How do you all keep up hope?

[AY38910]

Honestly, sometimes I feel that the "AI takeover" you see in films where the bots end up taking your place would be better, that we have already proved to not be good at ruling the world.
Sometimes I feel that maybe we deserve another chance, that we can try again and hopefully not make the same mistakes.
Sometimes I feel that we should all die.
Sometimes I feel that we should just keep going no matter what, maybe things will go better in the future.

But mostly, I don't care if we make it or not, at least we're still here. At least I still have mom, dad, my friends, etc.

[noahie]

I believe in the power and love of Christ. Also, a good prayer life makes so much better. Prayer isn't about using God as your personal slot machine, though. Prayer is meant to change YOU, not God.

For those who don't know, start with the Jesus Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner

Be blessed.

[boreal_cryptid]

connecting to my heritage and culture - even practicing my language brings me sense of purpose again. honestly, sometimes it's all i have. having purpose helps.

meme about "touching grass" isn't a meme for me. i'd rather touch some snow, but grass will do too.

[Mono The Bun]

I wont go into specifics, but I think its safe to say the world is... in a bad place. Has been, for years. How do you all keep going? Through the many trifles and tribulations, through the horror of what you'll have to face?

How do you do it? Cuz im sure having trouble doing it, and I don't even have a job!

Thats a really good question if I’m being honest.

Part of it is religion. I don’t want to seem trite in saying this, but I do think it honestly helps. I’m a Christian and I think that gives me a certain outlook that embraces suffering. In some way, suffering makes hope shine brighter and makes me look to the God who will bring me through those trials: either through their abatement and resolution, or ultimately through my death and future resurrection.

It’s not a magic bullet to be quite clear. Because even religious men struggle with despair, hopelessness, and depression. But in matters of the spiritual it is one good tool in the arsenal against such things.



Part of it is not over extending myself unnecessarily and knowing my limits. Getting away from depressing news for long periods of time I think is crucial. Or even just getting off the internet for a bit. We weren’t meant to be omniscient, omnipresent, or omnipotent. And I think the more we try, the more we stress ourselves out. Our culture is very good about convincing us we need to get rid of our limits as if they are a bad thing. But I think in a lot of ways, limits can be a great gift we fail to recognize in our productivity/profit driven culture. Balance is good to have and we desperately need it.

Having people to talk to IRL I think is something we need too. Even I struggle in this area and have for most of my life. But I have my wife and our families and a small amount of friends here or there.
 We need in person communities desperately in our culture. As wonderful as a tool the internet is, and it really is, it can’t replace person-to-person contact. And I would argue it’s not meant to.

Mind you these are my ramblings. Take what you will, leave what you will, I offer them as I figure out what prevents me from despairing so easily.

[Seraphim]

I recently saw a video where someone was, out loud, trying to process their feelings about the state of the world. The hopelessness, the despair, the ever-present low level anxiety. And the conclusion that they came to was that all of these feelings were Grief. Not the grief of losing a loved one, but the collective grief of what could have been. Sadness for those who are suffering, missing the potential futures that were lost, anger at those who prevent the world from improving for seemingly no reason. This person felt that they were going through stages of grief, and that they would continue to feel those feelings.
Strangely, hearing it put so succinctly really helped me process and make peace with it. Especially the part where they, and I, realized that we will continue to feel that hopelessness, the anger, the longing, because

I love the earth, the planet, its animals and all of its people. This is my home and the only planet I'll ever know, and damn it I'm going to fight for it till the bitter end, I just don't care how "hopeless" the situation is.

And so I have arrived at a place of hardened hopefulness. I was once an idealistic optimist, and I have come to know the reality of the world, and have chosen to have a bitter, resilient, hardened hope that things will get better one day. 

[fuwaka]

you do what you can. whatever that may be. perhaps it’s taking care of your pet, or keeping up with your medications and reaching out to loved ones and remind them that you care. updating your site, strolling the forums… you gotta do whatever you have to do in order to keep hope alive. ( ´_ゝ`)

  existence is resistance.

[ialu]

To put it bluntly, I sort of just don't; that, or, at the very least, I don't try to. Not because I have given up, but because, from my own perspective, I find myself much more motivated by realism. As I see it, "hope" is valuable only to the extent that it is rational; if we're defining it as a belief that circumstances may improve, then as long as I can survey my surroundings and believe that to truly be the case, then I have hope. I don't necessarily try and cultivate hope for the sake of hope; like how an excess of pessimism can be destructive, an excess of hope can lead you to sub-optimal decision making and be more emotionally damaging overall.

I will say, though, there are vanishingly few situations on the global scale where there is simply no hope or chance of recovery. As I see it, the world gets ever more progressive and liberated as time continues; there are, of course, lapses both small and severe in this gradual progression, but it all seems to follow the same trend to me. Moreover, the future is forged, not predetermined; I notice that what often happens in discussions and calls to "keep hope" is a sort of removal of oneself as an agent and instead a repositioning as a passive observer. Of course, the extent to which any given person can engage with these things can vary, and this is in no way meant to imply anyone is at fault for not engaging with these things, but all across the world, there are political movements brewing which you may become involved with. Part of my own hope is the knowledge that, not only are others doing things to counteract any injustice, but I, too, am capable of these things.

Of course, this is just how I, on an individual level, view things; some people take a more active approach to maintaining their own motivation, and that is fine.

[dark_angel93]

our grandparents faced more hard conditions - though free from corporate internet hell - free from many comforts technology gives. plus, war. earlier - middle ages. I think its a dangerous misconception we all have - that life right now harder than it ever was, but we just can't now, can't compare. as one of the homeless people in my city said - life is beautiful, but hard. I would reframe - life is beautiful AND hard. we just aint kids anymore, and that is scary, scary to live trough staff you only read about in history books. but all kind of terrible stuff happend. I am more afraid to think about it like the life-stopping apocalypse, its more harmful. It brings paralyzing fear and its as many fears is illogical.

[dark_angel93]

, view things; some people take a more active approach to maintaining their own motivation, and that is fine.

very well worded! hope really can be damaging sometimes if misplaced

[Gizmo]

To be fully honest, I don't. I still help out where I can and try my best and all that, but I'm only 1 person with minimal power at the end of the day, and I've become quite cynical after the events of this past year.

[lotus_start]

you do what you can. whatever that may be. perhaps it’s taking care of your pet, or keeping up with your medications and reaching out to loved ones and remind them that you care. updating your site, strolling the forums… you gotta do whatever you have to do in order to keep hope alive. ( ´_ゝ`)

  existence is resistance.

this rocks honestly! i've seen older posts say that focusing what you can change and what is in your control is helpful. i have extremely bad climate change anxiety (don't even get me started on the weather outside), but it's pushed me to sign up for volunteering next month and write letters to my government. and hey, maybe if i get more active on here i could run a zine or something where funds go to help activists or genuinely good organizations.

existence is resistence... i gotta remember that whenever i feel down (。_。)!