How to overcome the Fear of Future?

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” 

─ Albert Einstein

Fear is one of the most common primal instincts in human beings. And most likely, you've experienced it in many situations of your life. A little bit of fear and stress could serve us as a stimulant to be aware & awake for the upcoming situations. However, like most of the other emotions we experience in our daily life, fear could be very destructive when it grows and goes out of our control.

Fear usually gives you a kind of alarm (signal) that you need to be prepared for something that is going to happen in the future. That's why you rarely get fearful about the past. In fact, it mostly gets your attention about something in the future or present. Let's take a closer look at the fear of future. As the name itself implies, it is a feeling linked to the unknown future that affects your mind and behaviors. This isn't always a negative thing, since there are many people who are adventurous and will be excited about the unknown future. However, there are so many people on earth that would prefer certainty, comfort and security. These people usually panic when something goes wrong or out of their plans. As you may know severe levels of fear could be very destructive, since it could paralyze people to take any action. A couple of examples for the fear of future could be: fear of changes, fear of time (age), fear of loneliness and so on. In general, all of them could be categorized under the fear of future or fear of uncertainty.

So, how could we deal with the fear of future?

1. The first thing you need to do is to recognize that no one knows what will happen in the future. Do you?! I guess not! :) So, try to make your peace with the unknown. For a second imagine that we all knew that what would happen in the future. Not just in the long term, but in the short term as well. For instance, if you would take a walk, you'll see john on your way! If you would go to the cinema, the movie makes you cry! As a result, our life wouldn't be the same again and it might get so boring for us.

2. Be present. Being present is an essential factor in the happiness of human beings. It makes you to be more aware of the real things in the present instead of wondering about the past or future. Always remember that our health is one of the most (if not the most!) important things in our life. When your health would be in jeopardy, you would give everything you have to take your health back. Heart attacks and strokes take the lives of millions of people per year. Notice that how fragile our lives are. Everything could turn upside down in a heartbeat. Think about it. You might not even be here in the next moment. I don't want to be negative or scare you. It's just a good thing to remind you sometimes that how fragile our lives are so that we would appreciate the value of our life, be more present and never postpone joy.

3. Do not make all of the worst case scenarios in your mind. Most of the times people start thinking about their life and begin to predict all of the problems and details of it in advance. If you don't control your mind, it will control you! And, you'll end up frustrated for no good reason. Interestingly, more than 90% of the predicted scenarios in our mind won't even come true! So, you're just making yourself miserable for no good reason! And, when you realize that you wasted so much time worrying about whatever was your case, you wish that you didn't lose so much of your precious time on it. So why don't you stop the negative pattern right now? Why don't you think about the future in a positive mode instead? The bottom line is that the future is unknown and no one knows what will happen in the future. Then, why don't you predict the details of future in a better way to inspire you, to encourage you, to motivate you, to excite you? Think about the real power you have in your mind. It's all up to you. The things in the future do not exist yet, right? So, what do you want to do with the thoughts of future in your mind? Either get rid of them to be able to focus on the present or build the best possible scenarios in your mind to excite you. If you want to think about the non-existent things in a way to make you upset, it's your choice!

4. Practice to be always positive and optimistic, specially about the future. For instance, if you have a fear of time or age, realize that your case might be solved by science in the near future. Let's say that in the next three years there would be vaccine that elongates the lifespan of human beings twice as normal. This could be similar to the other vaccines that people would take nowadays to protect themselves from some diseases which were taking so many people's lives decades and centuries ago. Then, when you get there (the discovery of the new vaccine in our case) you won't regret that you missed so much of your time worrying about the worthless issues that have been solved by now! Think about the value of your time. Make every second counts. 

5. The next thing you need to work on is your flexibility. We have already talked about flexibility in details here. In a nutshell, you need to practice being more patient and easy-going with your plans & schedules. Always remember that nothing in life is ever achieved easily and you have to make an effort to get what you want.

6. Try to recognize that nothing in life ever happens without a reason. If you look closer to the events, you could always find a way that it serves you. It's always up to you to be more positive and focus on the solutions instead of problems. Let's say that you got out of a relationship because your partner dumped you. What do you think will happen then? Of course, after a while that person will find a way (or life will show him a way) to deal with the situation. Millions of people on earth are alone and find their own ways to go on. The bottom line is that being alone could sometimes be very useful as well. Some people could find their real missions & true meanings in life when they're alone. So, if you're in a relationship instead of the fear of being alone in the future, focus on the present to make it better and more fun.

Realize the true power you have in your mind. Notice that nothing could limit you. Practice the above ways to get rid of your non-sense fear of future, and let the real empowered you appear.