#19 - Hope

“Without hope, there truly is nothing”.
With hope, man can accomplish all things he sets out to do in time. Even at rock bottom you can always recover. A turnaround is always possible for someone who has breath in their lungs, and a reason for hope. For hope is the oxygen of dreams. With hope, there’s always a way out, something to look forward to. The suicidal person is that way because for whatever reason, they have decided to despair and give up the one thing that could save them: hope. They see no way out. Viktor Frankl, in his seminal work “Man’s Search for Meaning” said that those who managed to make it out of the Nazi concentration camps alive were the ones who held on to some sort of hope that, despite the horrors and inhumane conditions around them, they would get out alive and see their loved one’s again. That gave them the fortitude and will to brave the torture, and daily grind of oppressive hopelessness that surrounded them from all sides.

Most of us will never have to undergo that extreme type of situation (thankfully), but we are all faced with challenges and conditions that may appear dire. I found myself at age 31 drifting through a meaningless existence of being some 70 pounds overweight, little career prospects and low self-esteem and managed to find hope and a meaning beyond myself. My burning desire became to help myself first and then seek to help others who had similar challenges I had faced. I lost the weight, got a purpose, and have pursued it ever since, daily. Without hope, that downward spiral may have continued unabated to heaven knows what end. Hope is where a spark of a belief of a better tomorrow can become the flames of a bright and enriching future.