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Many people are feeling worn down by prolonged uncertainty, pressure, and constant information exposure.

To navigate stress, build resiliency, and feel truly well in a complicated world, we need hope practices.

Small actions and shared connection can help restore our sense of hope and expand what feels possible.

What have you been doing with your hope lately? Do you notice yourself tucking it away or holding it quietly? Do you allow yourself to share it and speak it out loud? Is it bringing you to action?

Recent findings from the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index provide a snapshot of how U.S. adults are viewing their future. Among more than 22,000 respondents, just 59.2% rate their life in five years as a 7 or higher out of 10, marking a record low.

When fewer U.S. adults rate their future positively compared to prior years, it tells us something important about the emotional climate people are living in. Over the past several years, individuals have navigated prolonged uncertainty, economic pressure, political division, social unrest, and collective fatigue. When people feel worn down by uncertainty, it changes how the brain scans for the future, and as stress becomes sustained, our nervous systems begin to prioritize protection over possibility.

This doesn’t mean people have lost hope entirely, but it does suggest that hope is under strain. There’s a collective weariness that is impacting our mental, emotional, and societal well-being.

And yet, hope remains one of the mightiest contributors to resilience and well-being that we have. Higher levels of hope are also associated with a stronger sense of meaning in life (Edwards et al., 2025). Research in positive psychology,........

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