The Luxury Of Hopelessness
What would you do if your life was already perfect? The idea of a "perfect" life is something many people strive for, searching endlessly to find the elusive state. Let us assume that our imagination of a perfect life is incredibly difficult to achieve, and instead we are content with living in relative comfort. But what if there were still something missing - something so terrible or painful that we're willing to live in hardship? What if our ideal was no longer possible, but accompanied by sublime beauty and transcendence? Would this make any difference?
The concept of hopelessness deals with futility - not giving up on something so difficult it cannot be achieved. Perhaps this is a philosophy that can change our perspective on the world we live in. The concept of hopelessness is an open-ended philosophy that can be applied to any problem or situation. By having an outlook on a problem from a new perspective, we might be able to find solutions and solutions for our problems we've never had before.
In this essay, I hope to show you how hopelessness can be a step towards enlightenment, and how you might use it in your life to create your own personal utopia.
The Idea Of Hopelessness:
The idea of a hopeless life is one of the most common scenarios in fiction. Authors have always portrayed their heroes as stuck in the middle of some sort of hopeless situation. This type of imagery is not far from our lives. Whether we experience it ourselves or someone close to us has, we can all relate to the feeling that there's nothing you can do about it and you are stuck.
The idea that there is no hope behind hopelessness varies from person to person, but there are some relatively universal factors among people experiencing hopelessness:
Feelings of powerlessness over a situation that cannot be changed.
Feeling trapped without any options or solutions.
Feeling like an utter failure, or that nothing you can do will make any difference.
Despair over the fact that different people have different ideas of how to fix the situation, and no solution seems possible.
In short, hopelessness is a feeling of being stuck between two alternatives - one that seems impossible to change, and another which is so terrible it's better than not trying at all. Because of this, hopelessness often forms a cycle where we lose hope in the impossible solution and only have hope left in the terrible alternative. But hope is exactly what's needed in order to make any move towards changing our circumstances however small they may be.
The Cycle Of Hope And Despair:
Hopelessness is a cycle where we are trapped between two terrible alternatives. You might find yourself forgetting the bad situation at times, but then you realize that you cannot imagine a future for yourself, and might even think things will never change. This makes it hard to stay in the moment and enjoy what little happiness you may have as everything keeps reminding you of your dissatisfaction with your circumstances. This despair can cause us to lose hope in the impossible alternative, and all we see is the viable option which has us trapped in our current state forever. We choose despair over hope because we feel hopeless that there's no possible way out, and so we resign ourselves to our fate.
Despair is the alternative to hope. It is a negative, lifeless state where we're so trapped in hopelessness that we are unable to focus on anything but our current situation. At this point, we've given up hope that things will ever improve and have accepted the negative aspects of our circumstances as our identity. This makes it easier to be careless and do whatever we want without caring about its consequences. This leads people to blame others for their problems instead of working to fix them; in their mind, nothing can be changed anyway so why bother? Things get worse when people give up on themselves, surrendering their own hopes and dreams that lead them down a path towards destruction. We often blame the situation on the fact that their life has become hopeless, but that's how we make ourselves feel better, and it's a way to live in our own moment of despair.
Hopes and dreams can take many forms; they could be goals you want to achieve as a person, or as a leader to your company. Everyone has dreams in their heads that motivate them to work hard to get them done. However, when we're in a state of hopelessness our hopes may be so small that we do not even realize the possibility for something bigger is inside of us - despite the obstacle standing before us.
The Solution To Hopelessness:
As you can see, hopelessness is a dangerous cycle that begins with despair. Although it can be quite a challenge to overcome this downward spiral, it's not impossible. The key is to remember that in order to get out of despair, you need to have hope - even if it's just the smallest amount. The easiest way to start feeling better about your situation is to tell yourself that no matter how bad things seem, nothing is ever hopeless. Everything can change for the better at any time if you put effort into making it happen.
Once you make the decision to believe that there are things you can do to change your situation, you will start to see a difference. You will receive more opportunities, and even find new ways to improve your circumstances. If at some point in the future you realize you cannot bring about the changes you want for yourself, then it's time for a new beginning - or a new hope. At this point, if despair threatens to push itself upon you again, remind yourself that no matter how bad things seem right now, none of them are hopeless. No matter how lost or desperate your current situation may seem, there is always hope in the future if we put our minds to work and work hard enough. Now, more than ever, is the time to make things happen.
Final Thoughts:
The ideas in this piece came from a personal experience. I encourage you to try and apply them to your life - especially if you are having a hard time coping with a painful situation or life change. When you find yourself in a cycle of hopelessness, give yourself credit for trying and believing that things will get better instead of wasting time on despair. Go ahead and work hard on something that makes you happy; it doesn't have to be big, but if it's something that matters to you, then there is always hope in the future.
Conclusion:
This piece is by no means intended to provide definitive answers to the problem of hopelessness or other things that cause it. Hopelessness can be a very strong, debilitating feeling, and while there are ways to overcome this, I have not yet mastered them myself. Perhaps someone who has experienced similar feelings will feel triggered in a way that gives them the insight needed to improve their situation. In any case, I hope you found this piece useful and can apply what you've learned here to your life.
For more information about overcoming hopelessness and other symptoms of depression, check out this article..