Why It Matters to Have Things to Look Forward To: The Dopamine Connection
- 12 hours ago
- 4 min read
When was the last time you had something on your calendar that made you smile? Not because it fixed your problems or erased your stress, but simply because it gave you something to look forward to. Having things to anticipate is not just a pleasant lifestyle suggestion. It has real, measurable benefits for mental health, motivation, resilience, and even how your brain releases dopamine.
Let’s talk about why.
What Is Anticipation?
Anticipation is the act of looking ahead to a future event with expectation. Sometimes that expectation is neutral, and sometimes it is anxious. But when it is positive, anticipation becomes a powerful psychological tool. Humans are wired to look ahead. Our brains function as predictive machines, constantly scanning the future, imagining outcomes, planning next steps, and forecasting what might happen.
This forward-looking tendency once helped our ancestors survive. Today, it continues to shape our mood, motivation, and sense of hope. When we look toward the positive, our brain responds in meaningful ways.
Dopamine: Not Just “The Happiness Chemical”
There is a common misconception that dopamine is simply the happiness chemical. In reality, dopamine is better understood as a chemical deeply linked to motivation and reward. According to Mental Health America, dopamine plays a key role in the brain’s reward system by helping drive behavior, reinforce actions, and connect what we do with positive outcomes. It energizes us to pursue goals and supports the link between effort and reward.
Here is the important part. Dopamine is released not only when we experience a reward, but also when we anticipate one. That means having something to look forward to activates the brain’s reward system even before the event happens.
The Power of Looking Forward
Positive anticipation triggers dopamine before you ever arrive at the experience itself. Some research suggests that planning and imagining a trip over time can lead to greater cumulative dopamine release than the trip itself. This does not mean the trip is not wonderful. Rather, it highlights how the repeated cycles of imagining, planning, and anticipating amplify the neurological impact. The reward is not only the event itself. The reward is also the act of looking forward to it.
Having things to look forward to could include:
Weekly/monthly dinners with friends
A daily coffee
Seasonal traditions with your family or friends
Personal rituals you genuinely enjoy
Learning a new hobby
Planning a creative project
Signing up for a class
Reading a book off your TBR
A monthly date night
A recurring phone call with someone you love
One person I know keeps a running list on their computer of upcoming book releases, concerts, movies, and shows. Sometimes there are several things per month, and sometimes at least one per week. Individually, they seem small, but neurologically, they matter. Emotionally, they compound.
Dopamine, Focus, and Goal-Directed Energy
Dopamine does something else that is equally important. It helps connect action to outcome. When your brain expects something positive in the future, it becomes more motivated to move toward it. You may notice that, over time, you feel more focused, more energized, and more goal-oriented.
Consistently having events you look forward to helps your brain stay engaged. It reinforces the idea that effort leads to something meaningful, and over time, that pattern strengthens motivation. This is not about living in a state of constant excitement. It is about maintaining consistent forward movement.
Optimism Without Toxic Positivity
It is important to clarify what optimism means in this context. Optimism does NOT require pretending everything will turn out perfectly, nor does it demand ignoring real challenges or forcing cheerfulness. You can apply this practice while also being stressed with the state of the world, work, family etc. Instead, optimism here refers to the shift that occurs when you anticipate something positively. When you know something good is coming, it becomes easier to think about the future with possibility rather than dread.
Having something to look forward to:
Buffers against stress
Makes other stressors feel more tolerable
Provides emotional lift during hard seasons
Creates a psychological anchor point
When life feels heavy, knowing that something good is ahead can make the present moment easier to carry. That is a meaningful form of resilience.
The Broader Impact on Mental Health
Having things to look forward to supports well-being in both the immediate and long term.
Immediate Impact- Dopamine release improves mood and energy in the present moment.
Long-Term Impact- Repeated cycles of anticipation create a broader psychological uplift that strengthens resilience over time. As your brain repeatedly experiences the pattern of effort leading to a positive outcome, it begins to expect that good experiences are part of your life rhythm. Small, consistent moments may seem insignificant on their own, but they can have meaningful neurological and emotional effects when compounded over time.
Therapy Homework: Create a Look Forward To List
If you want to intentionally strengthen your mood and resilience, consider creating a running list of upcoming events. Include both big and small items, and add dates whenever possible. Keep the list somewhere visible so you can regularly remind yourself of what is ahead. The goal is not to overschedule your life. The goal is to create consistent sources of positive anticipation.
When you can clearly see that something good is coming, your brain responds accordingly.
Final Thoughts
Having things to look forward to is not frivolous or indulgent. It is grounded in how the brain works. Dopamine links anticipation to motivation, motivation strengthens action, and action reinforces meaning. Over time, meaning supports resilience. Even small, consistent moments of looking ahead can influence your mood and shape your long-term well-being.
So ask yourself what one thing you can intentionally look forward to this week. And if nothing comes to mind, consider what small, meaningful addition you might create.
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