Can't Imagine Yourself Old And Happy? You May Have A 'Sense Of Foreshortened Future'

<script>!function(n){if(!window.cnx){window.cnx={},window.cnx.cmd=[];var t=n.createElement('iframe');t.display='none',t.onload=function(){var n=t.contentWindow.document,c=n.createElement('script');c.src='//cd.connatix.com/connatix.player.js',c.setAttribute('async','1'),c.setAttribute('type','text/javascript'),n.body.appendChild(c)},n.head.appendChild(t)}}(document);</script><script id="690cc606e4b027afb3225673">(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=8b034f64-513c-4987-b16f-42d6008f7feb';cnx.cmd.push(function(){cnx({"playerId":"8b034f64-513c-4987-b16f-42d6008f7feb","mediaId":"6ae5cb71-722c-4b8e-abe0-cf97613b1a83"}).render("690cc606e4b027afb3225673");});</script><div class="content-list-component text"><p>I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, but I’ve always blanked when someone asked me about my five-year plan or inquired whether I wanted to get married or have kids. </p><p>My future feels like it has nothing to do with me, and I struggle to envision it – in general, though, the idea of hitting milestones never felt like it “fit” me. </p><p>I also felt vaguely as though I was going to die at 20, then 30 (I wonder if the goalposts will move again). It’s a phenomenon friends have described, too.</p><p>So, I felt enormous relief in discovering the term “a sense of foreshortened future”, which may be more common than you realise. </p><h2><strong>What is a “sense of foreshortened future”? </strong></h2><p>BACP member<a href="https://www.bacp.co.uk/profile/b1198d62-8fc2-ea11-a812-000d3ab855e7" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Alec Williams</a>, a trauma-focused therapist based in London, said: “A ‘sense of foreshortened future’ isn’t simpl