Are you hopeful enough?

May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.  ~Nelson Mandela

It’s easy to create a long list of reasons to feel downright despondent about the state of the world today.

• The prevalence of gun violence in the U.S.
• The war in Ukraine
• Climate change and its global impact
• Police violence in communities of color and resulting trauma
• Global access to affordable and quality mental health treatment
• The erasure of African American history in U.S. education
• The ongoing wars in Yemen, Syria and the Cameroon
• The loss of reproductive health access in the U.S. after the overturning of Roe v Wade
• Global unemployment
• Political unrest

I could go on. It’s hard to feel a sense of hope in the face of such enormous problems. Problems that no one person controls and that will take concerted efforts and resources to resolve.

Then there are events in our personal lives that may lead to feelings of hopelessness – financial difficulty, abusive relationships, daily aggressions, and racial trauma to name a few.

So, how do we find hope? How do we have an “expectation of positive experiences” or an “expectation that a negative situation will not materialize or will ultimately result favorably?” (American Psychological Association – APA Dictionary).

How do we manage to see beyond what we are currently experiencing, what is surrounding us, what is constantly on our news feed - to visualize the expectation of something more positive?  In the midst of our despair, attempts at being hopeful may feel inauthentic or forced.

Even so, hope is worth the effort. Why? Because hope acts as a beacon of light toward a better future. Hope shines a light on possibilities we couldn’t see under our blanket of despair. Hope propels us to take that one step we can see, trusting that the next step will be revealed, and then the next. Hope nudges us to give this new day or the next person a chance. Hope holds our belief that we will have the strength to make the positive changes today that alluded us yesterday.

But don’t mistake hope for toxic positivity -- the belief that one should always have a positive mindset, no matter what. That is not hope. Hope does not ask us to bypass our discomfort or uncertainty or fear or sadness. Hope simply asks us to not end there.

If I had a conversation with hope, this is what I believe hope would ask of us:

• To acknowledge and honor our feelings and lived experiences. To sit with our discomfort. To give our fears space to breathe. To allow our uncertainties to exist. And to know that hope is strong and stable enough to exist alongside all of these feelings.
• To ask for help when we need it. Help from our communities, help from mental health experts. Help to be able to see beyond our own limited views. If you can’t get past a sense of hopelessness, please seek help – the S. Suicide & Crisis Lifeline number is 988.
• To understand that while hope is not a guarantee of a positive outcome, it is a bridge to new possibilities.
• To care for ourselves in ways that allow us to carry hope with us every day.

Go ahead. Dare to be hopeful. Dare to visualize a better world, a better tomorrow.

Janet Thompson Jackson

Founder/CEO, Paraplu Wellness & Well-Law