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No doubt in my mind -- Barack Obama has touched a nerve in people that is crying out, saying, " don't know if I believe, but I still have hope."
 I see people energized about voting that never blinked a cynical eye in front of a voting booth before.
My client, P, had pretty much given up hope of getting back to work because she couldn't do the work she had trained and invested in for 30 years. She is a surgeon with multiple sclerosis. Tremors make it impossible for her to hold a scalpel. She felt defeated and alone until she could see a future for herself. It's not what it was. Nor is it what she "might have chosen". But it feels a lot better than giving up. Hope is what gets you up and going when you live with a debilitating chronic illness. A post in the blog, Positive Psychology the audacity of hope and dealing with chronic illness , looks at what hope does for us as we face fear, fatigue and pain. I'm paraphrasing the post: When you get a diagnosis, first you experience fear. After many other emotions, only then can you move on to: Now how do I live my life? Realistic optimism is indispensable. In his book, The Anatomy of Hope, Dr. Jerome Groopman spends an entire chapter on the topic. "Deconstructing Hope" looks at hope from many angles. Groopman concludes with this: "For those who have hope, it may help some to live longer, and it will help all to live better." Amen to that. I must admit that I have little faith in the idea that our political system will change dramatically. I do have faith in the notion that no matter what your experience is, with hope, you can find the will to go on. One clear path to do that is to continue to feel you've got something to offer, something of value, that brings you beyond your illness. Work is a route to connecting to that part of you that is hope.
Rosalind aka cicoach.com  Click here to see all my blogs. I cover a lot more of specifics in my booklet, Make It Happen - the who how, and what when chronic illness stopsyou from getting your job done. which is part of my Career Thrive series at my cicoach.com website. You can also download free published articles related to this topic -- at my website. Only registered users can write comments.
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