Anticipation

Earlier this week, I was under a lot of stress. I had several tasks and assignments due within the span of only a few days, concluding with a paper that was due this Tuesday. Once I submitted my paper, there was only one thing on my mind: playing D&D.

I play D&D with some friends on most Wednesday evenings after work. In some ways, D&D night has become the highlight of my week. It's a time when, for a few hours, I can get away from my regular life, hang out with friends, and have a hilarious and/or epic (albeit imaginary) adventure. It's a great time, and it rejuvenates me. Knowing that I'm going to get to play D&D soon helps me muscle my way through the stress of everyday life.

But, as it turns out, looking forward to playing D&D does almost as much good for my emotional health as actually playing it does. I know this because, this last Wednesday morning, I learned that D&D was canceled this week. Yet, I had already gotten some of the benefits of my weekly D&D game. Even just looking forward to the game helped get me through the papers I had to write, the exam I had to take, and the lesson I had to prepare. Yeah, not getting to play D&D this week kind of stunk, and I'm sure that I would've been better off in this latter half of this week if I had been able to play D&D on Wednesday, but anticipating playing D&D this week helped me get through the stress, just as looking forward to my next game is helping me now.

In some way, even just the anticipation of an uplifting experience can, itself, be an uplifting experience. I gain mental and emotional health benefits from looking forward to playing D&D, even when I don't actually get to play.

Similarly, looking forward to anticipated blessings can, itself, be beneficial. None of us are in the Celestial Kingdom yet, but knowing that we're heading in that direction can give us the encouragement we need to keep going. There are many blessings we don't have yet, but until we get them, we can look forward to getting them, and we can find joy in the anticipation.