For The Hopeless.
Recently, I’ve been asked about what propels me to keep going and striving for a better life, what’s my motivation and why, with all the madness in the world, have I still not thrown in the towel, and for every time I’ve been asked that question, my answer remains the same, HOPE.
First off, let us define Hope, and according to the oxford dictionary, “Hope is defined as a feeling and a desire for a particular thing to happen, it is a feeling of trust”, by this definition, you’ll see that hope is a human emotion motivated by a desire or expectation for something to happen, i.e. an intrinsic want for an ideal future, albeit not visible, motivated by a certain feeling of trust that a specific thing will happen or take place. Furthermore, hope can be said to be the belief that our future can be better than our past and present.
Scriptures speak about hope as the ability to trust in, wait for, live for, or desire something or someone or to expect something beneficial in the future as is the case of Christ coming is foretold in the old testament which was the hope of the people of Israel and coming to pass in the new testament.
I define hope as the elixir for man’s existence and our substance for living.
Realistically, all over the world when you see or read about the everyday travail in the lives of individuals or government, the choices and decisions, ventures and endeavors, you’ll find that these are carried out with the same innate desire for a specific outcome or outcomes.
I’ve not always been one to entirely give in to hoping for things because it left me with a feeling of powerlessness and control, and for someone who likes to see immediate results, it sometimes left me in despair when I didn’t get what I think my hard work should provide, then my philosophy after years of consistent disappointments, rejections and failures changed when I made a conscious decision to stop trying to control the things that were beyond my control. This decision, as though like a supernatural switch, would go on to change my life, although it took time and daily intentional affirmations, I was able to get some level of mastery.
One of the most important decisions that I was faced with was learning to believe in myself and dream enough to trust my future and to do whatever it takes to daily hope for a better one while living in my reality, it is worthy to note that hope is a process or an integral part of the process that requires a plan to work with, citing, for instance, a start-up company with a 5–10 years growth plan, no one knows tomorrow but there’s a laid down plan for a desired outcome or result. This is a very important aspect of transforming from being hopeless to being hopeful…
There are many ways to tackle the issue of hopelessness and my story will be incomplete without me outlining some of the ways I adopted, below are a few, viz.
Optimistic Thinking
Just like a popular saying goes, “you change your thoughts, you change your life”, so is the importance of thinking optimistically, the process of hope correlates positively with optimism and that’s a step to developing a sense of mental energy for your goals.
Build Problem-Solving Ability
Way-power thinking is one of the noteworthy components of hope, therefore, it should relate to your ability to solve problems as research shows that hope and problem-solving are closely related
Work on Competitiveness
Competitiveness involves testing oneself in comparison to other people and it helps to gain a sense of physical mastery through the process of working hard, it does not have to end in winning as that’s not necessarily the goal, as the pleasure is more in the process than the outcome.
Raise Self Esteem
Self-esteem reflects one’s level of hope. High-hope persons who are accustomed to willful and painful thoughts about their goals experience positive self-esteem across a variety of situations, self-esteem has many facets but being secure and content stands out.
Enhance Your Perception of Control
Exert personal or internal sources of control in your life, not letting external/outside forces and people control your life.
Increase Positive Affectivity
Positive affectivity is a mental state characterized by full concentration, engagement, and high energy, It is a way of thinking in which your mind is interested, excited, strong, enthusiastic, proud, alert, inspired, determined, attentive, and active. For this to occur, the following facets are worthy of note in no particular order; motivation, focus, concentration, enthusiasm, and attitude.
Overcome Negative Affectivity
This is the opposite of positive affectivity, it is the general state of subjective distress including nervousness, contempt, anger, fear, and guilt, this negative mindset is according to research and well, as expected, not a characteristic of hopeful people. Worry, anger, fear, failure, doubt, and defeat are a few facets that make for a negative mindset.
I’m sure there are more ways to overcome hopelessness but these are few that helped me in my process. In addition to these, and the most important habit I adopted to tackle hopelessness is studying the Bible regularly, it has not only helped me know God and His Word but has also transformed my mind enough to allow for the above-listed ways to take effect, so I strongly recommend it!
I conclude with a quote from one of my favorite authors Dale Carnegie, which says, “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all” and this goes on to tell us that if we can get past the phase(s) in life that makes us hopeless, there is nothing that can stop us from achieving and accomplishing great feats, we just have to keep Hope alive!
Alright, Guys, I hope this piece helps someone out there get their hope gauge shooting right back up, and if you find this to your liking, feel free to give it claps and follow me here , if you have any questions or contribution based on your personal experience on the subject of hope, feel free to leave it down in the comment section, see you guys in the next story!
