Hope

Hope is a very powerful mindset and is intertwined so deeply with our emotions that it could almost be labelled as an emotion itself. Its effects are so powerful that it has an impact on our entire nervous system - and therefore our entire body. All emotions do, of course, but hope seems to bring with it the big guns.   

When it comes to facing health challenges, having hope can be an invaluable powerhouse on your side. Not unlike a placebo effect - and in fact, perhaps a major part of the placebo effect, is hope. You may remember, way back we talked about how people often begin to feel better the day of their appointment. Part of what’s happening is we have hope that we will soon be getting answers or receiving treatments that will make us feel better, and so in anticipation, our body gets busy…starting to feel better!  Hope can be your own little secret sauce to healing so go ahead a sprinkle a bit on.

As healthcare providers, we must respect the power of hope and be aware of our ability to affect it. It is important not to downplay the expected course of a condition or disease, but it is also important to not to kibosh all hope in someone who understands this and is ready to try anyways. The other misspeak we must be cognizant of - both as a provider saying it and as a patient hearing it, is the message “nothing can be done”. This should be a trigger for you to take control and do your research. Is there nothing they can do, or is there nothing anyone, anywhere, or even you yourself, can try? Save for a very few circumstances, it is rare that there is absolutely nothing that may alter your journey. This is especially true in the case of chronic conditions that are likely to play out over years to decades. 

Hope is what gives us our fight, it’s what gives us our courage to dust ourselves and try again -even when we’ve been taken out the last few rounds. It’s incredibly difficult and darn near impossible to make your way through a disease or chronic condition without it. So try to find it and hold onto it when you do. Having hope doesn’t mean being delusional or unrealistic. It’s something you choose for yourself. It means believing that maybe you could be different and being ready and willing to put in the effort to try. Maybe you can defy the odds of the “average normal” person. Because what if maybe, you’re not the average, normal, person? Maybe you’re ready to be the one to have a different outlook and be one of the few who fall outside that average, expected range.

To be most effective, hope must be combined with action. They say to hope for the best but prepare/plan for the worst. I think that can be fairly misleading. Be knowledgeable about the worst, don’t be an ostrich and stick your head in the sand; perhaps gather a few resources “just in case” you need them at some point in the future (not “because for sure I’m going to need them tomorrow”). Then my friends, spend much more of your time planing annnd preparing for the best. Hope is powerful yes, but hope with action is the best combination to give success a chance. If we take it out of the heath context, might it seem a bit silly to see an object flying towards you and just stand there with your fingers crossed, hoping some magical force of nature stops it before it gets to you? Or would you perhaps also add in your best deke and dodge with whatever moves you’ve got? I mean, at least this way, if it does still hit you, you’ll know you tried! 

So regardless of your circumstances, don’t be afraid to open your mind and see what a little hope can do. Then combine it with some action and try a few different things. Maybe you can work on your physical strength, maybe a bit on diet, maybe you resolve to spend more time doing the things you love and get rid of some stressors in your life. All of these things are actions that you take, and hope can give you the strength to try.