When Hope Runs Out, Borrow Some
These past few weeks, Nepal has seen change that has left all of us in awe. The political dynamic has shifted, the leadership has changed, institutions have been burned and left to be rebuilt, for better or for worse. At the same time, many of us have lost loved ones. Many of us carry injuries, physical and emotional, born of our desire for a better future. Amid lost lives, ruined homes, and uncertainty about what comes next, it is natural to feel our hope shaken.
The question that confronts us now is simple but heavy: How do we remain hopeful when all hope is lost? How do we keep moving ahead when the future feels uncertain, when nothing inspires us to carry on?
It is important to say this clearly: the questions you hold in your head, the feelings you carry in your heart, the uncertainty, the exhaustion, the hopelessness, make sense. They are valid. It makes sense to be overwhelmed. It makes sense to feel that the future is fragile and unclear.
And yet, history reminds us of something else. Those who came before us, people who lived through crisis, trauma, and sorrow, still persisted. In time, they found meaning again. They rediscovered hope. They rebuilt. This suggests that even in the darkest of hours, hope is not gone forever. It may be misplaced, it may be hidden, but it can return.
So the question shifts: How do we hold on until hope returns? How do we keep working, keep living, when the light has gone out?
One way is by Borrowing Hope.
Borrowing hope is a simple but powerful strategy. In the bleakest times, when you cannot find hope within yourself, you borrow it from others. You ask a friend, a relative, a colleague: “What do you hope for?” And then, for a time, you carry their answer as if it were your own. Not forever. Just long enough for you to rebuild or rediscover your own.
This works because hopelessness feels final, but it isn’t. Feelings change. Perspectives widen. New understandings emerge with time. Borrowing hope gives us a bridge between despair and renewal. It can be a way to keep moving when standing still feels easier.
Practical Ways to Borrow Hope
- Hold a Small Hope
When your own hope feels impossible, ask someone else what they hope for and carry that instead. Keep it small and time-bound: “I’ll hold your hope until tomorrow,” or “I’ll carry it just for this week.” - Listen to Recovery Stories
Borrow strength from the words of those who have endured before you. A friend’s survival, a book, a poem, or a testimony can remind you that what feels unbearable now may one day be survivable. - Use Tokens of Hope
Using objects to hold memory can be really useful, especially it is very easy to forget words and insights during times of crisis. A stone, a note, a photograph, or even a stranger’s message can serve as a symbol to return to when your own hope falters. - Swap Hopes with Others
Sometimes it helps to exchange rather than borrow. Offer someone a piece of your hope while they hold yours. This exchange can lighten the load and strengthen bonds of trust. - Make Micro-Pledges
Choose the smallest, most immediate act to keep yourself in motion, “I will get out of bed,” “I will take one step outside.” Borrowed hope works best when tied to concrete, achievable action. - Record and Revisit
Keep a simple “hope record”. Write down hopes others have shared with you or stories that moved you. On darker days, return to these pages. What you borrow once can be borrowed again.
Borrowed hope is not about denying grief or forcing optimism, it is about holding on just long enough to move. In a country scarred by loss and uncertainty, hope does not need to be grand or permanent. Hope can be a sentence, a story, a token passed from one hand to another. If we borrow these small hopes, carry them for a while, and return them when we can, we keep ourselves and each other in motion. And perhaps, step by step, those borrowed hopes will become the foundation of a hope that is finally our own.
Author: Karmendra Prakash Shrestha