Do you often find it difficult to see meaning or purpose in your daily life? Do you want to get out of bad habits but have no desire to do so? Hope may seem like a pseudonym with little or no relevance to your life, but as far as hope means seeing the possibilities inherent in your life, hope can be an important starting point for you to break out of your habits. Follow these steps to start seeing more possibilities in your everyday life.
Step
Method 1 of 4: Imagining Life
Step 1. Find out how your life will look
Other people often struggle to hope for a brighter tomorrow because they don't know how tomorrow will come. Before you can have any hope, it's best to first find out what kind of life is most attractive to you. Take a break to consider your ideal life and the components of it.
- Ask yourself: “If I woke up tomorrow and could have any life, which one would I choose?” Think in as much detail as possible. How does your house look like? How are your friends? What kind of activities will you be doing?
- You may find it helpful to write down a vision of your life so that you can review and reread it from time to time.
Step 2. Compare your ideal vision with your current life
Now that you know the kind of life you want to have in your ideal world, compare that life to your current life. By doing so, you can determine which areas of your life are aligned with your vision, or whether you are walking in the right direction.
- For example, if you imagine that you lose 20kg, consider what you are doing now to reach that goal. Do you eat healthy food? Portion control? Exercising regularly? What do you need to approach your vision?
- When reflecting on life, consider your current state. Have all aspects of your ideal vision been realized in your life?
Step 3. Consider whether or not you have realistic expectations for your life
In order to have hope, it is very important to make sure that the vision you have is realistic. If the vision is unrealistic, you will feel hopeless. Consider a vision for your life and try to determine whether it is realistic or not. If not, you may have to make adjustments so that the vision becomes something achievable.
For example, imagine yourself becoming a millionaire, but you don't know what kind of job will make it happen. In this case, you should consider starting with goals that are more relevant to your current situation
Step 4. Set goals for yourself
Having goals to achieve is one of the best ways to have hope. Now that you've developed a vision for life, it's time to set some goals. Write down your goals and work to achieve them. To increase your chances of reaching those goals, make sure you set SMART goals. This acronym stands for the features below:
- Specific (specific): goals should be targeted rather than made too broad and/or unclear
- Measurable (measurable): the target must be quantifiable with numbers
- Action Oriented (based on action): the target must be something that can be achieved and actively controlled
- Realistic (realistic): a target is something that can be achieved with available resources
- Time Bound (bound by time): the target has a beginning and an ending or a deadline to which you are bound
Method 2 of 4: Developing Hope
Step 1. Realize your strengths
Some people may be hopeless because they feel useless. If you feel this kind of hopelessness, try making a list of all your strengths and accomplishments. Read the list again and congratulate yourself on that positive trait. Praising yourself every now and then will help you create hope for the future.
Step 2. Cultivate a supportive relationship
Surround yourself with supportive and talented people as often as possible. Make an effort to surround yourself with those people who will help you feel confident and encourage you to do your best. Having a supportive network of friends will help you pursue your interests and goals. It is easier to find hope in a strong community than to be completely alone.
Look at the activities and behavior of the people around you. See if any of them can be used as a role model for the achievements you want to achieve. Also, consider how the people around you act and affect how you feel
Step 3. Engage in fun activities
Doing things you enjoy can also help develop hope in yourself. By engaging in activities that make you happy every day, you will have a greater purpose. If you're not sure what activity makes you happiest, try some new things to find out. Sign up for a class at a local college, try a new sport, learn a new skill, or take up a new hobby.
Step 4. Engage with a purpose
Getting involved with a cause in the community can be a great way to foster hope for the future. These communities can be local or even online, but whatever the community, your main goal is to connect with other people who share the same goals and projects. Engaging with others with similar interests can help you deal with alienation that can lead to feelings of hopelessness.
- Get involved in local politics or join an online discussion forum on some of the world's issues that you may be interested in. The more often you do it, the easier it will be.
- Consider doing volunteer work. Several studies show that volunteering has a range of mental and physical health benefits.
Step 5. Put yourself in more diverse situations
Staying in your comfort zone can make you feel hopeless and depressed. However, putting yourself in situations that make you uncomfortable can help you avoid hopelessness and other negative emotions. Getting out of your comfort zone is essential for changing your mindset and learning to see the world with more hope.
Look for activities in your life that put you in the middle between feeling a little uncomfortable and worrying too much. This can usually be a good time for you to cultivate and develop hope. For example, you might try hanging out with your colleagues after work if you usually go straight home
Step 6. Write down your thoughts and feelings in a journal
Journaling can help you understand why you're feeling hopeless and can also be a great way to relieve stress. To start journaling, choose a comfortable place and plan to set aside at least 20 minutes a day to write. Start by writing about your feelings, thoughts, and desires. You can also use a journal to record your progress towards achieving your goals.
Try having a gratitude diary. Each night, think of three things you are grateful for and write them down. Doing this every day will help develop a more hopeful outlook and can also help you sleep better and improve your health
Step 7. Take care of yourself
Exercise, eat healthy, get enough sleep, and relax. Doing this will help you have hope. By taking care of yourself, you send a signal to your mind that you deserve to be happy and treated well. Make sure you set aside enough time to meet your basic needs of exercise, food, sleep, and relaxation.
- Exercise regularly. Try exercising at moderate intensity for 30 minutes a day.
- Eat a balanced and healthy diet such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein.
- Sleep for 7-9 hours a night.
- Set aside at least 15 minutes to relax. Practice yoga, deep breathing, or meditation.
- Drink 8 glasses of water a day.
Method 3 of 4: Dealing with Anxiety and Despair
Step 1. Identify the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
People with PTSD often experience hopelessness and other symptoms. Consider whether you have PTSD and discuss with a mental health professional if you think you have. Some types of PTSD and their symptoms include:
- Hyperarousal: irritation, agitation, trouble sleeping, difficulty concentrating, feeling panicky, always ready to attack or respond
- Re-experiencing (continuous experience): nightmares, flashes of the past, experiencing physical symptoms of the traumatic event, very sensitive to trauma reminders
- Numbing (numbness): feeling disconnected or robotic, losing interest in other people and activities, feeling hopeless, isolated, and/or depressed, not thinking about people associated with the trauma
Step 2. Deal with your worries about the future
Research shows that having unrealistic expectations for yourself, or having “false expectations,” can cause anxiety. This anxiety can make it difficult for you to see the opportunities that are available to you. Neglected anxiety can get in the way of progress and leave you feeling hopeless. To make realistic expectations, not “false expectations,” you must learn to deal with anxiety.
- Try practicing systemic desensitization. Systemic desensitization makes it easier for a person to get through difficult situations so he can feel more comfortable dealing with them. Start by learning basic relaxation techniques, such as breathing exercises or meditation. Then, practice the technique in situations that make you uncomfortable. For example, if you feel too anxious when you think about plans for the next day, concentrate on your breathing and control it while imagining the possibilities for yourself.
- When you're less anxious about a situation that makes you uncomfortable, challenge yourself to practice relaxation techniques in situations that make you feel more anxious. Keep going until you've managed to handle the situation that's adding to your anxiety.
Step 3. Realize when lost hope turns into all-pervading despair
Almost everyone experiences anxiety in certain situations or feels sad for a short period of time in their lives. This can be a useful reaction to certain things that are not good. However, when these feelings start to cling to everything around you, it could be an indication of something more serious, such as an anxiety disorder or depression.
- Try to overcome the thought patterns that make you sad by sharing your feelings with someone. Consider seeing a mental health therapist or counselor, or even a mental health support group.
- When anxiety or depression is associated with something or someone in your life, you may need to make extreme changes, such as moving to a new location or simply getting away from people who annoy you. Seek advice from other trusted people in your community before making any decisions that will drastically change your life.
Step 4. Consider seeing a mental health professional
If you have high levels of anxiety, or are unable to break out of certain bad habits or thought patterns, seeing a therapist can help you in the right direction. They can offer psychological tools and/or techniques that can help deal with your unique predicament. This can be especially useful if you are feeling frustrated with your life after repeated failures to change it.
Method 4 of 4: Understanding Expectations
Step 1. Think about what it means to have hope
Hope is an attitude that you try to achieve every day. Hope is not a permanent mindset. One definition of hope used by some psychologists is a positive condition that is motivated and based on the success of (a) agency (goal-directed energy) and (b) interactive path (plan to achieve goals). Hope is the result of doing something that makes us happy and helps us achieve all our goals.
Step 2. Realize that you have to improve your attitude every day
Don't expect yourself to be suddenly more hopeful, as if there was a button you could press to turn it on or off. Being hopeful requires you to improve your attitude every day. Do this process day by day and focus your attention on the aspects of your life that you can control.
For example, if you have no expectations about your ability to find a job, don't rely on what you have no control over, for example who will call you for an interview. Start thinking about what you can control, for example how many jobs you apply for. Take small steps to build hope each day by doing things you can control
Step 3. Learn to challenge negative thoughts instead of ignoring them
In order to have hope, it's very important to improve your ability to deal with negative thoughts and stop letting those thoughts overwhelm you. By learning to deal with negative emotions when they are at their peak, rather than ignoring them, you can begin to understand why you are feeling these feelings. Understanding your feelings will help you deal with them in a constructive manner, rather than letting them overwhelm you.
For example, if you notice that you are discouraged when you go on a diet to lose weight, think about why you feel that way. Do you compare yourself to others? Is your weight not dropping as fast as you thought it would be? Try to identify the source of the discouragement and find out the reason for the thought
Step 4. Recognize that you have to be more resilient in difficult situations
To cultivate hope, you must learn to deal with stressful situations and get rid of your motivation. Research has found that learning to feel more comfortable in threatening situations can reduce the risk of physical health problems and improve overall psychological performance.
A strong social support system and feeling confident in your abilities are also important for building resilience
Tips
Don't hesitate to seek help if you feel hopeless. You don't have to face these emotions alone. Talk to a friend, teacher, counselor, or someone you trust
Warning
- Hopelessness can be a symptom of depression or other mental health problems. Get help right away if you feel hopeless and don't get better.
- If you feel suicidal, seek help immediately! If you don't know where to turn, call the authorities or 500454.
