Radical Hope: The Path Forward During Troubling Times
Finding a sustainable way to stay engaged when the path ahead is difficult
The year 2020 has had a pronounced tie to suffering: fires consuming Australia, a global pandemic, global economic hardships, political unrest, and a crescendo of awareness surrounding racial injustice.
In the space of so much suffering and uncertainty, we can lose the motivation to stay engaged in the real work of making the world a better place. How do we hold so much pain without becoming overwhelmed or burning out?
We have to find some semblance of hope to move forward individually, as a society, and as a global community. But how?
The truth is I’ve never been a big fan of the concept of hope. I know that sounds particularly troublesome since I’m a psychologist, therapist, and counselor educator. As I will clarify here, it is not that I do not think that hope is unimportant. Instead, I believe that hope is unhelpful when it is framed outside the space of real suffering. In particular, I see many conceptions of hope to be troublesome when applied to problems that are multi-lateral and systemic. When tackling concerns such as racial justice, we must be very clear on how to constitute and sustain a sense of hope.
