6 Reminders For When You Feel Hopeless

You always have power.

You might not have the type of power that you want – over whether someone specific falls in love with you or whether you’re offered your dream career. But you are never entirely powerless. You are in complete control of your choices moving forward. You get to decide where you focus your energy and what doesn’t deserve your time and attention. You get to choose which path you’re going to follow, which fork in the road to take. Even though you can’t predict (or shape) the future, you have more agency than you realize. Don’t sit back and let life happen to you. Chase after what you really want.

You’re not going to feel super motivated all the time.

Although chasing after your dreams sounds fun and exciting, it’s not always glamorous.  There are going to be days when the hours fly by because you’re working on projects that mean the world to you. And there are going to be days that feel like a slog because you’re tired or bored or unsure whether what you’re doing even matters. You need to push past those tough days. Your motivation isn’t gone forever. It’s only taking a short vacation.

You’re allowed to think positive.

No, thinking positive isn’t going to solve all your problems. It’s not magically going to make your fears go away. But you don’t want to assume the worst case scenario is going to happen. You don’t need to prepare yourself for every possible disaster. Even though it sucks to get your hopes up and end up disappointed, give yourself permission to think positively every once in a while. Daydream about what life would be like it things work out. Visualize the future that you really want for yourself. Don’t be so scared of failure that you don’t even allow yourself to consider the possibility of success. Let yourself dream big.

You aren’t alone in feeling this way.

The world is a messy place, especially right now. Even though you might feel like you’re alone in your sadness, there are so many people who are feeling the same uncertainty as you are. This pain is being shared by so many people. Even though you might feel like you’re on an island alone and everyone else is coping perfectly fine, that’s simply not true.

Your pain is temporary.

Today might be hard, but today is going to end. Whatever problem you’re dealing with is eventually going to get solved. Although you might feel like you’re stuck moving mountains right now, there will be a point when you’re relaxed and laughing with your friends again. There will be a moment when all your worries fade and you simply enjoy the world around you. That place might feel far away, but it could be closer than it appears.

You’re more capable than you think.

You’ve gotten this far. You might be scraped and bruised, but you made it. You endured. You survived the worst moments of your life. You are more badass than you believe.