How about HOPE!

This young girl that I am coaching, came in a very distressed state initially. She felt everything around her failing her, and the world closing in on her. She was fighting hard to stay afloat and find her way through.

It is sad to see the young having to struggle to fit in, into the systems that should ideally be existing to help them find themselves and carve their identity. It has turned the other way around. Some systems are set in stone often, and everyone is expected to fit themselves somewhere, somehow!

This girl had her dreams higher up, but found nobody appreciating her thoughts and feelings, neither at school nor at home. I could see what 'not being understood' has done to her. With all good intentions, her parents planned everything for her, 'the best school' which would see her into a career(hopefully one she would adjust into) after having moved her back from a country she loved and made friends. Often it is taken for granted that kids would eventually accustom themselves to wherever they are put. Her sister did, but she didn't take to it very easily. Well, how many of us appreciate differences and accept them?! She kept struggling with everything, the system of education, the methodologies, the attitudes of the teaching staff and everything else.

The fact that she was convinced to choose subjects that "might" eventually land her in a reputed college didn't help the already delicate situation. She ended up with subjects she has no aptitude in, and she is not the kind who could adapt to what is put into her kitty. And the struggle continues. The educational institution that she is into, one of the typical feeders into the professional colleges has been anything but kind to her. I was appalled to learn that she would get ‘punished’ in the classroom as a senior high schooler, if she wasn’t scoring marks or cannot answer in the class!? A teenager being put to such humiliation in front of her peers!! All this has pushed her further down, completely destroying her confidence and self-image.?

Losing Hope is the worst thing to happen to anybody. One can fight and withstand a situation, if the Hope is kept afloat.? Viktor Frankl writes in ‘Man’s search for meaning’ that it is finding purpose that drives HOPE that in turn helps man withstand circumstances.? However dire the current situation might be, HOPE keeps us moving, keeps us alive, and gives us the impetus to push through hard times.

If the systems that we have developed for our own convenience fail to raise HOPE, they have failed humanity. If the people in your life fail to notice when you start losing hope, they have failed you!

I am really grateful that this young lady I am working with, has started showing great results in terms of raised hopes for her future, started dreaming again, and is looking forward to better times and a place where she’d find her tribe eventually. For many such young ones, we all hold the responsibility to become the beacons of light!