Adding Value: Never Lose Hope by Henry Ukazu

Dear Destiny Friends,

Globally, the world is at a loss as to what the future holds for businesses, relationships, governance and life in generally. One of the questions that is on the lips of everyone is, will life ever return to normal again? in fact, so many questions begging for answers. Even as government officials, doctors, scientists and lab technicians are working tooth and nail to find the cure for Coronavirus, the world remains at standstill not knowing what the new order, with respect to business and life, will be. It is therefore, with great joy I bring you the good news of a better tomorrow – hope. Hope is everything we need to change our mindset. Without hope, it will be difficult to behold the foreseeable future.

As Christians, we were taught to have hope because Christ was raised from the dead, otherwise our preaching and believing in Christ will be in vain. As motivational and inspiration life coach teachers, we teach business leaders, government officials, technocrats, academicians and students to plan for a better tomorrow by securing knowledge and skill. It is because of the hope that great minds were able to live their dreams.

We all go through one life situation or another which makes us lose our passions, reduces our attitude and make us react differently. It is possible that you are contending with a particular situation now, I got information for you; don’t get defeated, stay afloat because what you think is the valley of dissatisfaction and disappointment can still turn out to be a blessing and breakthrough.

Patience is the harbinger of hope, and one must have loads of it. When you face though time , don’t lose hope; face the fear and rise. Always see every tough time as the opportunity to break through and break even. Be rest assured that you have the capacity to think out of the box.

There’s always a blessing in every valley. The experience of today will definitely make meaning to you in another 10 years time or less. You need to learn the experience in order to move to the next stage of life. Don’t complain about your problem. Trouble is inevitable, but misery is optional. Don’t be limited in you thought process. Be proactive and positive towards life.

Hope has no limit if you truly believe in your dreams and passion. Hope fuels passion in life. Some people feel they are too old to go to school, start a business, or get married; that’s a huge fallacy. It only becomes true when you believe in them. Let me share some insightful examples of five great individuals who chose not to give up. They chose to keep pushing forward despite imminent hardships and failures, and ultimately found great success in their lives:

1. Henry Ford – He had five major business failures before founding Ford Motor Company.

2. Lucille Ball – Early in her career, she was considered a failure as an actress, unable to land anything but B movie roles. She went on to win four Emmys and a lifetime achievement award.

3. Soichiro Honda – After being turned down for a job with Toyota, he decided to make scooters from his own home until his neighbors talked him into starting his own company, Honda.

4. Bill Gates – He dropped out of Harvard and started a business called Traf-O-Data which failed. Instead of giving up, he decided to start a little company called Microsoft .

5. Walt Disney – He was fired from his job with a newspaper company. He was told he lacked imagination and didn’t have any good ideas. He went on to create Disney’s empire.

These five people learnt a valuable lesson, and that is, “You have to fight through some bad days to earn the best days of your life.” I truly believe we can accomplish just about anything if we are willing to do what it takes to work for it and if we stay determined in our resolve. And when hard times come, as they most assuredly will, we must never allow ourselves to lose hope, knowing that the best is yet to come.

According to Martin Luther king Jr. “We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.”

When you have hope, you are not concerned about the wave and wind that is blowing outside. When you have internal hope, you’ll be less distracted about the noise outside. Hope is what keeps our dream alive. When you have hope, though you may feel the pain of the moment, you’ll not really be concerned about the brief pain because of the greater tomorrow. According to an African proverb, a hunger that has hope won’t kill someone. As a student going to school you have a hope for a better future if you do the needful. As a parent, you have hope that if you train your children very well they will take care of you in your old age.  As a businessman/woman, you have hope in spite of the lockdown and ups and down of life; your business will rise again for a greater success. The list is endless.

Hope is one of the greatest virtues any productive mind must have in order to succeed. This is because no matter how life treats you, tomorrow always look good and promising. I don’t really know what you are experiencing at the moment. Are you looking for financial stability, are you looking/hoping for the right partner? Are you looking for a job? Are you currently going through a situation? I don’t know what your situation is at the moment, but I will strongly advise you to be patient while learning all the experiences inherent. In the journey of life, even if you lose all options, never lose hope.

History is replete of stories about people who came into hard times, lost hope, and gave up. We rarely come to learn what would have happened with these individuals if they had not given up. We are left to wonder what great successes these people might have achieved if they had chosen to hold on to hope. And how they might have gone on to shape our world for the better?

The truth is life can be unfair, think of life as a white piece of paper that’s divided into individual portions for each chapter of our lives, that these portions are just waiting for us to colour them with our adventures, our journeys and our experiences, both the good and the bad. The different colours represent the various happenings, our feelings and the emotions we experience. So, go out and live your life, dance through the storms, embrace whatever happens and lies ahead.

How to Avoid Losing Hope

1.      Be Grateful For What You Still Have

It doesn’t matter how you choose to be grateful. You can write out ten things right now you’re grateful for. You can sing to the heavens all the beautiful aspects of your life. You can take a big, giant breath, hold it for ten seconds, give it a powerful exhale and yell, “I’m grateful for this breath of life life because a lot of people are gasping for breath via ventilators”. There’s always something to be grateful about you if you’re honest with yourself.  I’m specially gratueful to God for the ability to write and speak creatively.

Before I published my book, I was afraid how will the world receive it. Will it make sense? Is what I’m writing worthwhile, or is it hogwash? The list of insecure questions goes on and on. The point I’m wanting to make is: Keep your head up, believe in yourself, and take life head on.

2.      Embrace Tough Times and Explore Options to Recreate

During tough times you can’t give up, ever. Even during the toughest times you must keep your hopes alive by pushing through. Work on what needs to get done, try and build some momentum, and then build on it further. Moral: Hold on pain endures

That last thing you should be doing is quitting, which I slightly hesitate to say because there are some very good reasons to quit sometimes. If you’re passionate about what you want to do, then don’t quit.

3.      Know Your Why

Because, when we set goals or we have some hope or dream that we’re driving towards, we have to ensure that we addressed the three W’s of Goal setting. What, Why, and When. If we didn’t have a strong enough reason why we wanted to achieve something, then we might have subconsciously given up on that goal long before we consciously realized it.

4.       Be Honest with Yourself

When you can change your approach along the way, you can move towards your goals much quicker because you won’t find yourself surprised suddenly if things don’t end up working out. Always be honest in all situations. it will breed a much happier and healthier path towards your goals.

5.      Get Support from Your Base

Sometimes, the best way to take stock of the positives that we can gain from a situation that might seem bleak, is through the support of others. Whether it’s friends, family members, religious denominations, or support groups, other people can help us to look at things in perspective and offer us a guiding light towards the shores of hope.

6.      Have Faith

No matter what you believe in: God, Allah, Buda, or the Singular. No situation, no matter how dire or bleak, can defeat you if you don’t let it. We are all a product of the lens of focus from our mind’s eyes.

In conclusion, remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and countless people have failed more times than they’ve succeeded. So don’t loose hope. And finally, remember, if you loose all options, don’t loose hope.

Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the author of the acclaimed book Design Your Destiny – Actualizing Your Birthright To Success. He can be reached via henrous@gmail.com