Skip to main content

How Hope is Different from Resilience

 
Hope is different than resilience. It’s better.
In the last of my three posts on why hope is different from other positive traits, today I want to talk about resilience.
I’ve exhibited a little hubris when it comes to hope. I’ve said it’s better than optimism, self-efficacy, and, now, resilience.
I admit I’m a little biased, but I’m confident the science behind Snyder’s Hope Theory is solid. I’m less certain about resilience.
The problem with resilience is a lack of uniformity in how it is defined. Is resilience a trait or a process or an outcome or a combination of all three? It’s confusing.
Also, does resilience involve external factors such as family and support networks or is it simply internal strength? In the end, it seems resilience can be (and is) used to describe anything we want it to describe if it makes us feel better.
Hope, on the other hand, deals with our ability to cognitively assess our abilities to pursue goals and our ability to maintain motivation, particularly when “the going get’s tough.”
With hope, we don’t really need to focus on “bouncing back” from tough or demanding events. With hope, we have a framework for how we can overcome barriers, handle tough situations and setbacks, and still pursue our life’s goals.
Whether times are tough or we are on an upward trajectory, we can all use more of the science of hope as we pursue our goals!
If you find my posts about hope helpful, please share so more people can learn about the science and power of hope.
If I can help you learn more about how to use hope to protect against job demands, please contact me.

Chris
Photo by Ron Smith on Unsplash
(Adapted from Pharris, A. B., Munoz, R. T., & Hellman, C. M. (2022). Hope and resilience as protective factors linked to lower burnout among child welfare workers. Children and Youth Services Review, 136, 106424.)

Add Comment

Comments (2)

Newest · Oldest · Popular

For me, resilience is a helpful alternative when a situation is truly hopeless. I change the things I can, but there are also some situations I can't change -- or may change but perhaps not in my lifetime. Resilience helps me and is a useful tool for peer support in such situations.

Great article Christopher Freeze - such important distinctions between resilience and hope.  I also think about how HOPE lives inside all of us - best said by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Hope is the thing with feathers (254)

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Post
Copyright © 2023, PACEsConnection. All rights reserved.
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×