Anticipation

an·tic·i·pa·tion

   [an-tis-uh-pey-shuhn]  Show IPA

–noun

1.

the act of anticipating or the state of being anticipated.

2.

realization in advance; foretaste.

3.

expectation or hope.

4.

previous notion; slight previous impression.

5.

intuition, foreknowledge, or prescience.

So once again we begin with the definition from dictionary.com.

I feel the need to follow my previous blog about patience with one on anticipation. Though these two words are similar they are also very different. I freely admitted I am an impatient person. A fact many of you played upon with your little comments *ahem* @docnolz and @darkwulfe. But that's ok, I expected it, anticipated it actually, and you did not let me down.

Now, anticipation is a fun little bugger. This does add in to my impatience, I suppose, as if I am impatient about something is is usually because of the anticipation. This anticipation could be because of something I am excited about or because of something I am dreading. Just the word, "anticipation" to me is fun, but then I do tend to enjoy words. I know, I'm weird, I freely admit that, as well.

Let's see there's the anticipation of a much planned meeting or vacation. The unknowing of how it will go, what you will do, what you will see. The excitement that comes from that sort of anticipation can be enormously fun.

Then there's the flip side of anticipation. The anticipating what will be an unpleasant event, a dentist appointment (not that I know ANYTHING about that) a break up, a reprimand. I am the type of person that will make any situation out to be so much worse in my mind; the anticipation kills me. I will play it out in my mind over and over and will usually find I am pleasantly surprised that it wasn't as bad as I imagined. 

Speaking of "imagined". It is the imagination that makes anticipation so exciting or dreadful. If I am anticipating some event I can assure you I have played it out in my mind so many times and down to the finite detail. That is when I get impatient, if I have imagined something for so long that I have played it out in my head on a constant loop, then I am ready to experience the actual event to see if it meets my expectations. Hopefully finding that if it was a pleasant event it was more than I anticipated and if it is an unpleasant one then it was not nearly as bad as I imagined.

Ok, so even I am feeling this post has gone on far to long. I am "anxious" (wait, there's another word...) to see what you think and am am anticipating nothing but friendly comments. I will try to be patient while I wait and imagine...