What to do when you don’t have faith

Repeat after me: Everything I need is already within me.

Whoo, chile! The last three years have been something, hasn’t it? I don’t know a single person who isn’t having a time right now. From job loss, to quarantine, mental health struggles, calls to racial justice, death and more, the first half of this year is certainly one for the history books.

And despite all the hardships and struggle, many of us are blossoming beautifully. In fact, so many have triumphed during this time and found a strength they didn’t know they had. And then there’s the rest of us. The one’s who try so hard, watched everything crumble and now don’t know which way to go so they’re paralyzed in fear. The ones who have a good heart and believe so badly that good is coming, but have trouble uttering the words aloud because so many bad things have happened. And the ones who feel like they’ve tried every possible thing they could imagine, and yet still see no change in their situation. I get it. It’s rough.

It’s hard seeing the faith when life seems to be falling apart. Here’s what to do when you don’t have faith.

While the obvious answer for some is to just pray about it, the truth is prayer just doesn’t feel right to everyone.

Or they say, “Just have faith.” Faith can get you through so many things. And when the faith is strong, you feel like you can survive anything. But when you’re already crumbling, seeing the faith sometimes feels impossible. Faith is so often tied to religion which of course is supposed to offer guidance. But what happens when you don’t follow a religion? What do you do when you don’t feel like God speaks to you? How do you manage when you don’t have faith? Or what happens if you once had faith and no longer do in light of everything going on?

Maybe this is the wrong thing to say, but if you are having trouble with faith in religion, then forget about faith in religion for the time being. It only puts pressure on yourself and makes you feel guilty. Who am I to tell you that you must believe in a God or make all your decisions stem from some deep-rooted belief? It’s not my place to tell anyone that. It’s a deeply personal decision.  (Plus, if you are a religious person it’s possible you will see your faith-based in it again after some reflection.) Similiarly, I also can’t tell you to see faith in something such as a job, friend, or anything else outside of yourself because I don’t know the state of your environment.

What I can tell you to do is see faith in yourself. Better yet, see the faith in your discipline. Whether or not you see it, it’s your discipline, with or without faith, that will get you through and always has gotten you through. And yes, discipline to be consistent in the things that matter is certainly tough when your life doesn’t seem to make any sense. But remember, you’ve been disciplined before about other things. It was the discipline to not only attend school but show up to school religiously that helped you graduate. It was the discipline to read chapter by chapter consistently that helped you finish your book. And it’s even your discipline to shower each day that helped you start anew and refreshed. So if you think you don’t have discipline, think again. See the faith in your discipline to do big and beautiful things no matter how small they may seem to someone else. So whatever it is that you are yearning for or don’t have faith in doesn’t matter because your discipline will get you through. You don’t need to see the faith in the environment or the outcome. Faith in your discipline is enough.

If you can’t see faith in yourself, take the time to recognize the people that do have faith in you. Faith isn’t something you find. Faith has already been given to you. Whether or not you see it in yourself, there are people that do.

The boss that hired you has faith you can do the job.

Your beautiful and bright eyed children have faith you can take care of them.

Your friends have faith in you.

Your mentor has faith in you.

Your blog subscribers have faith in your ability to write with honesty and inform.

Your doctor has faith in you to take the medicine you’ve been prescribed. 

And if you follow religion, God has faith in you. 

I can go on.

As I hope you can see, you have no shortage of faith as it has already been instilled in you.  No need to waste time trying to find something you already have. Even when you can’t see the faith, it’s there. Whenever life becomes too much and seeing that faith in the beauty of your life seems impossible, look to the people who have already given you so much faith. Whether you believe it or not, you have more than enough to go on. You got this.

What do you do when you lose faith?

Terrific Quip – Each day is another opportunity to get it right.