The Anticipation Tick

You know when things are actually… fine?

Nothing bad is happening.
No fires to put out.
No immediate threat.

But your body doesn’t get the memo.

Your chest tightens.
Your mind scans the future.
You start bracing for something that hasn’t occurred.

A text you haven’t received yet.
A conversation that hasn’t happened.
An outcome you don’t even have evidence for.

You’re not anxious about something.

You’re anxious in advance.

That’s this week’s parasite:

The Anticipation Tick

It latches onto imagined futures and feeds on what if.
Its specialty is convincing you that calm is temporary and danger is imminent.

The Tick shows up when life becomes steady:

You’re emotionally regulated
You’re not chasing chaos
You’re finally feeling safe
You don’t need to prove anything
You’re not in survival mode anymore

That’s when it whispers:

“Don’t relax yet.”
“Something’s coming.”
“This peace won’t last.”
“Stay alert.”

The Tick survives by keeping your nervous system on standby, even when there’s no threat.

• Constant future-tripping
• Tight chest or shallow breathing “for no reason”
• Replaying imaginary conversations
• Feeling urgency without a task
• Difficulty enjoying good moments
• A sense that something is “about to go wrong”

The Anticipation Tick doesn’t live in reality.
It lives in projection.

Because your nervous system learned safety through vigilance.

At one point in your life, staying alert kept you protected.
Your body hasn’t yet learned that peace doesn’t need guarding.

The Anticipation Tick feeds on hyper-readiness.

It starves when you teach your system that nothing happening is not a problem.

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When you notice yourself bracing, say internally:

“I don’t need to arrive before I get there.”

Then do one grounding reset:

Drop your shoulders
Exhale longer than you inhale
Name three things you can see
Relax your jaw

You’re signaling to your body:

There is no emergency.

Parasites can’t survive without urgency.

What future scenario does your mind rehearse the most?

And what would change if you trusted yourself to handle it when, and only if, it actually happens?

— Gabi & Bea