What Are You Looking Forward To?

I’ve been watching older episodes of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee lately. On one such episode, Julia Louis-Dreyfus shares some advice her mother gave her: Always have something to look forward to.

This really hit home with me. I consider myself a positive person, but as I grow older, I’ve developed a habit of letting things I dread in the future loom over present happiness. Like, for weeks leading up to jury duty, it sat like a weight on my shoulders, even as I was doing other fun stuff.

This even happens with things I’m excited about, like my trip to Seattle. When my eyes flicker over the calendar, instead of relishing in that excitement, I frown at the hassle of travel.

Julia’s comment made me realize that I need to make a conscious effort to always have something to look forward to, and to truly look forward to it, not dwell the one annoying thing about it.

So right now, I’m looking forward to the World Cup starting, watching The Incredibles 2 on Friday, and attending a local concert of one of my favorite bands, Typhoon, on Saturday. As I think about my upcoming days, there are actually lots of things I’m excited about. Perhaps my issue isn’t the immediate future, but things weeks and months ahead. I’ll work on that.

What are you looking forward to?

17 thoughts on “What Are You Looking Forward To?”

  1. I’m surprised that your future game releases aren’t on the list. Is that an oversight, or do you no longer get the same excitement from that?

    For me, things I’m looking forward to are:
    – getting files to the printer next week
    – doing a talk next week
    – getting a shipment of new games in a couple of months
    – going to several conventions
    …future releases and royalty cheques. :-p

    – working on more balance in my life next month.
    – cleaning my room (going through old things and throwing them out)

    I need to work on the non-boardgaming stuff as there’s not enough of that in my life. :-/

    Reply
    • Oh yes, I’m absolutely excited about our upcoming releases! Of course! 🙂 I wouldn’t keep doing this job if I wasn’t still excited about that. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Great point! I think that attitude can really bring some balance to the anxiety seesaw. I’m looking forward to starting a new job in Germany on Monday and a boardgame jam on this weekend!

    Reply
  3. Single-Minded Looking-Forward List
    List is of things that I can only hope for because, having done what I can to make them happen, their occurrence depends on what other people do.
    * Enlisting 100 people (85 besides family and friends) to subscribe to the blog for my upcoming board game about the hew tool for changing genomes of any living thing
    * Getting positive responses from journalism/writing teachers I’ve asked to help enlist students to participate in crowdsourcing for (short) paid creative writing to be used in game
    * To obtain agreement from suitable artist (with simple folk-artistish style) to do art for game board
    * To help in upgrading my game website to handle all interactive operations as smoothly as this website does

    Reply
  4. Interestingly, I’ve often thought that I need to work on my ability to be happy when I don’t have something obvious to look forward to–to be able to enjoy the moment for what it is, rather than having a forward view to life. On a large scale, I usually find myself happy if I can fantasize about my next big trip or adventure. If I don’t have one, I find myself overly restless. On a small scale, I count down the days to my next soccer game. If my weekend doesn’t include a soccer game, a dinner out, or some other “hook” event, I find myself more glum than usual. I certainly enjoy all of those things in the moment, but I’d like to learn to better accept the times when I don’t see something I can look forward to–to live in those moments rather than feeling down about lack of a next big thing.

    Side note, for a person whose country is not in the World Cup, I don’t know that I’ve encountered anyone else who is as excited about this event as I am!

    Reply
    • Trev: That’s a neat point about having a big trip or adventure to look forward to, even if it’s well into the future.

      Reply
  5. Lots of things to look forward to in the next few weeks on my end:
    – World Cup starting today!
    – An old high school friend is coming to visit New Orleans for the first time in mid-July.
    – My annual beach vacation the last week of July.
    – Gen Con!

    Despite my excitement for all of the above things, it is dwarfed by the fact that my wife and I recently found out that we are expecting a future Stonemaier Ambassador! 🙂

    Reply
  6. My wife and I are selling our house, buying an RV, and traveling the country for a year!

    We both work from home so we decided, why not work from an RV and fulfill a dream?

    Reply
  7. Love this idea and I agree 100%. Although I have a lot of exciting things to look forward to it seems like my weekly game night with friends always stands out to me. Maybe because it’s always less than a week away (doesn’t seem as abstract). Can’t wait to get back to Greengully next Wednesday!

    Reply
  8. Jamey,

    That’s amazingly insightful advice Julia received in her youth. I, too, live by it to this day! A few weeks ago, I couldn’t wait to attend Origins. Now, with that wonderful event behind me, I’m looking forward to upcoming Gaming Weekends with friends in the area. Finally, my girlfriend and I are heading to New York City and then on to Martha’s Vineyard for the long 4th of July weekend. Having said that, I like more immediate things to which I look forward ~ interviewing designers with whom I may work; hosting a weekly Game Night at a local Irish Pub; talking to my mom this week. While we love thinking about the future, it’s also important to live in the present.

    “If you are depressed you are living in the past.
    If you are anxious you are living in the future.
    If you are at peace you are living in the present.”
    ~ Lao Tzu

    Cheers,
    Joe

    Reply

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