Hope is a very precious thing, and one that we all need in our lives, always.  Hope is an optimistic attitude and desire for a certain thing to happen. It’s a rare commodity right now, especially with the hot mess of a year that 2020 has become.  But that’s when keeping hope alive is even more important, no matter the situation you may be facing.  

Don’t Lose All Hope

Unfortunately,  right now many people are losing hope.  This is completely understandable.  Our country is facing a global pandemic, increased racial tension, political divisions, and that’s not to mention the many personal issues each family is dealing with inside their own homes (loss of jobs, illness, financial troubles, unnamed trauma, etc).  That all weighs heavily on a person and can become overwhelming.  Our feelings are very valid; life is scary sometimes!  When these things don’t seem to have an end in sight, it can be daunting to keep hope alive…. But it’s vital that we do so, for our sanity.  Eventually, things will return to some semblance of normalcy, even if it doesn’t seem that way right now.

Hope can be Mind over Matter

I tend to be a worrywart.  Logically I know that worrying doesn’t help and that hope shines a light in the darkness, however, that’s much easier to say than to actually follow through in real life.  Please know that it’s possible to be hopeful even during the more traumatic situations we face. 

Hope comes in all shapes and sizes. It could be hearing good news, seeing an act of kindness that restores your faith, receiving a simple compliment, gaining perspective from someone else, or so many other things.  Hope can come from a variety of places too, so each person finds it in their own special way.  

Some ways to keep hope at the forefront of your thoughts are to think positive thoughts.  Manifest your vision for the future and what you want it to look like.  Practice this and work at it each day, staying mindful of what tends to make you lose hope.  Focus on the good things in your life.  Yes, things can be difficult, but if you write down everything you are thankful for, you’ll often find that you have more things to bring you hope than you realized.  

Hope for an Emotional Rollercoaster

We are living in unchartered territory right now.  Parenting in a pandemic is a whole new experience, our world has been turned upside down.  The emotional toll of the difficulties we’re all facing can seem like a mountain too tall to climb. It’s a lot to process and navigate all the feelings of these events.  But hope can give us the strength to keep trudging forward, even when we’re mentally fatigued to a whole new level.  We are much stronger than we give ourselves credit for, and we can do difficult things.  

For now, enjoy those people in your bubble and support each other.  As hard as it may be, try not to worry too much about the next moment- you can deal with that when the time comes.  Having hope doesn’t mean you ignore the challenging things in your life, or blindly believe everything will magically turn out alright.  It means that even though things are tough, you can see hope for a better future.  It may mean making changes or working for things to be different, but it’s always possible. 

Hope Helps

We may not want to deal with what’s going on around us, but we have so many tools to help.  No one needs to deal with these obstacles alone.  Please ask for help if things are seemingly hopeless.  We need to trust that better things can happen.  Hope stops us from giving up completely.  Nothing lasts forever, including difficult times.  Hope walks in and says there are ways to move forward.  

Just talking about your hopes for the future can make you feel better.  You may not be able to control a situation in the way you want to, but you can try to remain hopeful even in the middle of it.  Control the simple things first, and breathe deeply.  Take it one day, one hour, one minute at a time if that’s what you need to do in order to muster the resilience needed to push through.  Against all odds, hope is there to bring us peace when we want to give up. 

Hope is Contagious

All it takes is for one person to see the possibility of happiness and hope.  That sends a ripple effect outward and helps others shift their thinking as well.  Be that beacon of hope for others if you can; or search for that lighthouse of hope if you are struggling.  

We have to hope that things will improve and some of the adversity and misfortune we are experiencing will vanish in time.  Things may not go back to our old version of normal, but sometimes what is yet to come is even better, if we just have enough hope and patience to get us there.