Hopelessness is an emotion characterized by a lack of hope, optimism, and passion. An individual who feels hopeless may often have no expectation of future improvement or success.
What Is Hopelessness?
Hopelessness is a powerful emotion that often contributes to a dark or low mood and may adversely affect the way one perceives the self, other individuals, personal circumstances, and even the world. Often hopelessness can have a significant influence on human behavior, as it may reflect an individual’s negative view of the future.
Feelings of hopelessness can often lead an individual to lose interest in important objects, activities, events, or people. Someone who has become hopeless may no longer value things that were once important. The emotion is often associated with a lack of inspiration as well as feelings of powerlessness, helplessness, abandonment, captivity, oppression, and isolation. Numerous studies indicate that hopelessness is closely linked to poor mental, emotional, and physical health.
Causes of Hopelessness
Hopelessness may be a symptom of a variety of mental health conditions, or it may occur when an individual is discouraged by dissatisfying, distressing, or negative life events.
One survey, conducted among 1000 people who had been diagnosed with a psychiatric condition, shows that some messages of hopelessness may actually originate from the mental health care system. Of those who completed the survey, 41% reported being told by a health care professional that recovery from their distress was unlikely or impossible, in spite of the fact that many individuals, including those experiencing extreme mental and emotional distress, are able to achieve stable wellness through therapy. Sixty-nine percent of these individuals later self-reported themselves to be “recovered” or “fully recovered.”
How Hopelessness Can Affect Mental Health
Hopelessness is listed as a symptom of many behavioral and mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, bipolar, eating disorders, posttraumatic stress, substance dependency, and suicidal ideation. Many people who experience hopelessness may also be affected by mental health issues such depression. Feelings of hopelessness that occur with a condition such as depression may lead an individual to have thoughts of suicide.
Hopelessness may not always occur with a particular condition, but no matter the cause, feelings of hopelessness can be devastating. Not only does the emotion compromise an individual’s sense of well-being and stability, it may also rob a person of the motivation required to utilize available resources or seek help.
People experiencing hopelessness may make statements such as:
- My situation will never get better.
- I have no future.
- No one can help me.
- I feel like giving up.
- It is too late now.
- I have no hope.
- I will never be happy again.
The Hopelessness Scale
In 1974, Dr. Aaron Beck designed the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) with the aim of quantifying the feeling of hopelessness by examining an individual’s thoughts and beliefs about the future. The BHS, designed for those over the age of 17, comes in the form of a self-report questionnaire containing 20 true or false statements.
The responses to these statements are used to measure the three primary aspects of hopelessness: feelings about the future, decreases in motivation, and expectations. The BHS can also be used as a measure of suicidal risk among people with depression who have previously attempted suicide.
Whether you’re a mother who wants the best for her children, a hard worker waiting for your promotion, or someone dealing with a personal tragedy such as a job loss, porce or losing a loved one, we all need hope while we go through these tests of faith.
But hope can only be accessed once we get out of our heads and quit over-rationalizing. We need to be truly convinced that better things are in store for us. Even if things may not seem to be going right in our present, we need to believe that there’s a bigger plan that we cannot yet see.
10 Things to Do If You’re Feeling Hopeless About Your Future
These 10 steps will inspire you and give you the boost of hope that you need to keep going when you’re feeling hopeless about the future.
Take a Step Back to Regroup and Honor Your Feelings
If you’re overwhelmed by your emotions, and if the feelings of insecurity are plaguing your mind, it’s a sign that you need to step back and engage in some serious self-care.
Go for a walk, speak with a friend, take a mini-vacation, listen to music, meditate, or journal. Anything that helps you returns to center and balance.
Acknowledge and reward yourself for each milestone you reach, no matter how small. Every step you take matters and bring you closer to your dreams.
Focus on the now by taking conscious, deep breaths and appreciating all that’s in your present moment.
Revisit Your Vision and Goals
If you’ve hit a wall, it would be beneficial to revisit your goals and vision. Take note of the exact goals that you had laid out and remind yourself of what inspired you to create them in the first place.
For example, if you want to lose 10 pounds, was it because your doctor recommended it or because you want to get healthier?
The key is to set goals that you’re fired up about and that you’re willing to commit to. Your goals need to be connected to an overarching vision that will galvanize you to overcome any obstacle.
Create a vision board, or write a descriptive and vivid account of what you would like to achieve.
Manage Your Expectations
Another possible reason that you’re losing motivation is that your expectations are too high. Often our biggest disappointments occur from having unrealistic expectations. ‘Unrealistic’ doesn’t always mean that you can’t achieve your goals, but that you may need more time or resources to actualize it.
For example, when opening a new store, instead of hoping to make 10K, focus on breaking even and perfecting your systems of operation. Set positive and specific goals that feel manageable, especially in the beginning stages. Setting healthy expectations that are easy to reach will encourage you to keep going.
Have a Contingency Plan (Plan B)
There’s always a chance that your plans won’t work out as you hoped they would. I know that it’s hard to accept failure as a possibility without getting dejected, especially if it’s important to you. But I’ve always found that having an alternative plan keeps failure in perspective.
Plan B is like a safety net there to catch you in case you lose your grip. In creating a Plan B, it’s essential to assess what went wrong in your previous plan. What could you have done differently? What are the lessons from the experience that can equip you with the knowledge to get it right the next time around? Ask friends, mentors, and coaches for candid feedback to supplement your own insights.
Let a solid Plan B comfort you in knowing that failure is not the end of the road but merely a bend that’s leading you somewhere else.
Find Sources of Positive Reinforcement
Hope is like a candle flame that can burn out without constant positive reinforcement. We need reminders to stimulate us with hope about the future. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to be inspired, such as acknowledging our small successes along the way and remembering the times when we were able to overcome obstacles.
You can also find inspiration in books, music, movies, affirmation, and other people’s stories. I also love being in the presence of young children who radiate with optimism. Find your own unique sources of motivation that work for you.
Have a Strong Circle of Support
As social beings, we benefit tremendously from having support from a community of people that matter to us. Friends and family members are the primary lifeline for most of us but we can also extend our network to include a trusted group of mentors, coaches, counselors or a support group who are open to hearing our story and who believe in the vision that we have for our life.
Whenever we’re down and out, these are the people who can be a source of comfort and help us get back in the game.
Stay in Touch with Your Vision
It’s easier to feel hopeful when we’re guided by a strong vision for our future. That’s why it’s essential to clarify your vision.
Goal-setting, vision boards and visualization are a couple of techniques that can give shape to our dreams. By committing to these practices, our vision will become more tangible and within our reach.
Touching base with our goals will make them feel real and give us a focal point towards which we can direct all of our energy.
Stay Well-Informed and Be Proactive
Without knowledge and action, hope is just psychological fluff. Hope should propel us to seek out more information about what we desire and take directed steps towards realizing it.
Knowledge is power, as the saying goes, and it gives us the capacity to make more mindful choices. It strengthens our belief that we have what it takes to influence outcomes and to consciously move forward.
Stay Focused on the Present Moment
Hope has a future orientation and can therefore direct our thoughts away from the present time. It’s essential that don’t spend too much time planning for the future.
Even though we want things to get better, we have to make peace with where we are in our current lives. This quiet acceptance will give our inner peace and prevent us from becoming overly attached to future outcomes.
Practice Gratitude
Gratitude generates a feeling of warmth and abundance. Based on the Law of Attraction, the more appreciative that you are for all that you have, material or otherwise, the more you’re likely to attract towards you.
So, the next time you’re feeling down about the future, take a deep breath and think of all the wonderful things and people around you. You’ll feel an instant shift in how you see your life when you see how many things in your life you can be grateful for. You can maintain a gratitude journal or think of a few things you’re thankful on a daily basis.
source: lifehack | goodtherapy