Hope motivates us in our pursuit of life’s purpose. It gives us a reason to try. But what if we lose hope in ourselves and stop trying to be the best we can be?
How can you move forward and regain that incredible sense of hopefulness when it’s dwindling? I wonder the same thing sometimes… I got this idea of hope from someone close to me—someone I hope to move forward with in my life. They inspired me to write about regaining hope because we talked about what it’s like to lose hope in yourself. What can people with zero belief or no motivation do to get back what they want most—hope?

Hope is easy to lose—especially with all the distractions we indulge in daily. Distractions take your mind off the most important thing in your life: you. You start focusing on everyone else’s lives instead of your own—letting their opinions control your actions. When their thoughts disapprove of your actions, you lose hope. There’s no need to compare yourself to others; doing so will drain your hope faster than TikTok drains your attention span. But once you regain that feeling, it’s almost impossible to lose again because you’ll have reinforced your mind with a strong defense. Below are three strategies you can start using today to replenish the sensational feeling of hope:

1. Retrain Your Focus When we lose focus on what’s important, our hope levels can drop tremendously. You have 100% control over how you think, move, behave, and speak. Our emotions can sway us, but ultimately you decide whether to give in to pain, guilt, regret, or any other negative emotion. You can retrain your mind to focus on the positive—on things that benefit you instead of restrict you. Training requires one thing… work. Be ready to work to get your hope back. It’s hard, but worth it in the end. When something bad happens to us, we only pay attention to the worst parts of life.
   What if you could change your perspective about the “bad” things?
   What if you could change how you felt in tough times? As long as you’re willing to increase your willpower and patience, this shift can be done with ease.

4. Practice Balanced Thinking Balanced thinking comes from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and has been shown to help with depression, anxiety, low mood, and cognitive distortions. The idea is simple: Identify each negative thought when it arises. Lay out the facts contributing to that negative feeling. List true, opposing reasons—positive facts that balance out the negatives. Balanced thinking trains the mind to be realistic and accepting.
   This technique prevents an overflow of self-destructive thoughts. When doing balanced thinking, be honest about how you feel. Don’t suppress your emotions; acknowledge them. Pain is always temporary, and acknowledgment is the first step toward change.
5. Align Your Goals with Your Progress Another reason hope wanes is setting goals that are out of sync with your current progress. Dream big—but start small. Clarity comes from specificity. Small, concrete goals are easier to plan and achieve. Be honest with yourself. If your progress is minimal, set smaller goals; if your progress is strong, scale up accordingly. Measure progress. Compare where you are now to where you were before. Celebrate each milestone. For instance, my goal is to become a partnered writer on Medium with 100 followers. I write weekly (17 articles so far) and have 25 followers today—up from zero. Consistency is key. The more progress you make, the more you’ll believe in your ability to dream even bigger.
6. Trust Yourself A lack of self-trust invites limiting beliefs and erodes hope. Trust is built on self-reflection: Ask why you distrust yourself. Examine past, present, and future events that shaped your beliefs. Spend quality alone time—it’s where you learn most about who you are. Be curious and compassionate toward your own thoughts. Judgment prevents understanding. You can’t understand yourself if you constantly despise who you are. The more you learn about yourself, the easier it is to trust because knowledge is power.I’m hopeful in you. Please take these insights and use them to your advantage. It can be tough to hold onto hope when life throws its worst at you, but remember: Hope can lead you to peace and fulfillment. Thank you for reading this far. If any of these ideas were an eye-opener, let me know in the comments and share the story so others can build hope within themselves!