{"id":98226,"date":"2023-04-03T11:51:59","date_gmt":"2023-04-03T15:51:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=98226"},"modified":"2023-04-09T12:39:44","modified_gmt":"2023-04-09T16:39:44","slug":"why-is-hope-so-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-is-hope-so-important\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Is Hope So Important? Finding the True Meaning of Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Why is hope so important in life? What does hope really mean?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Self-help author Mark Manson explores the importance of hope in his book <em>Everything Is F*cked<\/em>, defining it as the belief that we can progress towards something valuable and create a better future. He also explores how hope can empower us to cope with the pain of existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read on to learn why hope is so important, based on Manson&#8217;s exploration of its true meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-why-is-hope-so-important\">Why Is Hope So Important?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>According to self-help author Mark Manson, society is experiencing an epidemic of <em>hopelessness<\/em>: People no longer feel like they can help create a better future. Why is hope so important? To explain, Manson wrote <em>Everything Is F*cked<\/em>, which clarifies exactly what he means by \u201chope.\u201d He describes how it functions in our lives and what happens when we live without it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Does It Really Mean to Be Hopeful?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So what exactly is hope and why is it so important? According to Manson, hope can be defined as <strong>the belief that you have the ability to progress toward something valuable and create a more pleasant future.<\/strong> Additionally, he asserts that you need <em>other people to recognize that what you do matters <\/em>to sustain hope\u2014social validation is a core psychological need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reason why hope is so important comes from our need to feel hope because we understand we\u2019re mortal, according to Manson. If you zoom out in time long enough, you and everyone whose life you\u2019ve ever influenced will eventually die, and nothing you do can change that. This is an inherently depressing thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For this reason, to feel motivated to do anything, we need hope. <strong>Hope empowers us to cope with the inherent pain of existence<\/strong>.<strong> <\/strong>If we believe that we\u2019re successfully creating a more pleasant future for ourselves and those around us, we\u2019ll feel fulfilled, even if life at the moment is unpleasant. As long as we believe pleasure is coming later, working toward that pleasure provides a deeper satisfaction that transcends pain now\u2014we feel good <em>about<\/em> what we\u2019re doing even if it doesn\u2019t feel good in itself. In this way, hope gives us the ability to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/defer-gratification\/\">delay gratification<\/a>: to trade pain now for greater pleasure down the road, and to feel satisfied while doing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For an example of why hope is so important for delaying gratification, say a logging company is planning to cut down the beloved woods near your neighborhood. Driven by the hope that you can stop them, you spend countless, tiring hours contacting local politicians and recruiting others to join your cause. You\u2019re trading the pain of these exhausting efforts now for the promise of a future where the woods remain. Those hours spent fighting the logging company don\u2019t feel good in themselves, but you find this overall pursuit toward a better future fulfilling. Meaningful causes like this are the primary way we find satisfaction in an inherently painful world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>You Can Find Empowering Hope and Meaning Anywhere<\/strong><br><br>In his discussion of hope and why it&#8217;s so important in our lives, Manson was possibly inspired by <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/man-s-search-for-meaning\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Man\u2019s Search for Meaning<\/em><\/a> by Viktor Frankl, which echoes these ideas closely (Manson lists it among <a href=\"https:\/\/markmanson.net\/book-recommendations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the best books of all time to help you understand life<\/a>). Frankl was a Jewish-Austrian psychiatrist who spent three years imprisoned in concentration camps during World War II, and this experience informed his theories about the role of hope in human psychology.<br><br>Like Manson, Frankl argues that we need hope to cope with the inherent pain of existence and feel satisfied when we\u2019d normally be suffering. He takes this idea further, noting that a sense of hope even improves physical health. In the concentration camps, Frankl noted that prisoners with goals to work toward (for example, to see their families again) <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/man-s-search-for-meaning\/chapter-2#future-goals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">were much more likely to survive than those who felt like their lives were over<\/a>.<br><br>Frankl\u2019s definition of hope overlaps with Manson\u2019s somewhat\u2014they agree that it\u2019s the feeling that we\u2019re <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/man-s-search-for-meaning\/chapter-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">improving the life we\u2019ll have in the future<\/a>. However, there are some differences between their definitions: While Manson argues that to have hope, we need other people to recognize the value of our actions, Frankl doesn\u2019t put limits like this on hope. Unlike Manson, Frankl explores the possibility that <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/man-s-search-for-meaning\/chapter-4#the-third-path-suffering\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>anything<\/em> in our lives can be a source of hope<\/a>, even if there\u2019s no one around to validate it or if it\u2019s irrational to think so. For instance, Frankl recommends considering that our actions may have a greater purpose that\u2019s too complex for us to comprehend\u2014faith in this idea can be a source of comfort.<br><br>Frankl\u2019s unconditional belief that everything can be meaningful even extends to death itself. Rather than viewing death as the painful truth that forces us to find meaning, as Manson does, Frankl views it as <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/man-s-search-for-meaning\/chapter-4#the-third-path-suffering\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a source of meaning in itself<\/a>. By giving us a time limit, death motivates us to take meaningful action during our lives. Without it, we wouldn\u2019t do anything valuable with our lives\u2014thus, we can view death as something to be grateful for, rather than something to fear.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why is hope so important in life? What does hope really mean? Self-help author Mark Manson explores the importance of hope in his book Everything Is F*cked, defining it as the belief that we can progress towards something valuable and create a better future. He also explores how hope can empower us to cope with the pain of existence. Read on to learn why hope is so important, based on Manson&#8217;s exploration of its true meaning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":53426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,9],"tags":[970],"class_list":["post-98226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motivation","category-psychology","tag-everything-is-fcked","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Is Hope So Important? Finding the True Meaning of Hope - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hope keeps us going. But, what does being hopeful truly mean? 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