Holding Out Radical Hope
Grounding and moving through difficult realities
I don't need to tell you that we are living through trying times, to put it mildly. The world isn't getting any simpler, and the hate and hopelessness ever-present online could not be any louder.
Over the past few weeks, I can't tell you how many times I've gotten up, sat down to eat breakfast, gone on social media, and immediately wanted to go back to sleep until the next day. But between therapy sessions, doctor's appointments, and family dinners, I often feel like spiralling is not an option. I compartmentalize, do yoga, and run the gamut of the other typical coping strategies for anxiety while watching the world pretend that everything is normal — that everything is not perpetually on fire.
If this sequence of events feels familiar, you are not alone. Hopelessness, overwhelm, and anger are to be expected. You are not abnormal for wondering how the hell we got here and feeling at a loss for how to process — let alone fix — what is wrong.
I could say, “Everything will be okay,” or “Don't worry! The arc of history always bends toward justice,” but those can sound like empty platitudes. I, like you, cannot see the future. And if the arc of history seems to bend toward justice, it's because our ancestors fought for that justice. They were grounded in the reality of society failing people the way that it was.
Instead, I offer you a concept: radical hope. Coined by the Psychology of Radical Healing Collective, radical hope has two parts: awareness of the current reality and history of oppression, and collective action for a better, kinder future.
Awareness keeps you grounded
Being aware means developing your critical consciousness: knowing and understanding the marginalization and oppression people face, including historical oppression.
However, awareness can be hard to maintain when social media continuously bombards you with information. It can be tempting to disconnect, disengage, and deny. It makes sense to do so; social media fuels outrage, and outrage often leads to hopelessness and exhaustion.
But ignorance is not bliss. You cannot ground yourself if you are not aware of reality. You cannot resist forces that you don't know exist. You cannot build and uplift your community without an understanding of the plights people have faced and continue to face.
Of course, this doesn't mean that you have to be reading the news or on every social media platform 24/7. Outrage, anger, hopelessness, and overwhelm can be hard emotions to sustain due to the toll they take on your health. Taking breaks from your phone and setting boundaries around social media use can help manage these feelings.
It can also help to balance out your news sources so that you are exposed to the bad and the good. For as much negativity as there is, there are also people out there doing positive work for their communities.
And that leads smoothly to the next part of radical hope: transforming the difficult emotions that pop up with awareness of injustice into realized autonomy and collective action that builds a better future.
Collective action keeps you connected
Throughout history, people have struggled with oppression and survived. They survived — and even thrived — in the face of adversity by taking action for and on behalf of their communities. After all, trans, queer, Black, brown, Asian, immigrant, disabled, and female excellence have existed for as long as those communities have existed.
Finding ways to engage with the community can be a good place to start. In-person local groups are great, but if it is safer and more accessible for you to take part in virtual groups, that can also be a great way to connect with others and keep the community alive. If you are comfortable with it, volunteering, advocacy, and political participation can help promote broader change.
Especially if you yourself are marginalized or targeted by the hate out in the world right now, putting yourself out there can be overwhelming and, at times, unsafe. Taking action for radical hope doesn't always have to be loud and visible. It can look like existing in spaces that weren’t ‘made’ for you. It can look like showing up for your loved ones on hard days. It can look like reminding yourself of the small ways you have agency — choices you make that seem inconsequential but assert your autonomy.
“I am not able to access gender affirming care, but I can choose to wear this bracelet that I really love.”
“I have chronic pain that is preventing me from working today, but I can choose the music I'm listening to in bed.”
“Hate crimes against my community are up in my city, but I can choose to cook a traditional meal using my grandmother's recipe.”
Finally, taking action by talking to people one-on-one can create meaningful change and embody radical hope. Hopelessness feeds off isolation, so connection — being a space for each other to exist fully — is powerful resistance.
If you are new here, my name is Diem Morriswala (they/he), and I am a therapist who works with all sorts of people, including LGBTQ2S+ and racialized folks, as well as anyone dealing with anxiety, perfectionism, people-pleasing, and overwhelm.
I would be honoured to sit with you through life as we know it and support you in working toward what life could be. Feel free to book a free 15-minute consultation with me by filling out my contact form here.
