an inexpensive and safe task.  There are also other things you can plan to do. For example, devote a night a week to ready meals, make a phone call to your grandfather and grandmother, or drive to a new place for a long walk.

It is very critical not to compare what you could have done before the outbreak of the pandemic with what is available now. Preparing for a picnic on the occasion of your friend's birthday will not be as fun as having a big party, and it is not fair to compare the two.

It is essential that you continue to look forward to achieving what you want in the future based on what is available at the moment. Diggles says: "There are still a lot of things you can look forward to achieving, but it must be revisited with a different view of what we have known."