Unpacking a popular wellness trend
Author Matt Haig has spent many years exploring his struggles with anxiety and depression through his fiction and non-fiction writing. Having come through a period of several years where he felt total despair, he has some tips for us all to deal with the political and social turmoil of our current times. Not to mention the pandemic!
His most important lesson is that hope is persistent. It lives and blossoms even in the darkest of days. Intrigued? Click on to see his 10 reasons to stay hopeful.
Haig references the common expression that someone has dark clouds over them. He reminds us that we are not the clouds. In fact, we’re the sky.
The future brings possibility. Even if you don’t feel happy, that doesn’t mean that you can’t feel hopeful.
Accepting the uncertainty of the future can be scary, but it can also be liberating. Time inevitably brings change.
There are potential versions of the future that are brighter and fairer than that world we’re living in today. We can all contribute to making them a reality.
He recalls a moment in his life when he was feeling suicidal. His emotional pain was so deep that it felt physical. He looked up at the night sky filled with stars.
He suddenly felt hope that one day he would appreciate that sight again. We are surrounded by small moments of beauty that shine in the darkness.
Haig quickly qualifies this point. “Not all people, not all the time.” However, the year of 2020 shone a light on so many of the good people in the world.
Thousands upon thousands of frontline workers risk their lives every day to help others. And thousands upon thousands of ordinary people around the world continue to unite in the fight against inequality.
Haig uses the example of the purple saxifrage plant to demonstrate the way we can give each other strength and hope.
We too can provide each other with shelter and protection. During the lockdown we saw neighbors helping neighbors, friends supporting friends.
Human beings are made to survive, as is the basis of evolution. The fact that humans haven’t gone extinct yet is quite incredible. We’ve survived asteroids, ice ages, and periods of mass extinction.
We learn the most when we experience adversity and pain. In these moments we are forced to examine and test ourselves. There’s no room for denial or avoidance when things get hairy.
When we are feeling terrible or experiencing terrible things, it’s helpful to remember that change will come and our perspectives will inevitably shift.
Haig gives the example of his Jewish grandmother making it on to the last train out of Nazi-occupied Austria, after flirting with the Nazi guard at the station.
She went to London where she volunteered as a nurse and ended up meeting his grandfather, who had been injured during the Blitz. Her life grew from the moment that her old life was destroyed.
We exist, we are valuable. We don’t need to do anything to create our value. It’s simply there.
Source: (Vogue)
Check out this list of habits to give up if you want to live a happier life.
10 excellent reasons to feel eternally hopeful
From a man who spent years cultivating hope in dark times
LIFESTYLE Hope
Author Matt Haig has spent many years exploring his struggles with anxiety and depression through his fiction and non-fiction writing. Having come through a period of several years where he felt total despair, he has some tips for us all to deal with the political and social turmoil of our current times. Not to mention the pandemic!
His most important lesson is that hope is persistent. It lives and blossoms even in the darkest of days. Intrigued? Click on to see his 10 reasons to stay hopeful.