BROKEN
FUTURES
Stop Hating Your Future
End Present Pain
Chris Barry
Broken Futures
Stop Hating Your Future, End Present Pain
Your body cannot tell the difference between a bad future that is happening and a bad future you believe is coming.
This book makes one essential argument, backed by neuroscience and psychology: you cannot hate your future without causing yourself real suffering in the present.
You're Suffering Twice
Once in anticipation, and once in reality (if the bad thing even happens)
Your chest is tight. Your sleep is fragmented. You feel dread when you think about next month, next year, the rest of your life. Even when things are okay right now, you can't relax—because you're certain it will get bad.
This isn't just negative thinking. This is your nervous system in constant mobilization, preparing for threats you believe are certain to arrive.
The Problem:
You're treating predictions as facts. "I know this will be terrible" feels true, but it's just your brain's negativity bias running unchecked.
The science is clear: negative prospection—treating your future as guaranteed to be harmful—creates real, measurable suffering in the present.
What This Does to You:
- •Elevated cortisol
- •Disrupted sleep
- •Chronic pain
- •Decision paralysis
- •Emotional flattening
Your body treats predicted threats as real threats.
The Science Behind the Suffering
This isn't "all in your head"—it's neuroscience
Your Prediction Machine
Your brain's fundamental task is to predict what will happen next. When you're certain the future will be terrible, your body prepares for that threat—right now.
Real Physical Pain
Negative prospection triggers elevated cortisol, disrupted sleep, chronic pain, decision paralysis, and immune suppression. Your body treats predicted threats as real threats.
The HPA Axis
When you're certain your future is threatening, your stress response system stays activated for months or years—causing measurable damage to your body and brain.
What the Research Shows:
- •Depression is not primarily about the past—it's about predicting the future will be terrible (Martin Seligman)
- •Chronic pain is amplified by certainty about future pain (pain catastrophizing research)
- •People who view their future negatively have higher rates of heart disease, independent of other risk factors
- •Viktor Frankl's observations in concentration camps: those who lost hope for the future died faster
The Solution
Stop being so certain. Not "be positive" or "manifest good things"—just stop collapsing into certainty about doom.
The Minimum Shift:
From:
"I know my future will be terrible"
To:
"I don't know what will happen. I'll respond to what comes."
That's it. That's enough.
The core insight:
Uncertainty is uncomfortable, but it's less painful than false certainty about suffering.
You're allowed to not know. And when you admit you don't know, your body can finally relax.
❌ Toxic Certainty
"I know this will be terrible. There's no point."
Creates suffering in the present and often becomes self-fulfilling.
✓ Honest Uncertainty
"I don't know what will happen. I'll engage with what comes."
The minimum viable shift. This is enough.
What This Book Provides:
- ✓The neuroscience of why negative prospection causes physical pain
- ✓The psychological mechanisms that keep you stuck
- ✓Practical tools for breaking the prediction loop
- ✓Why neutrality is enough (positivity is not required)
Read a Preview
"Your body cannot tell the difference between a bad future that is happening and a bad future you believe is coming."
If you are certain your future will be painful—that your health will decline, your relationships will fail, your work will be meaningless—your nervous system experiences that pain right now. Not as metaphor. As physiology.
The solution is simpler than you think.
You don't need to become an optimist. You don't need to believe everything will work out. You just need to stop treating your future as guaranteed to be terrible.
At minimum, move from "I know it will be bad" to "I don't know what will happen."
You're suffering twice: once in anticipation, and once in reality—if it even happens. Your mind won't stop predicting disaster. Even when things are fine, you can't relax, because you're certain they'll get worse.
This isn't "negative thinking." It's your nervous system on overdrive—treating imagined threats as real ones. Science calls it negative prospection: when your brain believes the future is guaranteed to hurt you, your body reacts as if it already is. Elevated cortisol. Broken sleep. A constant sense of dread.
The problem: you're mistaking predictions for facts. "I know this will be terrible" feels true—but it's your brain's bias, not reality.
The shift: from "I know the future will be bad" to "I don't know what will happen. I'll respond when it comes." Uncertainty is uncomfortable—but it's less painful than false certainty about suffering. When you finally admit you don't know, your body can start to breathe again.
This Book Is For You If...
You wake up already dreading the day
Your body hurts from tension you can't release
You lie awake rehearsing disasters that haven't happened yet
You feel like you're drowning, even though nothing terrible is happening right now
You're tired of suffering twice: once in anticipation, once in reality
You're ready to stop treating predictions as facts
This book is NOT about:
❌ Toxic positivity or "just think happy thoughts"
❌ Manifestation or the law of attraction
❌ Pretending everything will be perfect
This book IS about:
✓ Science-backed understanding of how your brain works
✓ Practical tools to shift from toxic certainty to honest uncertainty
✓ Relief from present suffering (not promises about future success)
Stop Suffering in Advance
Get your copy of Broken Futures today
Paperback
$19.99
Physical book
Hardcover
$29.99
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Digital
$9.99
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"You don't need to love your future. You just need to stop rubbishing it on every dimension."
Dedication
To those who carry the weight of a future they're certain will be terrible.
To anyone whose body hurts from anticipating pain that hasn't arrived yet.
To those willing to admit: "I don't actually know what's coming."
This is for you.
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