4 Ways To Find Hope When Hope Seems Lost

I have legitimately been in a place where I could truly and honestly say there was no hope left of ever getting better or getting some semblance of my life back.

The doctors had run out of medications to offer me, treatments to offer me, and even clinical trials to offer me. My Severe Depression was extremely treatment-resistant.

I was not living a life, I was merely existing. We finally reached a point where the doctor told me that the only thing we could do was wait for the next new medication or treatment to come out and hope it worked.

Hope. It is the one thing, in my opinion, that once it is truly lost in the person, there is nothing worse that can be done to them, and there is no reason left to live.

Hope gives us the strength to fight. Hope gives us the ability to change. Hope gives us a reason to go on.

When there is no hope left, there is no reason to fight, there is no reason to make changes and self-improvement, and there is no reason to go on.

Something so simple, something that we all often take for granted, and something that we don't give much thought to until we begin to lose hope in something. 

When you start that downward spiral of losing hope it can be extremely difficult to come up with ways to stop that spiral and bring your levels of hope back up.

Below are four different ways you can help to restore some of your hope and even bring it to greater levels.

Remember that all is not lost as long as there is still even a tiny speck of hope left.

Develop Self-Confidence and Grow Your Self-Confidence

Work on completing goals

There is a lot of back and forth on whether or not people should set certain types of goals, and whether or not they are all that helpful to us.

I think that it's all in how you approach it and how you look at and define goals. When you get right down to it, we are constantly setting goals for ourselves in everything we do without realizing it.

Leaving work and getting home safely. We don't write that down as a goal, but in reality, it is a goal. 

Eating lunch. Again, we don't write that down as a goal, but in reality, it is a goal. 

They are both something that we want to do/accomplish. Just because we don't write it down under our goals list doesn't mean it isn't a goal.

The trick to completing goals to help you increase your hope is to set goals that you know are accomplishable. Don't set a goal to climb a mountain the next day when you've never climbed a mountain before.

Your goals don't need to be over complicated. It can be as simple as making your bed in the morning, brushing your teeth, reading one chapter of a book you've been wanting to read, etc.

Regardless of how complicated or how simple the goal is that you accomplish, it gives the feeling of accomplishment and increases your self-confidence in your own abilities.

Don't Look At Challenges As Obstacles But As A Way To Grow and Learn

There is always something that can be learned from every situation. It may not always be obvious and we may have to do some searching, but it is there. 

There is also always something positive from every negative. Again it's not always obvious and we have to do some detective work to find the positive, but it is there if you look for it.

We are always changing and growing as a person. When you can take something away from your challenges and obstacles, you will start making changes to yourself and your life. 

This gives you the ability to grow, which gives you hope that you can make changes to whatever is going on that you are losing hope in.

When we have more confidence in ourselves our hope grows as we know we are capable to take on challenging obstacles and that we can find a way to overcome them.

Engage In Small Acts Of Kindness

This may seem odd as to how it can give you hope, but when you drill down on it and examine it, you will find that when you perform a small act of kindness it makes you feel good to have done something good for someone else. 

You will also know that that person has appreciated what you've done, even if that appreciation is small. When you start to feel good inside, you start to develop hope and feel that you can handle hard situations.

Some Ideas For Random Acts Of Kindness

• Hold the door for someone when entering or exiting a building.
• Pay for the person's coffee behind you in the drive-thru.
• Take your children's old toys to a homeless shelter or program that helps provide gifts for single, low-income parents.
• Give a random stranger a compliment.
• When you see someone or a couple trying to take a selfie, offer to take the picture for them.

These are just a few simple ideas that you can use to engage in some random acts of kindness. If you Google "random acts of kindness ideas", you will be able to find all sorts of lists with different ideas.

Look For Stories Of Hope

Search Out Positive Stories

Instead of scrolling through mainstream media articles or videos, which are full of negativity, search for articles that discuss good things happening around you or around the world.

If you are facing a challenging situation or illness, search for success stories that people have shared who have faced the same or similar situation or illness.

Seeing these success stories will help you to gain back some hope that you too can overcome what you are facing. You may even find some new ways to help you overcome your challenge.

Look For Quotes On Hope

There are so many quotes out there, some may not be that great, but there are a lot of good ones. Sometimes those quotes make us look at a situation in a different way and can trigger feelings of hope.

If you can find at least one quote that gives you hope and maybe even inspires you, be sure to write it down so that you can refer back to it when you need to.

You Don't Need To Do It Alone

Remind yourself that you don't need to do everything alone. 

Seek out someone positive for help. If you are religious turn to prayer and God When you are feeling all alone with no hope.

Having at least one person we can turn to when we are feeling hopeless, who will listen, discuss, and help to find options, can make all the difference in the world.

If you need to, don't feel ashamed to seek out professional help. There is nothing wrong with getting guidance and help from a professional.

Take A Moment To Step Out Of Your Lens Of The Reality

We All See The Reality Around Us Through Our Own Lens

As we go through life, the reality we see is usually not the actual reality. 

The lens through which we see reality is formed by our upbringing, experiences, biases, and beliefs.

Take a moment to step out of the lens through which you are viewing the situation and try to look at the situation without any preconceived judgments or opinions on what's going on. 

When doing this you may see things in a completely different light and may see options you didn't see previously.

The lens that we are viewing our reality through can often distort the truth of what is actually going on and what options are actually there. 

If you're having a hard time stepping out of your lens of reality, explain to someone else what is going on and they will likely see things completely different and may be able to offer some options you haven't thought of yet.