HEAD SPACE

In the 1950s, Dr. Curt Richter, a pioneering psychobiologist and professor at Johns Hopkins University, placed rats into buckets of water and timed their ability to swim. It was an interesting, if brutal, experiment. On average, the rats would give up and drown after about 15 minutes. Dr. Richter then modified the experiment: just before the 15-minute mark, when the rats were expected to give up due to exhaustion, they were plucked from the water, dried off and allowed to rest for a few minutes. They were then placed back in the water. This time, the rats did not drown within the same timeframe. Nor were they so tired from treading water earlier that they drowned in less time. The rats, in fact, swam for 60 hours. 60 hours!

This experiment demonstrated the power of hope. When the rats believed that they would be rescued, they kept going and going and going. In other words, the absence of hopelessness gives strength. Hope empowers us to reach so much further than we thought possible.

Some days hanging onto hope is all that we have. On those dark days, hold on tightly. Hope is an antidote to anxiety, a plan of action, a survival skill that enables us to cope in the face of adversity. It is plausible possibility in the face of frightening probability. It is what allows us to rise above the awareness of pain and disappointment. Hope is finding meaning and connection to others. It is the belief that we are relevant, that who we are and what we do matters. We must not, however, confuse hope with wanting or wishing. To want or to wish for something or someone sits right on the edge of fear, possibly even despair. What if I don’t get that contract? What if my proposal is turned down? What if the news from the doctor is terrible? Fear is paralysing. It pushes us into a freeze response that keeps us stuck, turning stability into stagnation. Perhaps it is more helpful to think of hope in terms of trust and faith. Sometimes we need to take a leap of faith. We need to take that first step and trust that we have prepared enough, that we have the support and inner resources available to achieve whatever it is that we dream of. Hope is trusting that we deserve to live a meaningful life that is true to our values, our sense of self and, although imperfect, a life that we are proud of.