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Why We Need Hope

In my discussion with Rob Rene on the EZ Conversations podcast, which I shared last week (Listen Here), we touched on how hope was central to Rob's journey through adversity—including a near-death experience that shattered his dream of becoming a professional runner. As Rob highlighted during the episode, if he wakes up and is breathing, there is hope of doing more.

That simple line stayed with me.

Hope allowed Rob to overcome his alcohol dependence, recover from heart issues, and eventually build a business focused on helping others live healthier lives. His message was not one of blind optimism but of agency—of refusing to surrender one’s mind to despair, and of questioning the status quo so we reclaim the authority to think for ourselves.

As I reflected on my conversation with Rob, I connected deeply with the psychological power embedded in hope. There is a tension in hope, because like faith, it requires believing in something we cannot yet see or articulate. Yet it is also profoundly human.

And when I look around me today, I notice how many people feel an absence of hope. They feel overwhelmed by life’s unpredictability, trapped in circumstances that appear immovable, or unable to see any light at the end of the tunnel.

But hope is not passive. It is not a distant abstraction. It is an active internal process—a choice, a practice, and at times, a lifeline. It is a knowing we carry deep within us, and it does not materialize unless we give it breath.

In Urdu, there is a beautiful saying: “Umeed par duniya qayam hai.” The world stands upon hope.

The English translation doesn’t quite capture its depth, but the message is simple: without hope, nothing in our internal or external world can be sustained. Especially in the world we live in—filled with uncertainty, noise, polarization, and suffering—it becomes even easier to lose hope. Yet even now, there is enough goodness around us to reclaim it.

Sometimes hope is not about believing everything will work out perfectly; it is about trusting that we can work with whatever comes.

The Psychology of Hope: Why It Matters More Than We Realize

Hope is not merely an emotion. It is one of the most empirically supported psychological forces that predict resilience, healing, and our ability to navigate adversity.

1. Hope improves physical and mental health

Psychologist Charles R. Snyder’s influential Hope Theory defines hope as having two core components:

• Agency — the belief that I can take action.

• Pathways thinking — the ability to generate multiple routes toward a goal.

Snyder’s research demonstrates that individuals high in hope experience:

• Greater psychological well-being

• Lower levels of depression

• Better physical health

• Stronger coping skills during illness

(Snyder et al., 2002)

Rob’s story is a living embodiment of this—he believed change was possible, and he kept generating new paths forward.

2. Hope acts as a buffer against trauma

A 2019 meta-analysis found that hope significantly reduces the impact of traumatic stress and promotes faster emotional recovery. (Liu et al., 2019, Clinical Psychology Review)

Hope doesn’t erase trauma; it reorganizes our inner world so we can carry it differently.

3. Hope enhances motivation and goal pursuit

People with higher levels of hope set more goals, pursue them more persistently, and are more likely to achieve them—regardless of intelligence or socioeconomic factors. (Snyder et al., 1991)

Hope sustains forward motion, even when progress feels imperceptible.

4. Hope strengthens meaning and purpose

Viktor Frankl described hope as essential for psychological survival, especially in extreme adversity. In Man’s Search for Meaning, he observed that prisoners who lost hope deteriorated rapidly in both body and spirit.

Hope, in Frankl’s view, is not naïve—it is existential.

Why This Matters for All of Us

Rob’s story is a reminder that hope is not reserved for the lucky or the spiritually enlightened. It is accessible to all of us, especially during moments when everything feels uncertain.

Hope is the permission we give ourselves to imagine a future beyond the constraints of our current circumstances.

It is the quiet voice that says, “Get up. Breathe. Try again.”

Because every morning we are still here—still breathing, still becoming—there is hope to do more.

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