11 Stories of Hope

It’s easier now more than ever to get caught up in a downward spiral from one bad feeling emotion. The world is quite literally penetrating each other’s walls for heart-wrenching news, scary statistics, and predictions drenched in fear…if we allow it. 

What’s sometimes difficult to grasp is that we can actually control what we allow our focus to latch onto. Yes, we can filter our consumption of news, but we can’t control our partner or friend, or parent from sharing unwanted information with us when we’re feeling vulnerable. But what we can control in that situation is how we react and what we choose to focus on in the moments following.

So instead of focusing on fear, which is easy to do when we’re surrounded by it, we want to dedicate this article to focus on hope by remembering stories of those who were up against the odds and yet still overcame adversity. 

We hope that this inspires you to keep turning towards the light and remember that a bad moment, no matter how long it lasts, is never permanent.

In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in a protest for the equal treatment of African American citizens. Her actions could have meant death in the Deep South, but instead, it was one of the catalyzing factors towards the Civil Rights Movement.

At the age of 29, J.K.Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, was homeless, a single mother, and living on food stamps. Her manuscript for the world-changing series was rejected 12 times. Now, the total Harry Potter franchise is worth over $25 billion.

Henry Ford’s first automobile business went bankrupt within its first year of business. After that, he invented the Model T and the assembly line, amongst other incredible feats that continue to impact our daily lives today.  

Walt Disney was fired from his first job for “lacking creativity” and motivation. He then went on to create Laugh-o-gram Studios, which went bankrupt. Broke, but he never gave up. Soon after Laugh-o-gram, he invented Mickey Mouse, and what’s more, produced a short animation film, Steamboat Willie. The rest is history.

Elie Wiesel, the author of Night and Dawn, as well as a Nobel Peace Prize Winner, was the only surviving member of his family from the Holocaust. 

Jim Carrey lived in poverty most of his childhood and young adult life. He famously wrote himself a check for $10 million dated 10 years into the future, citing “acting services rendered”. Right before that date, he found out he was going to be starring in Dumb and Dumber, earning $10 million.

Thomas Edison “failed” thousands of times attempting to invent the light bulb. And yet, he persisted, citing that he didn’t truly fail, he just found 10,000 ways that didn’t work.

Albert Einstein was repeatedly told he would never succeed as a child because he was too imaginative. For two years after college, he couldn’t secure a job in physics so he became an assistant patent examiner. He later invented the theory of relativity.

Michael Jordan, a very famous and widely respected basketball player, was cut from his varsity basketball team. 

Oprah Winfrey grew up in poverty and faced severely challenging struggles, including sexual assault and rape by several of her family members. What’s more, while she became an honors student in high school and received a full scholarship to college, she was fired publicly from her first job. Now, she’s a national best-selling author, entrepreneur, and personality worth over $2 billion.

Viktor Frankl survived the Holocaust after witnessing the loss of his entire family. He then went on to write Man’s Search For Meaning, one of the 10 most influential books in America.

We know that each of us has faced our own struggles and tribulations in this life. The amazing part is that you’ve overcome each one that you’ve faced. We hope that this reminded you of how incredible of a human spirit you have, and how it can be found in all of us, in any circumstance. 

There will come a day when you look back on where you are right now and think to yourself, “Yeah, I did that. I conquered it.”