Hope

I don't watch much TV but recently we got Ziggo. For years I didn't watch mainstream TV but what strikes me now is how much negativity there is. Nature falling into irreversible destruction, the financial crisis due to high energy prices and sky-high inflation, young adults who cannot afford to buy their own homes and continue to live with their parents, the heartbreaking war in Ukraine, the shortage of personnel hampering business growth and putting more work pressure on fewer people, need I say more?

You have to stand firmly in your shoes if you want to be able to let all this slide and not let it affect your mood. Unfortunately, I am not that strong. But what I do know is that there is always hope. Hence, in this first blog of the year, I want to focus on how to keep hope alive. Read 4 tips here:

1. Don't underestimate yourself

We often think about ourselves in terms that sell us short. You judge yourself by the last game you played instead of the trail of victories before that. There is hope in the now because you have faced hotter fires. You have had enough challenges and setbacks in your life and you have lived through them all. Day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year. You've adapted, you've evolved, you've deepened, you've made different choices, and you haven't let up. You fret now, about big and small things, but that's nothing new. In the past, things have all gone well or been good for something. Much of what you have now and have achieved were once your goals and dreams. Therefore, rely on your resilience and qualities to stay positive about the future.

2. Nature always wins

As fragile as nature can sometimes seem, we should not underestimate it. Nature has mystical powers and always triumphs in the end. Just look at nature's recovery during the corona lockdown. Water became clear again in many places, the sky turned blue, less CO2 in the air etc. Leave the pavement and street alone for a few months and see how quickly it becomes overgrown with weeds, greenery and trees appearing out of nowhere. As average individuals we can only do our best to do as little damage to nature as possible. But we have our limitation, we can only do so much. Point being, nature intervenes in the end. Even if it means that we will end up like Atlantis at the bottom of an ocean. Oh wait, this was a blog about hope....

3. There is so much good in the world

It may not be splashy and certainly not breaking news, but if you look around you, there are countless gestures of love and kindness. Parents who protect their offspring and want to give them a good time, people who donate generously to charities, animals adopted into loving families, a neighbour who looks after your plants, a sincere compliment that makes you feel seen, friends who offer their help or a listening ear, a cup of tea next to your bed when you feel sick, a fellow traveller who holds up the door while you come running to the bus, people who silently compensate your mistakes in traffic so that no accident occurs, a cashier who jokes with a lonely elderly man, etc. etc. If you pay attention to them, you will only start seeing more of them. Little things like these, they are not little at all. They give hope for humanity.

4. The big perspective

We can sometimes lose ourselves in the problems of our daily existence. Our life and all its worries seem to cover the universe. It therefore helps to zoom out from time to time and look at things from a much wider perspective. Time is something that is infinite. Before the big bang, after the big bang, time just goes on. You have been given a very very tiny piece of this time. That is your life. In the spectrum of the cosmos, it is absolutely insignificant. Ask yourself how you would look back at this moment or this problem when you are a 100 years old? How bad is it if you don't get that job or you can no longer wear a size 36? It is all relative and you will always find a way, just look over your shoulder, you have proven that so many times before after all.

In this way, we can keep hope alive. At least, I hope so. Having said that, I want to send you all my best wishes for 2023. May it be a year in which you may find and receive much good and pass on of the same to others.

Wishing you a hopeful first month of the year,

Much love,