YouTube Video

Transcript

Jasna Burza
Number one, is just by acknowledging that there’s nothing wrong with us. It is unfortunately, an emotion and sensations that collectively we share right now. Very, very strong. And people who normally tackle things really well and handle them may feel like there’s something wrong with them. But there really isn’t, and just saying it, and showing their vulnerability connects us to one another. And I know hopelessness all too well, it by definition, it’s a lack of hope. So I think that just just first and foremost is acknowledging that. And secondly, it’s really managing self talk and our own thoughts, you know, and I know that I lived throughout the war, and I felt there were moments where I felt so incredibly hopeless, but there was absolutely zero future on the horizon. And a thought would come into my brain, maybe things will be different one day, maybe I will actually go to school maybe. And that hope that one sentence, you know, when we think a thought a brain or body does not know whether it’s true or not, it just listened to the thought. It gave me a glimpse of hope and allow me just to not feel completely ended up.

Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield
And we know you went through so much in Bosnia, you know about this firsthand how big was a circle of support or having someone around you who can

Jasna Burza
be incredibly important when we’re when we’re about to lose absolutely everything we feel like there’s nothing worth fighting for. So having loved ones close is incredibly important. This is the case with so many different situations, but especially when we’re feeling hopeless, this is not the time to withhold and withdraw is the time to reach out and embrace.

Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield
Okay, and then perspective here, how do we keep perspective?

Jasna Burza
It’s really it goes back to the number one, which is managing our thoughts and managing the attitude about things, but finding some kind of meaning in the midst of loss and despair. So it’s okay to feel bad. It’s okay to cry, like, you know, I cried twice this past week, but then we can say, How can I make it better? You know, what am I what what am I really, really? What are the things that I can be very grateful for in this very moment. So that gives us perspective that not all is lost, there are things that we can be very, very grateful for.

Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield
Okay, so keeping that gratitude in there, keeping gratitude, incredibly

Jasna Burza
important. And also, if I, if I may, if when we do something for others, it puts us psychologically in a state of control. So try it out when you’re feeling completely hopeless, do something kind for someone else, because then it’s not all about us and everything being futile. We just did something. We did it to change someone’s day. And I think that’s beautiful.