Do you think you have to want some thing to have hope? I don’t mean wanting one specific thing, but sort of that you might want to see the sunshine (soon), or want to live longer, or want to hear music. Then you can feel hopeful that might happen in your near future,
That’s a difference I see about joy and hope. Joy is a feeling about an experience. Hope is a feeling about the future - and it requires one to WANT to experience the future. To not want to have good experiences might sound like depression. But I don’t think it is.

I’ve been sitting here pretty much reading these postings from first to last. I see some books I want to read, and there have been provoking comments worth reflecting on. And I have thoughts.

There is a spark of life that I’ve come to believe some people were born with more, and some with less. For me it’s not lack of trying that has made me less hopeful. I certainly have gratitude and recognize the many gifts that have been given me. I find great joy with my grandchildren, and enjoy tai chi. I interact with others and give assistance often. But that spark. That hopefulness? I struggle with that.

I have been on antidepressants twice and I have felt a lifting of heaviness. But pushing through that weight is really not a problem, I can do that - it’s the spark. For me, I think it’s caused environmentally - that lack of hopefulness. I can clearly remember at age 9 of thinking there is no happily ever after - and that wasn’t a thought that just popped into my head, but one that was based on experience. Over time, and with distance from those years, it was more clear how my life’s outlook developed.

I’m not trying to say, woe is me. But giving you, perhaps, a different view of how someone may be feeling about life. Maybe acceptance that we’re all so different in so many ways. And, maybe you have thoughts about my post?