Thinking about the future

[braginskaya]

One thing I've really, really been struggling with recently is planning for the future. I keep convincing myself I'm slowly dying and won't even be alive in a year or two's time, so I keep putting off making long-term future plans and find it really difficult to talk or think about what I want to do with my life.

Does anybody else struggle with the same thing or have any advice?

[Sparky16]

This is a huge issue for me. I find it particularly hard to commit to things with other people. For instance, we have two big volunteer projects coming in the fall that I enjoy participating in, and people will ask me if I'm helping this year. I'm afraid to say yes I will, because who knows what will happen by then? I don't want people counting on me being there. I always have something on my medical worry list that might turn out to be serious which would prevent me from participating. I've pretty much given up these kind of activities, because they require commitment too far in advance.

I'm actually going to see a new therapist tomorrow and this is one of the issues I'm going to bring up with her.

[NervUs]

I used to have those thoughts about not being able to plan for the future.

I started going out of my way to think about my future and also plan for it/ make plans. EVen if it feels forced at first, it is the easiest thing to make a future plan, even if it's just a vacation, or a plan to see a movie that's coming out in months, or whatever. If you start doing it, your brain will be deprived of the gloom and doom it is accustomed to.