{"id":199,"date":"2012-04-05T15:01:43","date_gmt":"2012-04-05T20:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/?p=199"},"modified":"2012-04-05T15:01:43","modified_gmt":"2012-04-05T20:01:43","slug":"hoping-is-not-a-hopeless-endeavor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/05\/hoping-is-not-a-hopeless-endeavor\/","title":{"rendered":"Hoping is Not a Hopeless Endeavor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Having a healthy dose of hope can be motivating and inspiring. It keeps people focused on what\u2019s ahead instead of what\u2019s in the past. It can also help keep the focus on possibilities, and reframe obstacles as opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>For some, however, being hopeful goes hand-in-hand with feeling na\u00efve or foolish when things don\u2019t work out as planned. They would rather not have hope at all if it means later disappointment.<\/p>\n<p>But for others, having hope doesn\u2019t mean living in denial of life\u2019s difficulties; it simply reminds them there are better times ahead.<\/p>\n<p>The Benefits of Hope<\/p>\n<p>Research indicates that it\u2019s more beneficial to have hope than not. Hopeful people tend to show more resilience when faced with difficulties. They have healthier lifestyle habits and, on the whole, are more successful, personally and professionally.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Mayo Clinic, having a hopeful, positive attitude has health benefits as well. These include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Increased life span<\/li>\n<li>Reduced depression<\/li>\n<li>Lowered levels of distress<\/li>\n<li>Increased resistance to the common cold<\/li>\n<li>Greater emotional and psycho-logical well-being<\/li>\n<li>Decreased risk of death from cardiovascular disease<\/li>\n<li>Improved coping skills during difficulties\/stress<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In addition, people with hope typically have meaningful long- and short-term goals, along with a flexible plan to achieve those goals and the reinforcement of positive self-talk.<\/p>\n<p>We humans are sometimes too inventive for our own good\u2014we can envision a future course of action along with every potential catastrophe that could occur along the way. Being aware of everything that can go wrong often makes doing nothing\u2014in an attempt to avoid failure or pain\u2014seem like a viable option.<\/p>\n<p>Cultivating hope, on the other hand, helps activate creativity and inventiveness and prompts us to solve the predicaments we face by taking action in spite of our fears.<\/p>\n<p>Hope brings with it the belief that things can get better. Regardless of how dire things may seem, there is potential for a positive outcome.<\/p>\n<p>Is It Possible to Be Too Hopeful?<\/p>\n<p>It could be said that optimists have a healthy dose of hope while \u201cextreme optimists,\u201d suffer from blinding hope. They want nothing to do with bad news.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers at Duke University found that extreme optimists (you could call them \u201chigh-hopers\u201d) don\u2019t save money, don\u2019t pay off credit cards and don\u2019t make long-term plans, but they are more likely to remarry if divorced.<\/p>\n<p>Moderation, as usual, is the key. The researchers also found that \u201cmoderate optimists\u201d tend to work harder and work longer hours, earn and save more money\u2014and pay off their credit cards.<\/p>\n<p>Being a moderate high-hoper doesn\u2019t mean keeping your head in the sand when it comes to life\u2019s occasional unpleasant circumstances. It just means keeping a positive attitude\u2014believing the best will happen, not the worst.<\/p>\n<p>That helps ensure that when difficult situations do arise, you&#8217;re looking for a way to make the best of it.<\/p>\n<p>Studies seem to suggest that being hopeful is a skill that can be learned. So whether you\u2019re an extreme optimist, an extreme pessimist or somewhere in between, there is hope for us all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Having a healthy dose of hope can be motivating and inspiring. It keeps people focused on what\u2019s ahead instead of what\u2019s in the past. It can also help keep the focus on possibilities, and reframe obstacles as opportunities. For some, however, being hopeful goes hand-in-hand with feeling na\u00efve or foolish when things don\u2019t work out [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201,"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions\/201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}