How to Cope With Hopelessness About the Future
By Lauren Krouse
When it feels like so much is out of your control, you may start to feel a sense of hopelessness set in.
Feeling hopeless is a common response to many of the large-scale challenges we’re facing today: climate change, social media stress, financial crises, and more. If you haven’t been able to move past demoralized feelings, you aren’t alone. Nearly half of young people reported persistent feelings of hopelessness in a 2022 survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What may spark hope, though, is that there are ways to cope with your feelings and find a sense of optimism and assurance in what’s to come in the future.
Accept and Validate Your Emotions
First, it’s important to acknowledge how you’re feeling. Maybe your hopelessness is paired with sadness, anger, anxiety, worry, fear, or numbness. Rather than pushing those feelings away, take a moment to sit with them and accept them.
Remind yourself that it’s normal and OK to feel this way. If you’re struggling to name your feelings, it could be helpful to journal about them, vent to a friend, or schedule a session with a therapist. Sometimes simply expressing what’s on your mind can give you a sense of clarity and relief.
Learn more about how to identify and talk about your feelings.
Connect With Like-Minded Community Members
Hopelessness can make you want to curl up in bed and self-isolate, but what usually helps is the exact opposite. Reach out to friends, family members, or online communities that share your values and concerns. Talking to people who understand your frustrations can empower you and help you feel less alone.
Channel Your Emotions Into Community Service
Once you’ve acknowledged your feelings and found some support, think about ways to turn anger, frustration, or whatever else is fueling your sense of hopelessness into positive action. Take a moment to reflect on yourself and your community: What are the strengths and skills you can bring to the table? How much time and energy might you have to give as an activist or volunteer? What would be the most helpful way for you to contribute to a cause?
As with anything you do, it’s important to be honest about the commitment you can make and avoid burning out. Start small. You could sign up for a one-off volunteer event or make a small donation to a local nonprofit that does work you’re passionate about. As you take steps toward creating change in your immediate community, you can see progress unfold right in front of you. That can help give you a sense of agency and hope. Ultimately, it’s these little steps that contribute to large-scale change over time.
Learn more about civic engagement and how to use activism as self-care.
Zoom in on What’s in Your Control
A big source of hopelessness is focusing on what’s out of your control. Turning your attention to what you can right in your own life rather than thinking about what is going wrong all around the world may help you feel more in control and less hopeless.
Rather than despairing over climate change on a global scale, for example, zoom in on your own abilities and community. Start a fundraiser to support hurricane survivors, volunteer to help with local recovery efforts, or share resources to educate others about what they can do to make a difference.
Collect Small Doses of Hope
It’s tempting to look for large-scale solutions to huge problems, but it’s often the small moments of goodness that help us carry on for the long haul.
Taking a moment to notice a flower growing in a crack in the pavement or a neighbor helping a neighbor can help lift your spirits. Make it a habit to look for these glimmers of hope and jot them down on your phone, snap a picture to remember it, or keep a hope journal. You may also keep your eye out for positive headlines and share them on your social media accounts to spark hope for others and start positive conversations.
Take Breaks From Social Media
Social media can be a source of hope for some, but it can take a toll on your mental health if your feed is full of negative headlines or you find yourself doomscrolling. Protect yourself by limiting time on apps that tend to bring you down and taking regular breaks from your phone altogether.
You can also clean up your feeds by unfollowing or muting accounts that are particularly upsetting and using the privacy settings in each app to limit negative content. As you scroll, you can also look for a button that indicates you are not interested in the type of post you’re seeing.
Learn more about social media use and balance.
Get the Support You Deserve
If you are struggling with prolonged feelings of hopelessness, reach out to an adult you trust and ask for help finding a counselor or therapist. They can help you reflect on where this feeling is coming from and how to recover from it. If you’re having thoughts of suicide or self-harm, get help right away.
Learn how to get support for your mental health.
If you need help right now:
- Text HOME to 741-741 for a free, confidential conversation with a trained counselor any time of day.
- Text or call 988 or use the chat function at 988lifeline.org.
- If this is a medical emergency or there is immediate danger of harm, call 911 and explain that you need support for a mental health crisis.
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