It’s Easy to Be Hopeless in Business—but It’s Time for Hope
"Lord, help me to live this day, quietly, easily. To lean upon Thy great strength, trustfully, restfully. To wait for the unfolding of Thy will, patiently, serenely. To meet others, peacefully, joyously. To face tomorrow, confidently, courageously.” (St. Francis of Assisi).
Editor’s note: This Lent, the Catholic Women in Business team is exploring the theme “Cultivating Virtue in the Desert.” Learn more here.
Do you know what we don’t say out loud very often?
“I feel hopeless.”
We know that our hope is in the Lord, and as Catholics, we shouldn’t be without hope. Yet, we still feel this emotion sometimes.
When we pursue perfection, we will always feel hopeless, because it is not attainable on our own. Then, hopelessness often leads to guilt or shame. Then, shame leads to loneliness. So, now we feel shame and hopelessness alone—and these feelings grow in the darkness. It is such a common human experience, and yet we always feel alone in it.
It’s actually easy to feel hopeless. You simply believe some garbage thoughts your brain serves up:
You’re no good at this.
You should have succeeded by now.
No one will ever take you seriously.
You’re not one of the big dogs.
These thoughts sound real, so you feel hopeless. Then, your body remembers other times you’ve felt hopeless, and it starts swirling around all the things you’ve struggled with. Now, your body is humming with this dreadful feeling.
The bad news: You’re a human, and you will experience this feeling in the future.
The good news: You don’t have to stay in this feeling. You have the ability to process it and move on.
Let me first explain how to process a feeling. Then, I’ll share why Lent is the perfect time to remember that our hope truly is in the Lord.
How to Process a Feeling
The first step in processing a feeling is simply to name it: “I’m feeling hopeless right now.” Describe how it feels in your body: “It feels like a sinking feeling in my stomach. It feels like dark clouds are over me.”
Next, accept that you are having this feeling. If you have awareness of why you feel hopeless, explain it to your brain: “I was thinking that I’ll never be good at my job. Of course, if that were true, I’d feel hopeless.”
If you don’t know the specific thought, you can tell yourself, “I was thinking a thought that led to the feeling of hopelessness” or, “I’m feeling the feeling of hopelessness right now, and that feeling is part of the human experience.”
Be gentle with yourself, and meet yourself with acceptance and compassion.
Once the feeling has passed, take action. It might mean exploring what just happened to trigger that feeling. It might involve remembering what you were going to do before this feeling and simply getting back to work. I like to decide how I want to feel and brainstorm thoughts that would help me feel that way.
Here are some thoughts I often practice:
My hope is in the Lord. I belong to him.
I’m right where I’m supposed to be.
I’m going to have the exact day God wants me to have.
There’s enough time to do everything important today.
I am safe and loved.
You can’t just pick a thought and say it. Keep trying thoughts until you find the ones that bring you the desired feeling.
Lent Is a Time for Hope
Walking into the desert is an act of hope.
Moses and the Israelites had hope for the promised land. They knew it was going to be difficult, but they also knew that God was calling them to the desert.
Jesus went to meet his Father and to pray. He went to be fortified for the work he knew was coming.
When we make a Lenten plan, we do so with hope. We choose to detach ourselves from the world and focus on prayer. We know that God has something better for us than the world does.
The root of our plans for Lent are in a calling. We feel called by the Lord to be Catholic. We feel called by the Lord to embrace the season of Lent. We feel called by the Lord to take up the particular plans we make for Lent.
The same is true for your business. If you are called to business, you can find hope in that knowledge.
The Holy Spirit’s gift of knowledge corresponds to the virtue of hope. When we pray for this supernatural gift and ask the Lord to bring us knowledge, having this knowledge leads to the feeling of hope.
When you are feeling hopeless in your work, pray for the gift of knowledge. Trust that the Holy Spirit will bring you a podcast, an email, words from a friend, or something that will guide you. Expect to feel hope.
This Lenten season, walk into the desert with the feeling of hope. You are called. You are chosen. Turn your eyes toward Heaven.
In the meantime, talk to the Lord and ask him what he wants you to do in your business. When you hear it from him, you will likely take action from the feeling of conviction.
Sterling Jaquith lives in Northern Idaho and homeschools her six kiddos. She helps women build simple, holy, and profitable businesses. She teaches her clients how to rely on the Holy Spirit for business decisions and oh man, it's a much more peaceful way to run a business! Her Market Like An Evangelist workshop is very popular and is free at www.madeforgreatness.co.