A new year. A new hope.

Keeping hope alive in trying times

A new year.  A new hope.

Every Christmas, my family and I rewatch the entire Star Wars collection.  We always start with the original series beginning with ‘A New Hope’ where the rebels are almost decimated and a new hero, Luke Skywalker, is introduced as a hope for the future.  

I find the tone of this movie to be just the right hit for the new year which is why I choose to watch it first.  From the rebel perspective they have a lot of mistakes and losses in their past, but lots of times that have kept them hopeful and persistent. Up against significant odds, it would seem reasonable for the rebels to admit that they are outgunned, outnumbered and up against considerable influence of the politicians and profiteers.  It's eerily similar to how many community advocates and environmentalists feel most days, me included.

But this funny little thing - hope - keeps them pressing on even against the most significant challenges and low odds.

Over the last few weeks I have fielded many emails and connected with lots of people via Zoom events who were searching for hope.  Dismayed by provincial decisions, a changing climate, health care crisis, increasing costs of living, rising poverty and disconnect in our communities, they all wanted a reason to keep pressing on. There’s a yearning for hope like a parched desert traveler yearns for water.

So how do we maintain hope despite the odds?  I’ve collected some thoughts that might help guide you in your own journey to find hope and light.

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

Hope is not naive optimism.  Desmond Tutu said, “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”  In this way, hope is holding space for the troubles of the world, the sadness, the disappointment, the fear, but making sure that you also seek out the light - the connections, the good news stories, the love, the beauty and the blessings that do exist.  My mother used to say to me, “if you go looking for trouble, you’re going to find it.”  Similarly if you’re looking for all that is wrong with the world (and social media can definitely contribute to that doom scrolling) you will find it.  Are you also looking for the light?  I am able to admit there are significant, multiple crises that put our world and our future at risk.  I’m not naive.  I am also not so focused on thinking positively that I don’t recognize that significant action and work is required individually and collectively.

BUT my hope is fed from my belief that the good I see in the world, in the people I meet, in the kindness of strangers, and the love that I receive and share will eventually grow in power to overcome the dark and lead us to a better world.  I believe that you starve hope if you only focus on the dark.  So, I choose to acknowledge the challenges, but I prioritize looking for the light because that feeds my hope.

Hope isn’t a strategy.  I’ve met a few people who muster up hope and put so much energy into keeping their hopes high with big expectations of what will happen because of that hope that they become despondent when their expectations aren’t met or more disappointments come along the way.  They throw up their hands ‘See?  What good did hoping do?  Everything is just as bad as it was before or worse!’ Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of this when he said, “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”  The struggle for change is not linear.  It is also not a formula where you add set ingredients and come out with the result you want.  So don’t mistake that having hope is going to radically change all of your troubles, nor will it relieve you from the work that needs to be done to feed others’ hope and build community power.  Hope is the propellant of the movement, just like the Star Wars rebels that kept at it.  Hope powers the continuous, consistent effort and community building that leads to that better place.  So don’t forget that action is necessary too.

Hope is a practice.  Some people have an easier time finding hope than others.  Perhaps because of their living standard, access to resources and level of privilege it's easier to believe things are going to be better in the future because you have the means to do so.  At the same time, I’ve met people who are facing incredible challenges both individually and systemically imposed that have high hopes of a better future because frankly it couldn’t get much worse.

All this is to say that hope is a practice, not something you have or you don’t.  You build it and strengthen it just like any other muscle.  Somedays, I lose my hope and give in to the fear, sorrow and anxiety about what the future could look like.  However, I’ve been working my “hope muscle” for a long time and so I know that this is a part of the process.  It’s a signal to me that I need more connection with others, with myself and with the light in the world.  I see it as a reminder to get in touch with the world again rather than assuming I’ve lost hope because it’s all become too terrible.  In those times, I seek out others who are caring about the issues that I care about, soak in times with loved ones and take care of myself a little better.  This is how I do it, but you may have other ways.  What I would suggest is to build a community or network of people around you that are similarly valued.  This is your life raft and it's essential to keeping you hopeful.

Be responsible with others’ hope.  As I mentioned earlier, I see hope as a propellant, so diminishing someone else’s hope or labeling them as naive can do a lot of damage.  Not only is hopelessness seen as a risk indicator for suicide it also is linked to poor mental, emotional and physical health.  So be kind when someone comes to you with hope no matter how outrageous the thought is.  As Nelson Mandela once said, “It is always impossible until it is done.”  Who would have ever guessed at that time that the Berlin Wall would fall or that the Cuban Missile Crisis would be averted or that man would ever land on the moon?  At one time these were simply just dreams and hopes of others that were likely dismissed as impossible or unreasonable.

For me, I turn to these examples and others throughout history that remind me that seemingly impossible things have happened.  Why do we assume equally impossible events won’t happen in the future?  There are an infinite number of possibilities for how the future will play out.  We may be focused on just one and because we assume that that’s the most likely outcome we assume that it’s a done deal - nothing could change that outcome because the odds are too great.  I hear this way too many times.  Because they see the outcome as set, people lose hope and action isn’t taken which only increases the odds of that terrible outcome happening.  It’s a dangerous cycle.  However, if you can reconcile that there are many forces acting on a problem (for example, tens of thousands of people across Ontario are fighting to save the Greenbelt and globally millions of people working to fight climate change), many of which you don’t see AND that there is potential for other outcomes too, you can keep your hope alive.

I mean while we’re talking about impossible events here, you being alive at this very moment is one in itself.  The odds are over 1 in 400 quadrillion.  You are akin to an impossible event happening as with everyone else you know.  In my mind, you and I are a walking miracle.  So when a world is full of miracles such as you and I, then that to me suggests anything is possible if we work together. 

Photo by Rosie Kerr on Unsplash

“Hope is the companion of power, and mother of success; for who so hopes strongly has within him the gift of miracles.” – Samuel Smiles