Anyone Else Have Trouble Imagining Their Future?

[Alykins]

I feel like I'm at an impasse on my entire life! How can I move forward if I can't even imagine myself one year from now?

I was told this is a common theme (along with the feeling of not belonging) with PTSD. The problems that one singular symptom can cause are mind-boggling. I feel like a normal person, in deciding what they're doing about a major-life decision, would picture themselves 5 or 10 years down the road and make decisions that would help them get there.

I guess I'm wondering is if anyone else has trouble with this? And if so, how do you make major life decisions? I'd also be curious about how far into the future you CAN imagine yourself. For me it's incredibly short distance, a month maybe (sad, can't even picture my birthday in July!)

 

[AlterEgo]

I lost my breath for a second when I read this heading. I have told my wife several time, I don't think im supposed to live past the end of this year. I can't explain it to anybody because they don't seem to understand. Whenever I try to picture my future, it seems like I can picture winter and the cold and then there's a never ending drop off of a cliff.

I swore I was the only person who had that thought. Its kind of scary sometimes.

 

[Alykins]

Glad I'm not alone in this! I suspect we're just more aware of the fact that things beyond our control can (and do) happen.

The problem is when it gets in the way of life. Just because I can't imagine it, doesn't mean I don't hope for a nice, maybe even happy, future! :rolleyes:

 

[xena21]

I only live for the day I am in. I have a hard time living and thinking beyond 24 hrs. I keep thinking I will die at any time.

 

[safenow]

I was told so many times in my past I'd not make it to the end of that year I gave up on trying to see into the future. It scares me to even think about it here on earth. For me, being a religious person helps in that area. I believe my future will be much better than my past, so that gives me hope. Each morning I wake up and can get out of bed is a good day.

safenow

 

[AlterEgo]

I've often thought to myself that maybe this is hell on earth and maybe we all have to endure this hell to reach the heaven and eternal comfort.

 

[Philippa]

I only live for the day I am in. I have a hard time living and thinking beyond 24 hrs. I keep thinking I will die at any time.

I am like this as well. The last sentence here I think is actually accurate. None of us know when we will die, and truthfully, it could be at any time. Most people prefer to pretend that isn't true though and do everything they can to distract from thinking about death at all. I think it's actually a good thing to think like this though, as you tend to appreciate each moment much more, and work towards your goals and what is important to you.

I have had great trouble thinking into the future for years now. For a while I really thought I had no future, and that the world had no future either, so I've come a long way from there. But yeah, I tend to prefer to live in the moment and not think too far ahead...but I would like to have some vision at least about the future, and what I want it to be.

 

[who am i kim]

I take each day as it comes as childhood taught me survival first, and I am still there in survival mode. I need to be wary as you never know where the next attack might come from. So you see each day through and that is life for yourself. Nothing else exists.

 

[Queen Boudica]

Thinking about the future just gives me panic attacks. I try to take one day at a time but I need to plan a future but that is impossible. Then I panic because I am stuck and I know I have to get out of this mess but how without planning for the future?

 

[The Albatross]

I have a lot of difficulty with thinking of the "future". I can comfortably hold about a week or sometimes a week and a half now. It has slowly improved from where I was a couple years ago. All I could do then was muscle through each day, one hurdle at a time.

I have had a lot of disappointment about stuff involving "the future". So I don't tend to think about it as much as the present, but when I do... there's not a lot of peace, joy, or anticipation there. I do try to find new perspectives, but it hasn't been very easy.

 

[Kas_Can_Fly]

I haven't been able to picture anything long term since my early childhood. It made every aspect of school and growing up difficult. When someone asks you where do you see yourself in 5/10 years or what you want to do with your life I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about that. When told that everyone had some idea of what they wanted I thought I was broken and/or that I was obviously going to die by the time I was 16, 18, 20, 25 etc. I spent at least 3 years fixated by the idea that I was going to be hit by a bus. Now at 23, obviously I realise that isn't going to happen, but I can't think to the future still.

Life just doesn't make sense. I have to think about the short-term still because how can anyone possibly know or predict the long term.

For me all of this comes down to a number of things

 

[maddog]

A sense of a foreshortened future and a perpetual sense of impending dread/doom is a very common hallmark of PTSD. For me, when I am really struggling, it pays to try hard to focus only on the here and now and just making it through each moment as safely and positively as possible, both because it is overwhelming and impossible to imagine any sort of worthwhile future, and because the demands of the here and now are absolutely all I can manage. Yes, at some point, forward planning to some degree is a necessary part of life, but in the hierarchy of priorities, managing the here and now will always be more important. As human beings, we waste a lot of time worrying and planning for a future that is often full of variables we didn't see coming, and often that stops us from being abel to be fully present and engaged with the here and now.

Maddog