Feeling hopeless is what most of us would have experienced at hard times. Even though we all believe in hope, there are times when we feel it is like the end of the world. The hard times will drive us to such an extreme.
Sometimes there will be no reason for us to feel hopeless and this feeling can not be avoided! The key lies in identifying and letting the feeling of hopelessness to fade away. It comes to all of us, but one should be smart to get over with that feeling.
Feeling hopeless is dangerous since hope is the only thing that keeps us going. Hope gives us the assurance that our life will improve, will get better and will not stay the same way as it is today. Hope gives us the strength to overcome the present crisis and settle things in future. So if we lose this vital hope and feel hopeless, a successful life will be in question.
Here are the four best ways that will help you overcome the feeling of hopelessness.
Separate fact from fiction:
The main cause of feeling hopeless arises from fictitious thoughts. If you have encountered a failure or have undergone a crisis you tend to feel hopeless by looking at the happenings. While you think that you are looking at what have happened and are feeling hopeless, the fact might be that you are developing fictions out of facts. You might have tried to evaluate a projected outcome of what have just happened. You might also have cooked up the causes and various other effects apart from what has just happened.
All these will bombard you with the feeling that you are facing a disaster and this will be the end. So if you take a moment to clear your thoughts of fictions and take only the facts to work out the way then you will feel a lot better.
Use the data:
Your life is a school and you learn from it everyday. You learn from your successes, failures, friends, colleagues, strangers, accidents, weather and so on. Think of your success moments and find out the cause. What made you successful on that day? You certainly have qualities to succeed. So dig them out.
Dig out the success strategies from your past. Dig out the reasons for similar failures from the past. Think of what your friend did to succeed. Think of how your colleague managed to tackle the same issue. You have data inside and outside of you. So just use it and overcome hopelessness.
Use your society:
Speaking to friends, family or colleagues will help you to ventilate the pressure. Your well wishers will give you positive comments on the situation and also might come up with a good suggestion for the problem you are facing. Some might come forward to give you a helping hand and take you out of the situation. Therefore do not hesitate to share and seek for help from family and friends.
Talk to your inner self:
Share the exact problem (without adding additional flavors, as pointed out in tip 1) with your inner self. There is no better friend to you than your inner self. So talk to yourself. Take some quite time off and isolate yourself. Analyze the crisis/critical situation/failure and find out the cause.
See what you can do to improve the situation or avoid its occurrence in future. Tell to yourself that you can improve and this is not the end.
If it is your mistake or a shortcoming from your side that has lead to the situation, then accept it duly and without pride. Take the responsibility and take charge. Be cautious not to make the mistake in future.
If it is someone who has caused a crisis to you, then tell to yourself to deal with the person in a diplomatic and polite way. Assure yourself that everything is under control.
Takeaway
Feeling hopeless is not a great deal; everyone encounters it one day or the other. The key is to identify such a feeling and overcome it. The tips mentioned above will certainly help you to deal with an abandoned situation.
Let me know how it works for you. Do you have any additional tips? Share them in the comments so that others can use it as well.
|
Don't be a newbie blogger anymore!
Download your FREE Ebook combo and start your journey as a Problogger
|
|
|
I hate spam just as much as you
|
Article by JaneSheeba
+Jane is the founder of Problogging Success. She is an expert blogger, consultant, freelance writer and blog designer. Don't forget to get your hands on two FREE Ebooks she offers.
Jane has written 262 awesome posts for Problogging Success.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
LOVE IT!!! You hit home with me early on when you said “the main cause of feeling hopeless is ficticious thoughts.” Great point.
I do find that friends help me make it through those days when I’m not real sure about what I’m doing or where I’m going.
Learning to bite the negative self-talk in the bud is a super way to get overcome the feeling of hopelessness.
Thanks
TAM
Tammy Matthews recently posted..Overcome The Fear of Failure
Hey Tammy,
It is funny that our mind chatter and fictitious thoughts tend to control us and feed us the hopelessness. It should rather be us who should control what goes on in our minds, than being it the other way.
Thanks for stopping by.
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane Sheeba recently posted..How To Write An Effective To-Do List
Hi, Jane.
I also know that some people prefer relying on HIM (God, or something supernatural). And sometimes it works. If they feel hopeless, they start thinking that everything will be fine and He will help in any case. Why not? If it helps to overcome hopelessness - that’s great!
Yes Anna,
Having belief in a supernatural power gives us a lot of hope. If the person is spiritual it can add so much strength.
Thanks for your comment,
Jane.
Jane Sheeba recently posted..5 Tips To Boost Your Productivity
Hi Jane,
Those are all excellent points for overcoming hopelessness. We all deal with at one time or another. I find that exercise, affirmations, relaxation, meditation and prayer help me out a lot. Along with focusing on the positive instead of whatever is bothering me.
Stacy
Stacy recently posted..How to Use Yahoo Answers to Generate Blog Traffic
Hey Stacy,
Yes exercise works great for me too! I feel recharged and all fresh in both body and mind after a workout.
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane Sheeba recently posted..How To Write An Effective To-Do List
Hi Jane,
I think nearly everyone can relate to this topic, and has felt hopeless at some point in their lives.
It’s so important to get past that asap. Easier said then done sometimes.
You made some great points and offered very real solutions. Well done! It is important to connect with others and yourself.
Susanna
Hi Susanna,
Thanks for your comment. I always write a tip that I could use effectively and successfully.
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane Sheeba recently posted..How To Stop Yahoo! Answers From Hacking Your Productivity
Jane, aloha. Solid advice to help lift anyone out of their feelings of hopelessness.
Your comment on separating fact from fiction ties with our discussion the other day. As we know, oftentimes people take something personally when it in no was is related to them or they make assumptions and act on those assumptions.
In either of those instances, people can create situations which lead to the feeling of hopelessness. Jane, if people follow your tips, they will not wallow in feelings of despair or hopelessness. Well done, Jane.
Enjoy a fabulous weekend. Aloha. Janet
Janet recently posted..Seduce Your Lizard Brain by Janet Callaway The Natural Networker
Well those are some great tips to get us through overcoming those feelings of hopelessness that creep up into our lives. I would be lying if I said that’s never happened to me but I will say that I’ve learned how to “not” have those feelings any longer. Seemed like it took me forever and I’m always a work in progress.
You’ve really given some great solutions on how to work through this. Really enjoyed reading this post Jane.
Adrienne
Adrienne recently posted..New Month- New Look- New Stats
You have shared practical solutions for anybody feeling hopeless Jane - Well done.
What I know about feelings is that they are preceeded by thoughts. I am continually checking in to see how I feel during the day and whenever I feel anything other than “good” I know I have to change my thoughts. This really works well for me.
One thing is for sure and that is any thought that leads us to feeling hopeless is bogus. We are unlimited and powerful beyond measure and remebering this will do a lot to short circuit this thought.
~Marcus
Marcus Baker recently posted..Facebook Unveils the Questions Tool Facebook Questions
Hi Jane,
I’ve heard it said many times that, it’s not what happens to us that is important, but how we feel about what happens to us. Zig Ziglar says that we can react, or we can respond.
Hopelessness is a state of mind.
Awesome post. Thanks for sharing!
Gregory
Gregory McGuire recently posted..Cold Calling- Has Hell Finally Frozen Over
Hey Jane,
Powerful and inspiring words!
This is my favorite line, “Think of how your colleague managed to tackle the same issue. You have data inside and outside of you. So just use it and overcome hopelessness.” Why don’t you create a video with this information for video marketing? Drive traffic from a different angle.
Have a great day…
Josh
Josh Garcia recently posted..Orlando Realty – Tips on Selecting The Right Company
Now I feel hopeless - I don’t know what to do - my brother is addicted to alcohol and he has already got into two accidents as he was driving drunk. he doesn’t want to go to hospital. Poor mum! Poor brother! What can I do!
That’s terrible because I feel my hopelessness as I know that only if a person wants to recover, he will recover but he doesn’t want …
Sorry if not to the topic
Hi Jane,
Very powerful post.
These are fantastic tips to overcome from the feeling of hopeless. I think every one has felt hopeless at some point in their lives.
Anyways, Thanks for sharing your powerful insights. Great work.
~Dev
Devesh recently posted..Why Your Blog Needs a LinkedIn Page
Hi Jane,
Hopelessness can destroy you, but only if you let it. Many things have happened to me in my past that could have completely ruined the rest of my life and almost did. Until I realized that I was the only one who could change my life and just wishing it would change, well it didn’t work. Taking action, now that works.
If you don’t do something to change the hopeless feelings inside you, they will eat at you until you are no more. So fight back, think about all the good in life and what you are yet to achieve. That always seems to help me.
Thanks for sharing Jane and have a great day!
Ian Belanger recently posted..Overcoming Procrastination With A March Madness Bracket And Newton’s Law Of Motion Really
Hi Jane,
This is a very interesting article with some useful methods of overcoming feelings of hopelessness.
When I get feelings like this I use self talk quite a bit and I often read books or listen to audios by people who inspire, me such as Geoff Thompson and Zig Ziglar.
I also try to remember that there is always something I can do (or think) right now, to improve the quality of my life, even if it just something small (I learned that from listening to Zig Ziglar)
Thanks,
Matt
Matt Cowan recently posted..Being an Expert