5 Ways To Find Hope When You’re Feeling Stuck

Every time this is practiced, it builds the hope muscle. It gets stronger each time you exercise it during a struggle so that you have the hope, knowledge, and belief that you will get through it.So, when stuck in the personal growth swamp, you’re realizing you’re knee deep in the muck and your hope muscle isn’t the strongest, what can you do?Not knowing how to find hope when you’re feeling hopeless, start out with these 5 simple tips:

Not knowing how to find hope when you’re feeling hopeless, start out with these 5 simple tips:

1. Notice and name the feelings.

Lay them out. It takes their power away and helps you connect your experience with the feeling and where you feel it in your body.

2. Phone a friend.

Talk to a really close, good friend who is able to listen without judgment or tell you what you should be doing.

3. Give yourself permission to not know “the right thing to do.”

It’s OK to stay there until you build the grit and tenacity to figure out the next right thing to do. That’s all you have to do: the next right thing to deal with all the things.

4. Reflect.

Talk about it. Write about it. Mull it over. Don’t numb out if you can help it.

Find those who’ve experienced similar struggles either through Google or by through real live people. Knowing that someone else has survived something similar can provide relief, validation, and start giving you the first drops of hope you need.

5. Start collecting evidence.

Confidence comes from evidence. Hope comes from struggle. What evidence do you have of overcoming previous struggles? What part of this struggle have you already dealt with?

Keep the evidence. Log everything. Every. Little. Thing. You will show yourself you are capable of action and movement, however big or small the steps may be.

To quote Desmond Tutu, “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness.”