Overcoming Hopelessness – Part 1

There truly is no worse feeling in the world than hopelessness. People who feel like things can never get any better and only get worse end up in the direst situations. They experience depression, alienate themselves from others and some become suicidal. It’s a terrible emotion to feel and it’s difficult to watch someone you care about experience it.

I’d be lying to you to if I were to say that I didn’t feel this from time to time, but I too find myself in tricky situations that seem like a positive outcome is an impossibility. Earlier today when I watched “The Dark Night” I was reminded of this several times. Within the movie, the three main heroes (Lt. Gordon, Harvey Dent and even Batman) all experience a sense of hopelessness at some point (and their fates are all a result of how they react to it). The real life story surrounding the movie of Heath Ledger’s unfortunate death, which despite the fact that the cause of death has yet to be determined, is a reminder of the fact that celebrities who appear to have everything (Jimi Hendrix, John Belushi) can fall victim to hopelessness. It’s ironic that Ledger’s character in the film, the villainous Joker, creates chaos by getting people to feel that feeling of hopelessness.

“It’s always darkest before the dawn” is one of the lines from the movie used by Harvey Dent in an attempt to snap people out of that feeling of hopelessness. In the film “The Crow” the title character tells a young girl “It can’t rain all the time.” They both mean essentially the same thing – that bad situations are a temporary thing, not a permanent one.

I might not know you personally but I do know that you’re here reading this for a reason. Whether you’re currently feeling that sense of hopelessness or you experience it from time to time, you’re at least aware of it – and that is the crucial first step of getting past it.

As we dive deeper into this topic we’ll look at the steps that we can take to get ourselves through our darkest moments. We’ll also look at real-life examples from famous and not so famous folks that have gotten through the tough times. If you have a personal story you’d like to share, you can post a comment or contact me privately via my about page.

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