There will always be moments in our lives when we are smacked with one problem after another. Moments where every little hope left in us is crushed by back-to-back disappointments.
I know these moments all too well. This year has been pretty much like that for me. You know the feeling you get when you think that you’re finally making headway. That you’re finally in the right direction and that, finally, for once, everything is just falling into place and then baam.
Something just knocks you out of the blue and everything that you’ve worked so hard to achieve just comes tumbling down. You push yourself to try again and to keep going but every time you try to pick yourself back up, life just seems to keep knocking you back down.
Then one day you wake up, feeling so defeated, overwhelmed, exhausted, and hopeless. You start to think that maybe there is no way out and that you were just meant to suffer forever.
If you’re currently feeling this way, please know that everything you’re going through now is just temporary. I know that finding the hope to keep going in moments when every bit of strength left in us is tested may seem impossible.
But one of the things I’ve learned while navigating a difficult moment in my life is that, regardless of what we are going through, we have the power to allow ourselves to look for hope and strength in the smallest and mundane moments.
Hope can always be found even in our darkest days. Sometimes we just have to take a deep breath and look for the smallest glimmer of light. In this blog post, I will be sharing with you the steps I took to help me find hope in the lowest moments of my life.
I hope that some of these steps will resonate with you and help you find the hope that you need to keep fighting.
How To Find Hope
1. Write Down 3 Things You’re Looking Forward To This Week
I have never thought that doing something this simple could act as a tool in helping me find hope. I know that doing this may seem simple but often when we are going through so many problems, it’s easy for us to focus on our struggles.
It’s so easy for our thoughts to be consumed by everything negative that we start to overlook the small moments that can bring us hope and joy. Writing down things that we can look forward to every week not only helps act as our reminder that there are brighter moments ahead but it also helps train our perspective to actively look for something positive to hold onto when life feels too heavy.
Please remember that what you write down doesn’t have to be big or life changing. It can be as simple as looking forward to having the time to read a chapter of the book that you enjoy or just taking a long shower to reset. We have to remind ourselves that hope is not always loud.
Sometimes it can be found in the smallest things. Things that can bring us comfort and peace even when life feels too overwhelming. I know that this practice may not help solve all our problems, but it does help make everything lighter. It does help remind us that even though things are difficult right now, there is still hope and joy to be found in our everyday moments.
Let’s use these small moments to fuel our hope and strength to keep going.
2. Create A Playlist Called “Songs That Give Me Hope”
Songs have this power to speak to us so deeply, often saying the things that we can’t express by ourselves. It can help lift our spirits, calm our minds, and remind us of the strength that is still within us.
That’s why creating a playlist filled with songs that give us hope is a wonderful tool in fueling our motivation and determination to keep going even when life keeps knocking us down.
Doing this not only helps reignite the hope and strength within us but it also helps remind us that even on days when we feel so defeated and hopeless, there will always be something that we can turn to to help lift us back up and bring us comfort.
So, today, take a moment to create this playlist and whenever life feels too overwhelming and when you feel so defeated and exhausted, listen to this playlist.
Allow yourself to listen to the songs fully and without any distraction or multitasking. Let yourself feel every song and let them be your reminder that even the smallest glimmer of hope can help fuel our strength and courage to keep going.
3. Journal About One Thing That Made You Smile Today
To be honest with you, for years, I never really truly believed in this practice. I thought that it was just nothing but a waste of time. Also, when we are facing back-to-back problems, finding a reason to smile is not always that easy. I thought that this practice was nothing but an excuse to trick people into feeling better.
But I was wrong. You see, when I was navigating my rock bottom, I thought that the best thing to do was to focus all my attention on my problems. I thought that by doing this I was somehow pushing myself to work even harder to improve my life.
But what it did was the exact opposite. Focusing only on my struggles and every negative thing that was happening in my life only made it even more difficult for me to keep going. It not only made things even overwhelming but it also made me feel more defeated and hopeless.
This made me realize just how crucial it is to give ourselves even the smallest reminder that there are still good things happening in our lives even when everything feels too heavy.
Writing down just one thing that made us smile, allows us the chance to see that life is not only made up of pain and struggles, even if it feels that way.
This practice allows us the chance to hold on to even the smallest glimmer of light that we can in our everyday lives and use it to fuel our hope and strength to keep pushing through.
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4. Write Down One Goal And Take One Step Toward It
When we have so many things on our plates, it’s easy to feel so overwhelmed to a point that we feel paralyzed. I know exactly how this feels. When I was going through one of my lowest moments, every single day felt like I was being hit by one problem after another.
I wanted to improve my situation right away, so I pushed myself to try to solve everything all at once. But doing this did not do me any good, for what it’s worth, it just made things even more difficult. It made life so paralyzing to a point that I couldn’t even do anything because I felt too hopeless and overwhelmed.
I’ve learned that one of the best things that we can do when we are navigating a difficult season is to give ourselves permission to just tackle one single goal. When everything already feels too heavy, let’s give ourselves permission to just do one single thing.
Doing this doesn’t mean that we are slacking or that we are not pushing ourselves to do better. It simply means that we are recognizing that we are human and sometimes trying to fix everything at once is just too much.
I actually found that by doing this we are not only giving ourselves a chance to breathe and lessening the feeling of overwhelming but because we are only focusing on doing one task, achieving that one single task can greatly fuel our hope and motivation to keep going.
5. Celebrate Small Wins
In moments where we already feel too defeated and hopeless, celebrating small wins can act as our lifeline. I know that most of us often take small wins for granted. Often we are made to believe that the only wins worth celebrating are those that are huge and life-changing.
But that’s completely not true. Sometimes, one of the best things that we can do to help us find hope in moments where we feel so defeated is to pause and recognize the small wins that we are achieving.
Choosing to get out of bed when we feel so mentally drained and exhausted is a win. Showing up even when it’s so much easier to just hide and do nothing is a win. Choosing to keep going even when it’s so much easier to just give up is a win.
Please don’t ever hesitate to celebrate every win. You deserve it. Remind yourself that doing this doesn’t mean that we are being self indulgent. It simply means that we are choosing to hold onto the smallest reminder that we are still moving forward and that alone can help us find hope and light even on our darkest days.
6. Repeat Hopeful Affirmations Every Morning
I was never a big believer in affirmations. I have always assumed that something that simple could never make any impact, especially when we are going through a difficult time.
But I was wrong. It was actually during a moment of pure desperation, a moment when I felt like I had no other choice that pushed me to try this practice. I was desperate for any small thing that could help me find hope and strength to keep going. To be perfectly honest with you, at first repeating these affirmations felt weird and even silly.
But I pushed myself to keep doing this, I kept thinking that I had nothing to lose by trying this, so why not? Over time, I realized that these affirmations not only helped me feel grounded when everything around me was falling apart but they also helped shift my perspective and the way I handle things.
Saying things like, “you have the strength within you to face the problems of today”, reminded me of the strength and the fight that still left within me.
While I know that repeating positive affirmations may not act as a solution to our problems but it does help remind us of the hope, strength, and resilience that are still within us. They may not solve all our problems but it does give us the hope that we need to keep going and to try again.
Here are some of my favorite affirmations that help me find hope even in my darkest days:
I release fear and I make space for hope
I trust my situation right now is just temporary, better things are coming.
I believe that I am capable of improving my life for the better.
I have this invaluable strength within me that will help me face whatever challenges life throws my way.
Take a deep breath. I am strong. I am resilient. I can do this.
Final Thoughts
I know how difficult it can be to look for hope when everything in our lives is falling apart. Sometimes it’s just so much easier to give in to the problems and start believing that better days will never come and that we are stuck like this forever. But please know that that is never true.
I may not know what you are going through right now but as someone who has fallen into rock bottom more than a dozen times, please allow me to tell you this: Your situation right now is not going to be forever.
If you keep going and keep trying, things will get better. It may not seem that way right now but please keep the hope alive in you that better things are coming.
You are not meant to go through this forever. One day, things will change and everything in your life will finally fall into place. Just keep fighting. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. Look for hope in the smallest moments and please always remember that I’m rooting for you.
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