Finding Hope in Perilous Times: Choosing Meaning When the World Feels Unsteady

There are seasons when the world feels fragile—when headlines overwhelm, relationships strain, and uncertainty seeps into daily life. In such perilous times, hope can feel naïve or even irresponsible. Yet hope, when understood rightly, is neither denial nor escapism. It is a disciplined, embodied choice rooted in meaning, agency, and connection.

At She. Fully Alive, hope is not optimism that everything will work out. It is the quiet, courageous decision to stay present to life as it is, while choosing how we will respond.

Viktor Frankl and the Discipline of Meaning

Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl offered one of the most enduring insights into hope under extreme conditions. In Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl observed that even when freedom, comfort, and certainty are stripped away, one freedom remains: the freedom to choose one’s attitude and response. Meaning—not pleasure or power—became the anchor that enabled survival and dignity amid suffering.

Frankl did not argue that suffering is good. Rather, he taught that suffering is unavoidable at times—and when it cannot be removed, it can still be met. Hope emerges not from controlling circumstances, but from discovering purpose within them.

Hope as an Inner Stance, Not an External Guarantee

In perilous times, many people search for hope by scanning the horizon for reassurance: a policy change, a diagnosis, a relationship repair, a return to “normal.” When these do not arrive, despair can deepen. Frankl’s work—and the She. Fully Alive framework—invite a different posture.

Hope begins internally, across the four pillars of whole-person health:

• Mental: Reframing despair into purposeful reflection. Asking not “Why is this happening to me?” but “What is being asked of me now?”

• Physical: Grounding the body through breath, movement, rest, and nourishment. Hope is difficult to sustain in a dysregulated nervous system.

• Social: Choosing connection over isolation. Meaning is often discovered with others, not alone.

• Spiritual: Listening for what transcends the moment—values, faith, conscience, or sacred presence—that calls us beyond fear.

Hope, then, is not passive. It is practiced.

Choosing Meaning in the Small and the Ordinary

Frankl emphasized that meaning is not abstract or grandiose. It is found in concrete, daily choices: tending to another person, completing a task with integrity, bearing suffering with courage, or refusing to dehumanize oneself or others.

At She. Fully Alive, we see hope cultivated through practices such as:

• Showing up fully to one conversation, even when the world feels overwhelming

• Honoring grief without letting it define identity

• Living in alignment with deeply held values, especially when doing so is costly

• Creating spaces—circles, retreats, rituals—where people can be seen and known

These acts may appear small, but they are profoundly countercultural in times shaped by fear and fragmentation.

Hope Does Not Deny Pain—It Accompanies It

One of the most damaging myths about hope is that it requires positivity at all costs. Frankl rejected this notion. Authentic hope allows sorrow, anger, and lament to exist without surrendering meaning. It is not “thinking happy thoughts,” but choosing to remain human in inhuman conditions.

For women especially—who often carry emotional, relational, and caregiving labor—hope may look like setting boundaries, seeking support, or releasing impossible expectations. Hope can be an act of self-respect.

An Invitation

Perilous times call us not to abandon hope, but to deepen it. Not to search for certainty, but to root ourselves in meaning. The invitation is not to fix the world overnight, but to ask:

How am I being called to live fully—mentally, physically, socially, and spiritually—right here, right now?

Hope begins there. And from there, it spreads.

At She. Fully Alive, we believe that meaning-making is essential to well-being. Through reflective practices, community, and whole-person care, we support women in cultivating hope that is resilient, grounded, and alive—even in perilous times.