Saturday Self-Study

I will continue to write about hope. I believe hope is such an important part of the healing journey. I also believe that most people that commit suicide have lost hope.

Again, I believe hope is such an important part of the healing journey. I would argue that you cannot heal or try to start your healing journey if you don’t have hope.

I love how Paula Davis, J.D., M.A.P.P. put it in her article ‘What Leaders Misunderstand About Hope,’ she goes onto say, “When you hope, you have both high expectations for the future and a realistic view of the obstacles that you may need to overcome to achieve your goal.”

Hope is not just being ignorantly positive about the future while ignoring all the obstacles in your way. Hope is proactive, not reactive. You don’t just hope things will go well and sit back to see what happens.

When you lose hope, you believe there’s no way out of your current situation. I lost hope for many years. I didn’t think it was possible for me to heal from trauma caused by sexual abuse. My thought process became, “What’s the point, I’m not going to be able to change who I am so I shouldn’t even try.”

This is what losing hope looks like. You’ve pretty much given up on life when you lose hope and you’re going to make the best of your situation.

Elaine Houston, B.Sc. goes onto say in her article ‘What is Hope in Psychology + 7 Exercises & Worksheets,’ “Hope helps us remain committed to our goals and motivated to take action towards achieving. Hope gives people a reason to continue fighting and believing that their current circumstances will improve, despite the unpredictable nature of human existence.”

Hope gives people a reason to continue fighting. When I regained my hope, I know I found that reason once again to keep fighting. Hope is believing that if you keep going, you can make it.

I get it, hope can make you feel vulnerable. You’re afraid to hope because you don’t think it will come true. It takes time and effort to regain your hope. If you don’t quit, what you hope for can come true.

Here are the reflection questions this week regarding hope:

1) What fears or doubts tend to shut down your hope?

2) What would I do differently today if I fully believed that things could get better?

3) When was the last time I felt truly hopeful? What was happening then?

4) What would it look like to hope without needing guarantees or proof?

5) How can you tie hope into what you’re working towards today?

Stay positive and take action!

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