Why you should let yourself find hope when those feelings of hopelessness creep in.
Feeling hopeless is one of those things, unless you know, you don’t know. I’ve compiled a list of reasons that I’ve come up with for why you should find hope within your own mental health issues. Because sometimes your depression and anxiety are lying to you. And because there is always hope. I wanted to focus on the why of this because when my midnight creeps in (at whatever time of day) this is one of the things that ground me. Sometimes that helps. Depression and anxiety like to make you second guess logic and truth. That’s part of what makes them so effective. You need to learn how to battle them. Therefore, I’ve compiled a list for you to review.
10.) To alleviate symptoms of anxiety.
When You have physical symptoms of anxiety or depression it sucks. As a result, it interrupts your life, it drives a wedge between you and the people you care about. Symptoms can last for years. This perpetuates those feelings of hopelessness you have.
You need to address it.
Seeking help can help alleviate symptoms such as feeling hopeless, depression, anxiety, and mood swings, which can have a significant impact on an individual’s daily life. Depression is sneaky, he’ll come over one day dressed in his Juicy Couture tracksuit and before you know it, he’s been there for as long as you can remember. His cousin anxiety has a similar tactic, but he’s a little more overt. As a result, he’ll have you procrastinating on the smallest task. You have to make a phone call that will take all of five minutes? Not today, and not for the foreseeable future.
Therefore you should take the time you need to get the help that you can.
9.) To improve relationships:
Mental health issues can affect relationships with family, friends, and romantic partners. As a result, you (and them) will suffer. Seeking help can help individuals improve communication, set boundaries, and strengthen their relationships.
Do this, because it matters.
For you and for them.
8.) To reduce the risk of self-harm or suicide:
Individuals who struggle with mental health issues are at higher risk of self-harm or suicide. Seeking help can help reduce this risk and provide individuals with the support and resources they need to stay safe.
I have programmed the suicide hotline number into more peoples phones than I think is my fair share. They now have a 3 digit code for people to call in. Dial 988 from your phone to get immediate help when you are in this situation.
7.) To manage stress:
Mental health issues can increase stress levels and make it difficult to manage daily responsibilities. Seeking help can provide individuals with stress management techniques and coping strategies to help them manage stress more effectively.
Stress impacts everybody differently. Finding the right way to deal with different stressors can provide you with a source of freedom within those moments of stress.
6.) To improve overall quality of life:
Seeking help for mental health issues can help individuals improve their overall quality of life by reducing symptoms, improving relationships, and increasing their sense of well-being. Consequently this will help lessen the chance of encountering the dark roads again. This is not a guarantee, this is a what to battle, this is a way to enable you to have a chance in a battle that is often fought unfairly.
5.) To address underlying issues:
Mental health issues may be a symptom of underlying issues such as trauma, abuse, or relationship problems as a result of these things. Seeking help can help individuals address these underlying issues and work towards healing and recovery.
4.) To fight those feelings of hopelessness and to gain perspective:
Mental health issues can make it difficult to see situations clearly or objectively. They come for a visit and deliver those feelings of hopelessness, “dropping little reels of tape to remind me that I’m alone” Seeking help can provide individuals with an outside perspective and help them gain clarity and insight into their situation.
One of the hardest parts in my journey has been getting fixated or zeroing in on an issue (such as the hopelessness that I feel) or a problem or past situation. Getting help for the feelings of hopelessness that I’ve had has allowed me to develop the practice of changing my perspective.
Physiologically, there are neuropathways in your brain that are created in trauma and dysfunction (loops) that you can get stuck in. Seeking help breaks that loop cycle, giving you a way out.
3.)To feel empowered:
Feeling hopeless is an endless cycle. Seeking help can be a powerful way for individuals to take control of their mental health and feel empowered to make positive changes in their lives.
One of the driving efforts of me starting all of this was the freedom that I’ve found after years of therapy, journaling, exercising, budgeting, setting boundaries, and a myriad of other things that I will discuss over time. When I got to a place of healing, or more healed than not, I found that I wanted to help other people in their feelings of hopelessness.
2.) Me: I’m doing this for me.
I have been here before: carrying around my hopelessness.
The person about to start.
At the beginning of this I was overwhelmed.
I needed a niche. I couldn’t pick a niche. I didn’t know how to pick a niche.
How do you quantify and classify why someone should not kill themselves? Why someone should walk out of the furnace that is their mind or life (or both) and speak to that?
Maybe because I didn’t know what I was actually doing. As a result I typed into google, once more, “how to start a blog.” Even more than typing the words “starting a blog” or “what site to use for a blog” into Google, which I have done many, many times, I don’t really know what it is that I am trying to say or do.
Except that I do.
I used to volunteer with a youth group. One night we had small group and a teenage girl sat before the group, demolished by something that happened that day, what, I never found out. All she would say was that she messed up badly and felt horrible about it. Immediately, I grabbed her chair and pulled her as close to me as I could, I placed a gentle hand on her chin, lifted it up, and said these words:
“Jesus already forgave you,
forgive yourself.”
Later, another time, another girl, sat crumpled on a bench. She told me she felt ugly because she didn’t have a boyfriend. I said to her:
“You’re right, you’re ugly.”
Her head shot up, looking at me. I followed that with this
“Does that sound like the truth? Does that sound like what God says about you?”
For these reasons, I want to take the experiences that I’ve had and I want to share them in a way that points out lies and pulls you so close you can’t ignore it. Then I want to speak truth to you in a way that changes the world.
So here it is in all the ways that matter:
This is me deciding.
This is me committing.
I’ve planned, I’ve researched, and I’ve listened, over and over again, to the voice that said,
“You can’t” or “You won’t make a difference.”
I don’t want to be her anymore.
I want to be the person that finishes well.
I want to be the person that did the thing that scared them.
To be the person that follows through.
I’m deciding on disciplined action.
I’m deciding on not giving up on failures.
Deciding on consistency.
Deciding to trust.
Deciding on faith.
I’m deciding on the me that I want to be, not the me that regrets not doing.
I’m stepping off the sidewalk and into whatever this vision and dream is that I’ve hidden and
ignored for so long.
Hey Em, here I go, sweaty palms and all.
Cheers.
1.) You.
I am doing this for you, for when you feel hopeless:
You have been here before too.
I know you have. I looked up keywords.
You are the niche that I chose.
Doing research for different post and figuring out my audience I know you’re out there. I know this also because I am that person. I have googled “I need hope” “how do I get out of this hopelessness,” “feeling hopeless”. I have felt so alone that I relied on unhealthy relationships and unhealthy coping mechanisms for years.
I have also come out of that. You can come out of that too.
There is a way forward.
There is hope when you are feeling hopeless.
I knew a woman once who had five children. She had one in her late teens, married and then had two more. After several years, her and her husband adopted yet two more. He flew them to their new home on a plane when the children were six and four, the joke being that she delivered the first three and he the final two.
The children grew up and the family moved across the country, then came back nearby to their hometown. The little girl who was adopted all those years ago got restless, she wanted to go out and have fun. She tried lots of new things. She met lots of new people. In a year or so she agreed to exchange drugs for sex and soon disappeared to other states and other places; hotel rooms shared with many other girls. There her id’s were stolen and she couldn’t prove her identity. And it would happen that she traveled back to a nearby city close to her family.
Here she had discovered that her mom and dad had driven down to the city every weekend trying to find her. They knocked on doors to houses that they knew no one in. They dialed numbers to phones of people they knew not. They traveled down the winding roads and crept into the darkness of night searching for their daughter. Relentlessly they sought after her until one day they found her. They soon learned that she had overdosed several times and was in dire need of help in her addiction. Her parents picked up their little girl and drove her to a place where she had a chance of getting help beyond them.
That’s what I am trying to do here.
I have walked down the dark roads in my own feelings of hopelessness and I want to travel down the dark roads and find you in your feelings of hopelessness, in the places that you’ve hidden yourself, (for whatever reason) and I want to tell you that you matter, and that you are important. That you need to deal with your shit {your trauma, your abuse, your past, your fears, your anxiety, _______________ (name the thing you need to)}.
We need your impact on this world in the ways that only you can impact us. You are the only one of you that has ever been here {or will ever be here}. You are here now for this time for things that are for you. Seeking help when you’re feeling hopeless is one of the first steps you can take to gain control in your life.
You need to do this because we need you.
The only qualification that I have to tell you this is the work I have done crawling out of my own dark places.
When I think about the purpose I have in the world, I see you. I see the dark places I have been and the hard things I have fought through. To fight and battle depression and anxiety is one of the hardest things you will ever have to do. Then I think about how there are so many others that are still there and I want to cast that line, shine that light, stoke that flame, whatever metaphor you need, I want to sit before you and tell you the truth.
My mission statement is: “Advocating for people who struggle with hope, identity, and purpose through sharing lived experiences and powerful words.”
Come along, I will have a monthly newsletter (among other things) for tips, tricks and learning how to develop coping skills for dealing with some of lifes hardest things: used of course.
You will have to decide that you want to do it. You may have to decide over and over again.
You will have to reach out for help (and learn to identify what real help looks like).
It’s will be worth it.
You matter. You are important. This is why I battle.
