MENTAL HEALTH: How to keep hope alive

Here in the second week of January I expect the loud declarations of ‘New Year, New Me’ to have faded a little bit. The resolutions, goals or expectations have been thought about and may be in the process of being actively pursued or perhaps will be sitting neatly in your diary or planner for a little while longer. And whilst January can offer a fresh start, some people may have things that are preventing them from having hope for the 12 months ahead.
The world around us is not an easy place at the moment. The atrocities are so difficult to comprehend. I know I have had strong feelings of helplessness throughout the last few months, and that I’m not alone in that. At times like this, hope is something that we can really need. Whether you are digging deep because of your own personal circumstances or because you’re struggling to deal with wider social issues, it might be hard to remain positive about the future and how it will look.

Real benefits
In essence hope is a belief that the future can be better than the present. An important factor is the understanding that you have the ability to make the changes required to get there.
Hope can take many forms. It could be a wish for something specific or a desire to see some overall change for the better. Hope is so important because it can help to reduce those feelings of helplessness that I mentioned earlier, and it also help to reduce stress. Ultimately, this can lead to increased happiness and an overall improvement in quality of life.
Higher levels of hope have been shown to be linked to more positive outcomes when it comes to both physical and mental health. Physical benefits include less sleep problems, greater immune function and decreased pain. Benefits to mental health include more positive emotions, a stronger sense of purpose and less feelings of loneliness and depression.
Now this is all very well, but if your hope levels are currently low, how do you raise them back up? Good news: Hope is a learned skill and you can improve it.
With practice, your attitude can begin to take on a more hopeful aspect, which will have far-reaching benefits for you and those around you.

Nurturing hope
Here are some helpful tips that will set you well on your way to higher hopes.
Work on your motivation by reflecting on previous experiences that were successful and allow these successes spark hope for the future.
Of course it may not be a straight road to success (is it ever?), but it’s a good idea to anticipate some roadblocks and have a secondary plan in reserve to help you reach your destination. Take it one step at a time whilst staying determined and persevering in your efforts.
And if hope does begin to wane, know that everybody experiences times like this. It’s not realistic to be positive every minute of every day, so don’t let your quest for hope become demoralising or too all consuming. Just drawing on feelings of hopefulness during challenging moments is a good way to gradually introduce this positive emotion in a gentle way. With time, hopeful optimism may just become the most natural thing you do.
Remember, when the challenges facing societies around the world make us feel helpless and pessimistic, hope is something that we can nurture and control. And we need to nurture it now more than ever.

Sadhbh Dunne is a qualified life coach based in Westport. She is the founder of Ember Coaching (embercoaching.ie) and can be reached at sadhbh@embercoaching.ie.