I believe hope is something you can cultivate within your own mind. It’s within you, just as despair is. You can choose between them with some practice, but sometimes you need a little help.
For me, I find if I sing along to songs on the radio that’s enough to lift me. That affirmative action seems to ease my fears and move me into a place where my selfhood is reinforced; I don’t feel pain.
Sometimes the act of talking helps, too. Even if you’ve got nobody to talk to but yourself.
When I was a child, I would sometimes wake up from a nightmare in the middle of the night. I’d go downstairs in the dark to the kitchen to get some water, as a child who believes in ghosts that can be scary. So I’d sing to myself. I’d make up a song. And in doing this I felt the courage to walk through the darkness without fear.
It’s the same now - in believing in hope, it gives me the strength to overcome my despair.
Sometimes you meet someone who has the strength within them to inspire you. That’s an absolute gift and I admire those people to the nth degree.
Although you can’t always rely on meeting someone like that, sometimes you have to be your own hero.
And this is my way of doing so.