Minds that are ill at ease are agitated by both hope and fear.

When you are unsettled, both hope and fear become sources of turmoil. Hope keeps you watching for the outcome you want, fear keeps you braced for the one you dread, and together they swing your attention back and forth. An anxious mind cannot rest in either, because both are about a future it does not control.

If you notice yourself oscillating, try grounding yourself in what is actually true now rather than what might happen. Ask what you can do today, regardless of how things turn out. Settling the present often quiets both the hoping and the dreading.