By Emily O’Reilly
Anticipation is an emotion and feeling that everyone experiences before something they are doing
happens in the future. Anticipation can be positive or negative depending on the type of situation and if
they think the event will be good or bad. It can impact the rest of someone’s day, how they feel overall,
and how they treat others. Expectations can easily take over someone’s mind no matter how close or how
far away the event they are waiting for may be. It may cause motivation for smaller tasks or less
important events. Someone’s amount of anticipation is likely to grow as the event gets closer and closer
to become a reality.
happens in the future. Anticipation can be positive or negative depending on the type of situation and if
they think the event will be good or bad. It can impact the rest of someone’s day, how they feel overall,
and how they treat others. Expectations can easily take over someone’s mind no matter how close or how
far away the event they are waiting for may be. It may cause motivation for smaller tasks or less
important events. Someone’s amount of anticipation is likely to grow as the event gets closer and closer
to become a reality.
That being said, it is very common that the anticipation is better than what actually happens. For
example, someone could be looking forward to a movie that they have been waiting for for over a year
but when they actually watch it, it doesn’t meet their expectations. It was nothing like what they had
previously pictured. The anticipation for the movie turned out to be better than what they actually saw.
They are more likely to have a negative reaction and view of the movie compared to someone who
wasn’t waiting or expecting it to come out. When they think of that event, they are more likely to picture
their anticipation rather than their actual view of the movie itself. This can happen for a wide range of
occurrences. Although there are many scenarios where the actual situation can be better than the
anticipation, especially if the anticipation was negative, sometimes the anticipation is a more exciting
outcome than reality.
Here is an article that talks more about anticipation: https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/the-science-fandom/202201/anticipation-is-part-being-fan-and-s-good-thing
