Hope is to our spirits what oxygen is to our lungs. Lose hope and you die. They may not bury you for awhile, but without hope you are dead inside. The only way to face the future is to fly straight into it on the wings of hope…hope is the energy of the soul. Hope is the power of tomorrow. ~Lewis Smedes
We have come a long way in understanding depression and why there is hope to overcome it. Hope is like the air we breathe. We cannot live without it. What is hope? Hope is expecting something good. People suffering from depression begin to lose hope when they stop expecting that things can change and get better. There is an old Italian proverb that says, “Hope is the last thing ever lost.” You can lose everything and still not lose hope because there is always hope. What are you expecting? Do you believe things to ever change? Do you believe they can?
What is hope?
Hope is not wishful thinking. Nor is it a passive. Hope requires faith in times of waiting, faith that things will get better. With every expectation there is a time of waiting, otherwise you wouldn’t need hope because you’d have what you were hoping for. Hope also requires faith to pick up and try again after you have fallen another time. To hope is to believe for a better tomorrow and trust that even the pain you suffered can ultimately be used for good in your life.
Hope is the anchor that prevents our souls from drifting off into trouble during the storms of life. Hope is an anchor…….what do you put your
hope in?
Hope keeps our mind on the solution, not on the problem.
“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” ~Helen Keller
How many times have you overlooked the open door?
Receiving help, finding hope
There is hope for depression. There are many things that can be of significant help and improve one’s life and well-being. But help needs to be received in order for it to bring hope and healing. Help can come in different ways. We have discussed many ways, but by no means have we covered them all. May this journey inspire you to greater hope to live your life to the fullest with joy, inner peace, confidence, and love for life, self and others.
Following is a poem that has encouraged thousands of people over the years to never give up--
Never give up believing things will get better.
Never give up trying.
Never give up pursuing your goals.
Never give up on yourself.
Never give up…
No matter how many times you fall.
No matter how hard you get hit.
No matter what has happened in the past.
No matter how bad things might be.
No matter how discouraged you feel.
No matter how much you are tempted to doubt.....
But believe…
Believe…
because….there is HOPE
Let hope strengthen you to get back up again.
Let hope be your anchor in the storm.
Let hope encourage you to never give up!
Don't Quit
When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit--
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns;
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won, had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit;
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.
~Leo Piggott, 1931
