7 tips to help you feel more hopeful right now

In a world of negativity, here are some tips to find the silver lining.

There’s a lot going on in the world at the moment. Far more than we can cope with all at once. Our brains are beautifully designed to handle immediate threats – like a tiger chasing us! – but the slow burn of climate change, global politics, and yes, a pandemic, is simply too much. Throw in personal pressures like work, family commitments, and the cost of living, and it’s no wonder many of us are feeling, well, a bit frazzled (to put it mildly). 

In times like these, all you can really do is come back to the things you can control. You can’t change the world overnight, but you can change how you respond to it. The news you watch (or don’t watch), the wellbeing techniques you embrace, and even the thoughts you think.

Despite very real and very daunting challenges, there are ways to feel more hopeful about life right now. Not in a trivial ‘be positive!’ sense – but through evidence-based, scientifically sound strategies for changing your mindset. 

Staying hopeful isn’t about pretending everything is fine. Rather, it’s about focusing on all the things that are going great – and that could get even better. You can feel two things at once: stressed about the status quo and hopeful for a brighter future. Hope is what gets us through tough times. And, it helps soothe your frazzled nervous system, too, which in turn helps you build resilience and bounce back from stress.

Here are 7 tips to help you feel more hopeful about 2022.

Write down 3 things you’re grateful for

Gratitude releases dopamine and serotonin, two powerful feel-good hormones. Gratitude can make you feel happier in the present moment and more hopeful about what’s to come. Write down 3 things you’re grateful for each day. They can be big or very small – like ‘lunch was delicious’ or ‘I found a matching pair of socks’. This reminds the brain that even in the hardest of times, good things still happen.

Look for opportunities to celebrate

We often reserve celebrating for big milestones, but you can usually find things to celebrate in everyday life once you begin to look. Celebrate anything and everything you achieve that feels hard – and if you didn’t achieve something, celebrate that you tried!

Take a break from the news and social media

The news is not a very hopeful place right now. If you’re feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders, give yourself – and your nervous system – a break. Limiting your news and social media exposure, even just for a few days, will give you the headspace to feel more hopeful about the future.

Focus on what you can control

Try organizing all your worries into two lists: things you can control and things you can’t. Acknowledge what’s beyond your control and let those worries go. This frees you up to focus on the things you do have some influence over. What can you do about these worries? Turning your worries into a plan will help you feel less stressed.

Set achievable goals

Set yourself some achievable goals and milestones that you can tick off and feel good about. Enjoy that hit of happy hormones when done!

Look for the good in the world

Actively seek out inspiring stories about people doing great things. Look for the good in your everyday life, too – people helping each other out, the sound of birdsong, how beautiful the sky looks at dusk. In looking for the good in the world, you may find that you need to prune your social media feed to include more good and get rid of the bad. Follow accounts that lift you up and unfollow the ones who bring you down.

Laugh often

Having a good laugh might be the last thing you feel like doing, but it can be the most powerful. Laughing brings you back into your body, rather than ruminating on thoughts in your mind. So much about life is absurd right now – sometimes all we can do is laugh, remember we’re all human, and keep holding onto hope.

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