Many people think of hope as an emotion, but in reality, it is a way of thinking or a cognitive process that can be cultivated. It is more than wishful thinking and is a powerful tool for rehabilitating a life from chronic pain. In this blog post, we will discuss what hope is, its benefits in relation to pain, and how to cultivate it. By understanding its healing power, those suffering from chronic pain can find renewed strength and resilience. Hope is how I have survived and learned to thrive despite my story. You can too.
Defining Hope
As important as defining what hope is, it is equally as important to say what it is not.
For the purpose of this blog post, I want to make it clear I am not diving into the theological meaning. That’s a conversation for a different time and place. (Have long talks and friendly debates with a lawyer and you will learn quickly words mean different things in different settings!) For our purposes, we are talking about it in a secular setting in regard to chronic pain and recovery.
It is not a wish. A wish is out of your control. Hope is an action taken towards a goal. It’s something within your control. It is the belief that your future will be better than the present and that you have the ability to make it happen. It involves both optimism and a can-do attitude. Synder et al. (1991) looked at hope within illness and palliative care. They emphasized the relevance of it within the context of doing. What does that mean? People that believed they had the capacity to reach goals, even within the throws of hardship, had less suffering and better lives.
This means it is important to our recovery to understand and cultivate this form of thinking if we want to live our best lives and reduce our pain.
Hope in 3 Parts
According to Snyder’s Hope Theory (Snyder et al., 1991), hopefulness is a life-sustaining human strength comprised of three distinct but related components:
- Goals: The clear conceptualization of valuable goals. The size of the goal doesn’t matter, it’s the act of goals of value to you.
- Pathways: The capacity to develop strategies to reach those goals. High-hope individuals understand there will be roadblocks and creativity and multiple attempts and pathways will probably be necessary.
- Agency (willpower): The ability to initiate and sustain the motivation for using those strategies. Also known as “not giving up”. You may need to rest, reset, reevaluate, or ask for help… but continue on in pursuit of the goal because it is important enough for you to reach. That’s real hope.
Hope does not necessarily fade in the face of adversity; in fact, it often endures despite poverty, war, and famine. While no one is exempt from experiencing challenging life events, hope fosters an orientation to life that allows a grounded and optimistic outlook even in the most challenging of circumstances.
Types of Goals
The outcomes of goals are one of two things. Positive outcomes, the presence of something, or negative outcomes, the absence of something.
Positive Goals
- Reaching a goal for the first time: You want to return to your favorite form of exercise you have not done in years due to your pain.
- Sustaining a present goal: You want to continue the meditation practice you have finally cultivated.
- Increasing something you have already achieved: You want to get even better at setting boundaries.
These are 3 types of positive goals we set with the belief we can achieve them.
Negative Goals
- Deterring something so that it never happens. You drink water daily so you don’t get dehydrated.
- Deterring something so that it is delayed. You ask for a payment extension, so you don’t have to pay your bill yet.
Benefits of Hope
If you have followed me for long, you know that I am wildly averse to “toxic positivity”, false hope, and anything that looks like “just being positive”. Actual hope, like the belief you can make a change in your pain experience. That you have some control over your situation and can improve it. That’s what we are talking about here. Real hope has many benefits.
- Hope is significantly correlated with superior academic and athletic performance, greater physical and psychological well-being, improved self-esteem, and enhanced interpersonal relationships.
- Stronger sense of purpose and meaning
- Lower levels of depression
- Less loneliness
- More likely to view stressful situations as challenging rather than threatening. ( Less crap in the cup!)
- Fewer problems with sleep
- Reduced occurrences of anxiety, helplessness, and feeling out of control
- Motivates individuals to maintain their positive involvement in life regardless of any limitations imposed upon them.
Can you see the benefits here to helping with our pain problem?
Cultivating Hope
Hopefully, I have convinced you that hope is a way of thinking about your situation and life. I can’t stress enough that I do not mean toxic positivity. That’s just lying to your brain and it pretty much never works. But an outlook that sees barriers as a problem to be worked on. Seeing yourself as capable of handling your life, making realistic goals, and meeting them, yeah, that’s real hope.
The brain is a strange and wonderful place, it does so much we don’t fully understand. One of those things is by drawing our attention to the more positive aspects of life, or creating a pathway to get the things we want, makes the brain happy! It will focus less on things like pain.
Do you want to cultivate hope? Here are some things to work on.
Ideas to try:
Set small goals you can accomplish every day or every week.
Share your story, in groups where you can be heard and supported. ( You know, like my Facebook Support Group!)
Talk with your coach, or medical team to design ways to accomplish the things that matter to you! That vacation, your kid’s game, creating art… whatever it is, there IS a way to make it happen.
Write down the good things, and keep a record you can return to.
Be willing to get creative and curious
Be flexible – nothing is ever a straight line to anything. We will have ups and downs. Expect it and plan accordingly!
Realize that at first, hope is kinda scary. But so was learning to ride a bike… is that going to stop you? I sure hope not!
Remember
Hope does not necessarily fade in the face of adversity; in fact, hope often endures despite poverty, war, and famine. While no one is exempt from experiencing challenging life events, hope fosters a perspective on life that allows a grounded and realistic outlook even in the most challenging of circumstances.
If we want to get back to that life we lost, we are gonna have to find our way back. Hope is a primary ingredient to that. You can do it. I know you can. As always, if you need more help – you can click on the work with me button at the top of this page. I’ve got you.
For more reading
Snyder, C. R. “Hope Theory: Rainbows in the Mind.” Psychological Inquiry, vol. 13, no. 4, 2002, pp. 249–75. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1448867. Accessed 19 July 2023.
Managing Stress and Building Resilience (needed for hope!)
