Embracing Hope In Difficult Times

I mentioned in one of my videos that “There is a lot of uncertainty in life, whether in our personal affairs or in our changing and unsteady political climate, and I would add now, especially these days with such world turmoil. I also said in that broadcast that The strategies we often rely on to deal with such uncertainty tend to be self-defeating. When we face an uncertain future we often resort to feelings of anxiety and worry, as well as complaining or becoming negative in our outlook.

Today's article is taking the same theme of hope and looking at it as a way to help us move forward and embrace it during these difficult times. Think of it as lighting a candle when things look dark.

For sure we all have dreams, goals, and aspirations we want to achieve. Some of us achieve every goal we have while others don’t. One thing that causes trouble for most people to attain their goals is that they give up when things become unbearable, or when things look bleak and they can’t seem to find a way out of their dilemma or situation. And just when we think we have it all figured out and we are a few steps away from reaching our goal, life throws us curve balls. For instance, we lose a job , or the promotion we worked extra hours for goes to someone else, or our investment doesn’t go as well as we had planned, or our business goes south.

The road to success is paved with difficulties, setbacks, uncertainties, and a whole host of problems that make it hard for us to keep chasing our dreams. However, hope can help us keep moving forward despite what happens. Hope has the power of turning our life around and helping us fulfill our purpose amid all the problems, discouragements, and difficulties we face.

People who hold on to hope after drastic failures have a better chance of overcoming them compared to those who quit. This is because hope keeps us looking forward. It shifts our attention from bad situations to the countless possibilities within our reach. Hope reminds us that we still have a chance to turn things around and inspires us to keep trying.

When things don’t turn out the way we expect, hope reignites our belief and says to us, “I can still make this work” and “There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Holding on to hope as well as realizing its significance in bringing our vision to life and living peacefully is a key to bouncing back from failures, getting past mistakes, and moving forward when the road gets tough.

Today we need to understand the importance of hope and its impetus in helping us move our lives forward. It's time to embrace it. In so doing, however, we need to realize that not everything will go our way. That we will face hardships, fall down several times, be disappointed when we least expect it, and from time to time not achieve what we set out to do.

Hope is the only thing that will help us through all that. It ensures us never give in or give up. It gives us a sense of peace in our struggles and empowers us to get back up and keep on moving forward. 
 
In these troubled times here are 5 ways to nourish your sense of hopefulness.

1. Focus on what you can change.
Remember the Serenity Prayer,
“God grant me the Serenity to accept the Things I cannot change,
Courage to change the Things I can, and
The Wisdom to know the difference.”
 
The most effective way of cultivating hope is to focus on what you can change. When you focus on your capabilities as well as what you can change, pursuing your goal, and reigniting your zeal becomes easy. You are back in the driver’s seat.

2. Visualize where you want to be and what you want to achieve.
Helen Keller once said, “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight and no vision.”

Holding on to your vision is difficult when you are going through a series of misfortunes. The only way of ensuring you never allow difficult times to get in the way of achieving your goal is by visualizing what you want to achieve, who you want to be, and where you want to go.  Seeing yourself achieving your goals and becoming who you intend to be or what you want your business to look like in 10 years, will rekindle your hope and keep you holding on to it throughout the good and difficult times.
 
3. Be around optimistic people.
Surrounding yourself with optimistic people and people who always bring out the best in every situation is one of the best ways of cultivating hope. When you are around hopeful people, you adopt their behavior and always see the glass half full. So, to ensure that you keep holding on to hope when things don’t go your way, hold on to the people who give you hope and keep you hopeful. You can find these people in business associations, faith groups, and service organizations.

4. Practice gratitude.
“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” Melody Beattie
 
Gratitude keeps you appreciating what you have, what you have accomplished, how much you have grown, as well as who you have become. Practicing gratitude and being thankful at all times will rekindle your hope during trying times. It will keep you thinking “Things aren’t as bad as they seem” and “I am in a better place today, than I was yesterday.”  Develop that outflowing of gratitude by nurturing your spiritual core.
 
5. Eliminate negative thought patterns.
Sheltering negative thoughts makes it hard to overcome difficulties or accept things as they are. When you focus on “It’s my fault the deal didn’t go through” and “I never get things right”, you give room for self-doubt. Negative thoughts have the power to stop you from working on your goals because they force you to believe you are not good enough and cause you to lose faith in yourself. Therefore, eliminate the negative thoughts that cultivate hopelessness and nourish hopeful thoughts every time things don’t go your way. Place affirmation sayings and positive quotes on your walls – statements that will reinforce a positive outlook and inspiration.

We have often heard that hope is not a strategy but consider this, without hope there is no strategy. Hope gives us the strength to carry on when we are weary and pushes us forward towards our purpose in business, work and life.

Thanks for reading and as always folks take care, be safe and continue becoming the best version of yourself.

Richard Fontanie

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