People With Very Little Mental & Emotional Hope Usually Say 7 Phrases In Casual Conversation
Irina Bg / Shutterstock Hope is something that’s hard to pin down with a single definition, but everyone can tell when they’re losing it. It’s like everything about life starts to feel totally pointless.
Sometimes the feeling of running out of hope can sneak up on people, but even when they haven’t fully realized it themselves, they start talking about life in a different way that others will notice.
7 phrases people say when they're losing mental and emotional hope:
1. ‘I’m just taking it one day at a time’
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It’s pretty common for people to turn to a day-by-day mindset when they’re struggling with almost anything, including running out of hope. This could be more helpful than they realize, though.
Research has shown that people feel most happy when they’re paying attention to the present. When they lose that focus and think about things that aren’t happening right now, it’s much harder to feel content. But that only works if someone who says they’re taking life one day at a time really means it. When they don’t have much hope left, it could be more of a way to hide what they’re feeling than to actually cope with it.
2. ‘I don’t really get excited about that stuff anymore’
If someone is still living their life like they usually do but they feel like they’re just going through the motions, that’s a clear sign that they’re feeling hopeless. It’s like the things they normally enjoy turn into one more thing on their to-do list that they’re supposed to do.
In some cases, not feeling any excitement can mean that they have such little hope left that they’re becoming depressed. Whether the situation is that severe or not, it’s going to take some time for them to get their spark back.
3. ‘No matter what I do, nothing ever changes’
Losing hope is a pretty deep emotion that can feel difficult to describe any more specifically. But psychology professors Anthony Scioli and Henry B. Biller actually think there are different forms of hopelessness.
One form comes from feeling powerless. There’s really no more accurate description for someone who thinks nothing they do makes a difference in their life. These people feel like they’re up against a brick wall. Even though they try, life never gets easier. It’s starting to make them think they should just give up and let whatever happens happen instead.
4. ‘I’m used to it by now’
Resignation usually accompanies hopelessness, which is easy to see when someone shrugs off all of the hard things happening to them and insists they’re used to it. No one can really get used to those things, but it feels better to say that than to face reality.
People use resignation to defend themselves when it seems like everything is bound to go wrong. It’s like they can’t get hurt if they already weren’t expecting good things to happen. It’s a double-edged sword because it really does feel safer, but it’s also hard to get out of that pattern of negativity.
5. ‘It’s not a big deal’
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When someone says something isn’t a big deal, there’s an almost 100% chance that it actually is. But if they act like their problems don’t really exist, they don’t have to handle them right away.
Using avoidance as a way to cope usually just makes everything worse over time. Still, it can seem like a good option because it lets people ignore the fact that they’re losing all their hope. This is how people avoid facing reality. They pretend everything’s fine while they continue to spiral further into hopelessness.
6. ‘I’ll figure it out eventually’
Thelma Bryant, PhD, a former president of the American Psychological Association, said, “Hope isn’t a denial of what is, but a belief that the current situation is not all that can be.” In other words, being hopeful doesn’t mean someone acts like everything is OK when it’s not. But they also don’t wait for life to pull itself back together without doing anything about it themselves.
That’s why it can be a problem when people say they’ll figure it out eventually. If they’re using that as an excuse to do nothing, then they’ve probably lost even more hope than they realize.
7. ‘I just don’t care anymore’
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When everything seems to be going wrong, it can feel easier to not care. The problem is someone who really doesn’t care won’t feel like they need to try anymore. It’s basically the same thing as giving up.
This feeling can be caused by depression or chronic stress, so it’s easy to see how it’s related to losing hope. It usually has a deeper meaning than just accepting whatever comes instead of fighting against it.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
