Hope Changes Everything: Hold Onto Hope (Part 3 of Hope for Depression)


Hope changes everything. Do you believe that is possible even when you know that hope can't be measured or touched?

 "Of all ills that one endures, hope is a cheap and universal cure." (Abraham Cowley)

 One of the things that changes my thinking from 'hopeless' to 'hopeful' is a chat with a trusted friend. That is usually my sister or my husband. If I can just get out the hopeless words, purge myself from the negativity, I can sometimes come away from a conversation like that with a little hope. A chat with a trusted friend is one of my favourite depression getaways.

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I wish I could bottle that kind of hope for you right now and make a potion out of it. Okay, so if we were going to create our own hope potion what would it be made of?

 Before we figure that out maybe we need to remind ourselves what the opposite of hope is - despair!

Despair is not an option.

 We cannot afford to give in to despair. This illness is bad enough sometimes but

we CAN choose hope.

 One of the reasons for this blog 'Depression Getaway' is to give hope to those suffering from mental illness.
HOPE IS A CHOICE.

HOPE IS A DECISION.

 Hope is all we have to cling to when things are really bad. Hope is absolutely essential for surviving all of life; not just depression.

 If you choose to take some of the getaway challenges that I present, for instance, the laughter challenge, the journaling challenge, the crying challenge and now the hope challenge, you will find your hope reserves getting fuller!

 Now back to our hope potion.We will put into our bottle of hope medicine: laughter, tears, journaling, exercise and much much more!

 If you are having trouble clinging to any hope at all, then cling to this: you are reading this right now. Therefore you have not given up. If you have not given up, then you have HOPE. We can only lose hope if we give up. Hope is not something tangible that we can lose. It is illusive, but we can choose to have some.

 WHAT ABOUT YOU?  How are you feeling today? Is your hope just a fleeting thought or do you have some concrete reason to have hope? Tomorrow I am going to talk about concrete hope.

 Don't give up! There is hope for depression.

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