Could you tell me a time when you felt hope?

I don’t know about you, but I’m awful at doubting myself. I’ll flog myself silly over the most minute, little, teeny tiny, itsy bitsy detail and bother about it for days, overthinking like crazy with a good dollop of extra worry to finish it all off. 

It can be horrible. Comparing yourself to others, especially to those who seem to have their lives together doing something similar to you, is crippling. You feel like you’re not good enough, that you’re not working hard enough, or you’re just not cut out for it. Especially when you’re chasing a life-long dream, this is devastating; you feel like a failure - and I’ve definitely felt like this in recent weeks. However, absolutely none of this is true. 

What I’ve learnt along the winding way is exactly this: the only person telling you these things is you. If you believe in yourself and tell yourself that you are good enough for just a moment; that you’re more than cut out for chasing your dream, you’ll always succeed.Suddenly that small glimmer of hope can become a meadow of opportunity if you nurture it. 

Every job rejection and every moment of self-doubt is just more fuel to inspire you. Everyone starts somewhere, and just because you’re not where you want to be now doesn’t mean you will never be. You just have to believe that you will reach your goal one day. From painful personal experience, I know that this can be a very difficult road at first. 

In my early 20s my mental health crashed. Everything seemingly happened at once and I suffered a major breakdown. For months I was caught in a maddening mental loop. I had to reset my mind, and the only way I knew how was through nature. 

Nature became my bedrock, my sanctuary. It was the place I always came to when I needed to clear my mind, an opportunity to escape and a catalyst to hope again. It allowed me to finally live in the moment rather than inside my head, overthinking everything until it burnt out. It showed me that life wasn’t about stress or worry but about wonder and exploration, excitement and doing what you love. Nature gave me a chance to be better than I was and to improve my wellbeing by connecting with new people and the wonderfully wild world we all live in.

When it feels like you can’t see the woods for the trees; reach out, speak out, get out. It takes time, but it always gets better. You just have to hope. 

Breathe. You got this.