Managing hopelessness
It’s hard not to feel way-laid at times by all that is going on in the world. Hard to believe in the reality of our own plans. Our own privilege. Hard to keep going.
I’m guessing many generations feel like they’ve “hit rock bottom” and that they’ve “seen it all”, but surely the times we live in, and with the prolific sharing of global doom, the reach feels ever worsening for us?
I believe that stress and anxiety are reasonably healthy responses to what is an inherently unhealthy set of world based circumstances. Between wars, politics, climate, personal stresses, it can be difficult to see the woods from the trees and to have hope. Organisations that could be doing good are doing harm. Communities are ravaged and dispersed. But we cannot despair.
We must have hope. Without it, we become powerless to effect change.
Not many of us can hope to effect change at a macro level, but we can at the micro. Within ourselves, within our micro-systems we must be the change we want to see.
To do this, we need to acknowledge our feelings of despair, and honour them. But not to the extent that we freeze. Managing the media we consume can help this. We don’t need to know it all. It’s not good for us.
From a place of groundedness, and gratitude, remembering our shared humanity is key. Supporting others, starts with supporting ourselves. From here, like a lighthouse, grounded in the earth, we can begin to radiate our light to others. And there are many, many really good people taking really positive steps in the world to help. There are things happening that we know nothing of yet, and we need to lean into this hope. We need to believe.
Yes, donate, sign the petitions, do what you can in your daily lives. Use our voice and your resources however you feel you can. And then lean into our shared humanity. Lean into our relationships and where we can support each other. Lean into the connections that will allow us to hear where and how we can help, and effect real change.
We are all connected. That is why we feel this pain. But let’s use this pain to drive us forward to positive action. Together, we can.
