What we need now is a little HOPE.. This is my first blog post. I have been asking myself what I should write about and speak on. I even did a little research to the value of hope in our lives. It appears we are all searching about selfcare, travel, and food! Which tells me we are all trying to find hope. We are hoping to find better ways to care for ourselves, hopeful to find an adventure or a terrific restaurant. I currently work in an industry where people need hope, during a time when they may feel helpless. I educate families, about how to make end of life decisions. These decisions usually come when you would think people would be all out of hope What I have discovered, is that the dying hang on to hope. Those of us busy living, might find it difficult at times to hope.

I have noticed we are less kind to one another; violent crimes have been normalized. Empathy for one another is difficult, as we are caught up in the ” I” of life, instead of the “we”. And we are tearing each other apart over our political differences. Villainizing each other over opinions, and political parties. However, what I have learned is that even in the darkest hours we all tend to all look for hope. And it doesn’t matter political affiliations when someone is offering help during those darkest hours.

According to a Harvard medical school article published July of 2021, hope is “associated with improved coping, well-being, and engagement in healthy behaviors“, in young adults. Hope is also critical for the mature population to maintain, as “life challenges and changes, affect our lives. As mature adults every day can feel daunting with career changes, marital relationships, debt, parents requiring extra support, as well as our own growing health challenges. Hope serves as protector against depression and suicide. 

I am currently at the stage of life, where I have lost many people, questioned many things, spent time searching for meaning, and yearning for a better way to live. And this is where hope comes in! We all need to find ways to keep hope alive. If you are struggling with finding hope, if you have times, you feel hopeless, I am going to urge you to consider going on a hopeful journey. Hope usually starts with gratitude, even if you have limited time, I am sure there are things in your life that you are grateful for. When I am struggling, I will make a list everyday of things I am grateful to have in my life. I will sometimes say this list on the way to the grocery store. For example, I can have gratitude for my job, even if I don’t love it, because it provides for my family. I can have gratitude for my car (even if it is not the nicest) because it gets me to where I need to be. I can have gratitude for my body, (regardless of body image) it is the vessel we use to walk around, get around and I am grateful that it works! I can have gratitude for my family, spouse, children, siblings, parents for example. Those relationships don’t have to be perfect in order for me to feel gratitude for them. And all of these things, and people make me feel HOPEFUL!

I am going to include some other things I do to help myself stay hopeful.

• I love going for bike rides, getting out on the trails. Smelling the fresh air, and the most amazing thing happens, going down the trail I am able to smell all the plants together, trees and flowers and it is so fragrant like perfume. There are very few things that can make me as happy as a bike ride! On my most frequented trail, I am blessed with seeing many animals, having hills and valleys. Shade and sun…it is just the most wonderful place!
• I love being out on the river kayaking, watching the wild life and listening to the water. Laying back in my kayak enjoying the beautiful sky!

If you are not a fan of bike rides or kayaking…..

• BUY A HAMMOCK! It will be the best thing ever! There is something so peaceful laying under a tree , feeling the breeze, and the slight sway of the hammock. It is truly a place that I consider so close to God, Goddess or Universe…whatever you call your higher power…it makes you feel so connected!

Notice, these suggestions are all stress reducing and nature themed! No one can be hopeful if they are stressed! Stress steals our joy and dampens hope.

Some other things I do….

• LEARN! If there is something you have been wanting to learn, then take the time to learn it. Fulfilling heart desire and investing in ourselves is one of the best ways to feel hopeful. During the Pandemic…after the cupboards had been cleaned out…after I had shed all the junk, I had been hoarding…I decided to learn to crochet. I did this because life was feeling hopeless and stagnate and frankly, I was bored. My goal was just to make a blanket, and I did! It was the most crooked blanket, but it worked! I then went on to make blankets for everyone in my family for Christmas! It was my Christmas miracle…and what I learned about myself is that I had the power to do and learn things all on my own. Now! was it difficult…yes…did I rip it apart a hundred times…yes. Did I make a blanket that looked like a Christmas skirt…yes. But in the end, it got easier, more exciting and it made me more hopeful for other items I could make! At a time when life felt hopeless crocheting made me more hopeful.
• Learn to cook world foods! Again, during the pandemic, when we couldn’t go out to eat, I took the time to learn how to cook some foods I had always wanted to learn to make. One Saturday I made tamale’s…it was fun…and I learned that I would rather buy them! They are ALOT of work, and it gives me so much admiration for the families that make those! Sooooo much work!!!

And lastly…higher power…

• Heal….if you are wounded. Have unresolved trauma. Issues and secrets and feel hopeless. Life has lost its luster of excitement. I am going to suggest opening yourself up to healing. Mind, Body and Soul
• I saved this for last, because it can be touchy. I am personally not a “religious” person. However, I do believe that everyone at some point in their lives needs some place to look for answers. Yes, that can be God. It can be anything you want to call your higher power. For me I believe in the universe, and energy. So, if you are a person, that has not cultivated a spirituality, then I suggest looking inward and outward to figure out what it is you need, and then seeking that. For me, the universe gives me meaning, rationalization, and hope. I understand two things, bad things happen to good people and good people do bad things. We are not bad and good; we are complex and many of us cannot simply believe to believe.
• Most importantly, take care of yourself as though you are the most important person in your life. Because YOU ARE! I suggest Reiki, as another option for healing.

I hope with all my heart that this blog post helped you!

Reference: Hope: Why it matters – Harvard Health