Maintaining faith in the future in uncertain times is what we can do to achieve this

The times in which we live have not been as disturbing, hopeless and disillusioning as they are now: the convicted sex offender and dangerous populistwill be US President again at the beginning of next year, Germany is currently unable to govern and the government that threatens us is almost worse, the Russians' war of aggression against Ukraine continuescontinues incessantly, thesmolders and brings new reports of misfortune every day...it's pure madness. And atShould we still remain hopeful after all these horror reports? We reveal what you can do to not lose faith in the good.

Without beating around the bush: times are dark. No matter where you look in the world, there only seems to be regression, uncertainty and animosity - the frighteningly clear re-election of, who has been accused of such serious offenses as sexual assault, fraud, influencing elections, defamation, misuse of secret documents, obstruction of justice and so on, is something like the low point of a year that was not without its low points.

In January, Trump will be sworn in as president again and thus once again the head of the USA. So he is the most powerful man in the world again. Of course, his supporters celebrate this circumstance, but this circumstance makes everyone else fear and worry, seeing a new fascism looming on the horizon and the threat of the apocalypse. Colleagues at the Australian newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald put it a little less drastically, but pretty well, when they recently wrote: "If George Washington was the father of American democracy, then Donald Trump is its undertaker." There is hardly anything more to add.

But now the world is the way it is at the moment. We could all bury our heads in the sand and wait for things to improve, but that would be a pretty cowardly and, above all, unhelpful reaction. Because fear, pessimism, hopelessness, fatalism: These can never lead to improvement because you then give up - and thus lose the chance of improvement. Instead, it is important to develop courage, have hope and create a mindset that allows for confidence - and thus clears the way for a rosier future. And as always, if you want to change things, it's best to start with small steps.

One thing is clear: you cannot force optimism. When we have the feeling that the world is in shambles, our mind has little ability to transform this feeling into confidence. But what is always a good first approach: change your perspective. Because when you take a different perspective, it sometimes opens up a view of things and possibilities that you hadn't noticed before. It's definitely helpful to focus on the things that seem doable and possible, rather than everything that's currently messed up and unchangeable. The whole thing is called positive psychology, where we explore the question of how much influence all the craziness out there has on our own lives. And: What you can do to work for a better world.

The positive effect is that if we all succeed in this and we all have the feeling that we can make a difference, this feeling actually grows across society as a whole - studies have shown this. This works a bit like a self-fulfilling prophecy through which we realize: We are not powerless and helpless, we are not alone. We can certainly do something. And when we notice and recognize this, our hope also increases - which in turn leads to us having more hope again; and develop the strength and confidence to actively shape our uncertain future.

But it is the case that people in general tend to be pessimistic, and this is due to evolution. Because the fear that comes with it made us cautious and attentive from time immemorial - and thereby protected us from many dangers. It's just that today we have reached a different stage of evolution, where fear and negativity tend to be counterproductive and tend to cause the danger around us to grow because we don't actively oppose it, but rather hide from it.

As is often the case, balance is important here rather than falling into one extreme or the other. Because it doesn't help to bury your head in the sand and assume the worst, nor to ignore all the problems in the world and pretend they don't exist. Life in general is complex, there is no such thing as just black and white, but rather tons of gray tones that need to be responded to accordingly. And this also includes accepting and accepting certain circumstances, be they election results, social trends or future forecasts. Of course, this also includes allowing and accepting negative feelings about the future and, ideally, sharing them with someone and actively dealing with them. Because it has been scientifically proven that this leads to us developing a certain distance from it, which in turn makes us more capable of taking action to take action against the causes.

It's clear, we know this from other areas too: Even in a relationship, you don't resolve tensions by constantly working against your partner, but with him/her. Anything else just leads to frustration and unnecessarily robs you of energy that could be better spent looking for solutions to the problems and getting involved accordingly. Instead of styling yourself as a victim, you should see yourself as a perpetrator; as a perpetrator of a good cause who does everything in his power to improve the situation.

Certainly not a new insight, but one that we should always remember and keep in mind is the knowledge of how important humor is - also and especially as a resource that leads to strengthening our mental strength. Because anyone who laughs (even at themselves) is not moping – simple milk boy math. In addition, when you laugh, you not only relieve yourself of some of the tension, but also release happiness hormones, which in turn reduce your stress level.

Humor and irony also have an incredibly creative power that can break negative thought spirals and open your mind. Instead of just seeing black with tunnel vision, humor and irony expand the field of vision. This allows us to become more flexible mentally and to see solutions where previously only pessimism prevailed. And in general, we all know that if you look at life with a wink, you approach it with much more ease, which enables you to deal more constructively with situations that others would consider hopeless. And anyone who manages to share the humor with others and laugh together will also help those around them out of negative mind games.

To put it briefly: Fear (of the future) and stress make us sick, but hope has positive effects on our health. Science has long since proven this. As part of a long-term US study, researchers advised their patients who were about to have heart surgery to make plans for the future: short trips and excursions, renovation projects in the apartment, meetings with friends. And lo and behold: those who made future plans full of hope had significantly better health scores than those who didn't.

Now, of course, we live in a time in which many people's fears have already become reality: climate catastrophe? Arrived long ago. Rise of the right? Already happened. War? It is already raging “on our doorstep”. So what do you do then? Here too, the worst thing to do is simply to bury your head in the sand and resign. Instead, it's better to get together with like-minded people and, ideally, do the best possible together, for example: get involved in an environmental initiative, organize demonstrations against the right or events for political education, initiate fundraising initiatives for war victims - the possibilities here are almost endless . Because we all know from experience: together you are less alone. And if you get involved together for a good cause – all the better!