Most people don’t realise that they naturally act in a hopeful way and how much positivity hope plays in their day to day lives. When our mental health is good, we take this for granted. Looking forward to that holiday or seeing some friends. Being ok with investing time and effort into work because we are hopeful for delayed gratification as a result of it.
Of course things don’t always go to plan. But when we are resilient and know that there are always options available to us, we’re in a good place to deal with these issues, have more control over our emotions and are able to retain hope for a positive outcome.
We all know that super optimistic friend who is always able to see the positive side of things right? They can be really annoying and sometimes it’s not what you want to hear when things are falling apart around you, but it’s worthwhile considering the potential impact of working on your optimism and hope.
If you’ve ever struggled with depression, you may have experienced a deep sense of hopelessness and just can’t see how things will ever get better. This is one of the things that makes depression so devastating. If you can’t see past it, you lose any hope and ability to see an optimistic future. It’s a very lonely place to be.
When this disconnection from hope in individuals is severe, it can cost lives. When business leaders lose this disconnection from hope, they can spread it to their team leading to a collective sense of hopelessness.
When leaders are hopeful and optimistic in difficult times, they motivate their team to remain resilient and hopeful too, leading to businesses being able to achieve things they never thought able to. You don’t have to look far for examples of businesses flourishing due to this approach during the pandemic.
Let’s shine a light on how we can help to restore hope in ourselves and for those around us, even when things seem hopeless.
One of the main causes for feeling hopeless is a lack of feeling of control over our own destiny and this is where we need to focus our efforts. Here are some simple things to consider.
Don’t try to control things that are out of your control. When we are unable to control things, people or situations, we often find it hard to find hope as the future always looks uncertain. Try to focus your efforts on influencing and controlling only what you can and learning how to accept the things you can’t. There is only really one thing that you have the ability to control, and that’s the way you think and feel about things.
Think about how you can shine a light on hope for others when they are feeling hopeless. But be careful not to try to fix the situation or tell them to look on the bright side of things. Remind them instead that there is always hope for a brighter future but mainly lean into empathy and think about the best way you can support that person.
If you find this tricky, get yourself booked on to one of our Mental Health First Aid courses.
Hope comes from the sense that we are in control of our destiny. We have the ability to perceive our sense of control differently to restore hope and start moving in the right direction again.
