How to Be Hopeful: A Year of Attempting to Feel Less Awful About the World

by Caitlin Moran

Caitlin Moran takes us on a personal journey from despair to hopefulness by refusing to succumb to the paralyzing news cycle and by taking action in small ways that make a difference; the award-winning columnist and bestselling author of How to Be a Woman and What About Men? helps us find hope in seemingly hopeless times with this laugh-out-loud and heart-filling story of finding a way forward in dark times. Waking up from another anxious night of sleep, doomscrolling on your phone, feeling the familiar thud of dread in your chest as you watch the Sound familiar? One morning, Caitlin Moran awakes and realizes that she has reached Peak Despair. In a world of worsening news, increasing tribalism and digital addiction, is it any wonder that we all feel so terrible? So, Caitlin what might be done? She starts with a Big Plan to escape to the country. But, after nearly bankrupting her family in an ill-advised bid to escape societal doom, Caitlin realizes that true change starts not by escaping our circumstances, but by reckoning with ourselves. If we step back from the algorithm and take care of ourselves and each other, might amazing change be possible? And so, ditching the news, eschewing social media, and throwing herself into the analogue world just beyond our screens, Caitlin shows how recognizing the goodness in the everyday can be a radical act of rebellion against the fear and anxiety of modern life. From the magic of becoming a renegade litter-picker to the joy of finding exercise that your body loves, How to Be Hopeful is an essential, serotonin-boosting companion for anyone looking to reclaim their optimism amidst global chaos, reminding us that our own revolution of hope is never far away.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Personal Development

304 pages, Paperback

Expected publication November 10, 2026

About the author

Caitlin Moran had literally no friends in 1990, and so had plenty of time to write her first novel, The Chronicles of Narmo, at the age of fifteen. At sixteen she joined music weekly, Melody Maker, and at eighteen briefly presented the pop show 'Naked City' on Channel 4. Following this precocious start she then put in eighteen solid years as a columnist on The Times – both as a TV critic and also in the most-read part of the paper, the satirical celebrity column 'Celebrity Watch' – winning the British Press Awards' Columnist of The Year award in 2010 and Critic and Interviewer of the Year in 2011. The eldest of eight children, home-educated in a council house in Wolverhampton, Caitlin read lots of books about feminism – mainly in an attempt to be able to prove to her brother, Eddie, that she was scientifically better than him. Caitlin isn't really her name. She was christened 'Catherine'. But she saw 'Caitlin' in a Jilly Cooper novel when she was 13 and thought it looked exciting. That's why she pronounces it incorrectly: 'Catlin'. It causes trouble for everyone.

(from http://www.caitlinmoran.co.uk/index.p...)

Reviews

[Sarah-May]

I love everything this woman writes so to read this so quickly doesn’t surprise me.

Caitlin Moran is a journalist who has written on feminism for nearly 2 decades. So, to find a book that talks about the midlife crisis she goes through and how she deals with anxiety has been almost life changing.

This book sets you on a path for change in how you can view the world around you. This book looks at the ways in which you can remove anxiety from your life by just changing your perspective of the world around you. And by doing things that just make you happy. Caitlin starts litter picking in her local neighbourhood, she removes her headphones so she can hear the world around her. She re-wilds her garden to allow nature a home and she even tries cold water swimming. And she does all this just so she can feel more hopeful at the bin fire of the world around her. By changing your perspective and not living in an echo chamber of other people’s opinions you can find joy and hope in the world around you. You can start to believe in humanity again. You can remove anxiety from your life and move towards something more hopeful. Because happiness is something you have to keep doing over and over for it become natural part of your life. This is well worth a read for anyone who’s feeling hopeless.

[Clarissa]

“There comes a time, in everyone’s life, which is inevitable, and non-negotiable: it is when you they start having hippy thoughts, stone-cold sober, in the middle of the day.”

Well. If this hasn’t been my myself and my brain for the last two years!

How To Be Hopeful is full of Caitlin’s classic wit and tone that is found in previous publications plus her live author talks. I didn’t find anything necessary groundbreaking here but what it did was affirm things I’d noticed and had experienced which is even better rather than sat thinking ‘is it just me?’

Laugh out loud funny and just an utter JOY because in the famous words of Rachel Keen, ‘I do declare there will be joy’!

“Every day is all there is” - Joan Didion

[Rhoda]

I absolutely love Caitlin Moran. I've always found her writing so sharp, funny and engaging. She's such a clever woman and I love hearing her takes on life. Her new book is a real breath of fresh air and it details her journey of 'breaking up with anxiety' and living a hopeful year. It was such a joyful book and one which I flew through. I now want to go off and rewild my garden after a bit of cold water swimming!

[Laura Hibbert]

I feel hopeful...

[Sage]

Thanks so much for the DRC, Harper! I love Caitlin Moran, she’s funny and relatable and cool as hell. I was excited to see another book from her, and overall really enjoyed this one although I did like some parts better than others.

Quotes that resonated with me:

✨ “Three minutes into the day, and my nervous system is already racing. Yet again, while I was asleep, I feel like the world got worse…That night, I lie in bed-sweaty, hormonal, sad-running the same debate in my head that I have every night for some time now. Is it right to be an optimist? A Pollyanna? To believe that everything will be all right, in the end? Or is the smart thing to be a wise, anxious Cassandra-one who accepts that everything's fucked? Which is more helpful? Which would make the world a better place? And which one will let me get to sleep? Because it's now 2am, 3am, 4am, and I am desperate for rest, but I cannot sleep at all. I am an optimist, but I am anxious. And I know I am not alone.” (Chapter 1)

✨ “'I guess this is it,' I think, dragging myself out of bed, already tired and aching, and brushing my teeth while I stare out at the still, silent, empty garden, in the city I am now trapped in. 'I guess this is my life, then. Until, finally, civilisation falls. I will live in a declining country, among dying nature, surrounded by clinically depressed people-and there's nothing I can do about it. In the 21st century, this is the new normal'” (chapter 2) Jesus. Literally wrote something similar in my journal today. Like I GUESS THIS IS JUST LIFE NOW I will get up and go to work and continue to be a husk and nothing will change and then I’ll die 🤪🫡 woof.

✨ She makes a list of 10 things in a “Standard Day™️” that would help her look forward to tomorrow, “rather than viewing it as I currently do, which is as yet another crushing unit of anxiety and disappointment that stands between me and either a) the temporary relief of our next holiday or b) the potential permanent relief of the end of the world.

1. Find out a way to wake up without feeling instantly feel anxious.
2. Eat bloody breakfast instead of having codeine and a banana.
3. Find a way to be Healed by Nature in my garden.
4. Improve the neighbourhood.
5. Have some kind of small adventures. See new things - be dazzled by the world; regain faith in it; see wonderful things that humans have done - but be home in time for tea.
6. Feel like I'm doing something useful - noble - for humanity.
7. Invent a way to keep up with news that doesn't shag my mental health.
8. Feel part of something, like a community, but without any way being part of 'a community, as this triggers massive social anxiety.
9. Go to sleep early, and not spend until 1am doomscrolling.
10. Stop dreading winter.

Find a way to feel like I'm not waiting for 'the good times' to arrive, but to feel, right now, that life is good.” (Chapter 4) THIS LAST BIT KICKED MY TEETH IN!!!!!!!!!

✨ “The technology to listen to anything and everything you want, at any time, in any place, will never be anything other than one of the modern world's most Narnian gifts. The intro to the perfect song, as you walk down a hot street, might well be one of your most ecstatic moments of the year; and to have a retinue of professors, or clowns, to keep you company as you breakfast in a dour hotel, alone, is like having constant, imaginary friends at your fingertips.” (Chapter 6)

One of my best friends is trying a thing where she like, idk, reminds herself of the beauty of humanity, and part of that is not wearing headphones while commuting, so she’s had all these lovely conversations with strangers and also has been BORED and annoyed etc., and I really liked Caitlin’s own take on headphones and trying to not block out the world, but then noticing it everywhere she goes. I’m trying not to wear headphones while I’m at the grocery store and things like that. TBD hah

✨ “But what did happen was: I became host to something that will never quite leave me. Our minds are complex, wondrous machines of invention, and reason-but they are, also, essentially, just storage. Our heads are a suitcase, a cupboard, a box for everything we think and see-and, once you let something in there, once it crosses from the world into your memory, it will be with you forever.” (Chapter 12) woof okay so January 14 will just be in my brain forever then. Coolcoolcool!!!

✨ “And so my worry-that trying to be hopeful would, somehow, make me feel more distant and disconnected from the world-proved to be wrong. So wrong. In the end, it was actually the opposite. Because, once you decide that how you feel about the world isn't going to be dictated by your phone-but where you go and what you do and what you can change, right on your doorstep-you can fall back in love with the world. Yes, sometimes it's difficult and yes, the dreadful people are still doing their dreadful things. Throughout history, that has always been the case. But, if you hate those people-if you hate what they stand for, if you hate the bleak, furious tooth-and-nail future they describe-then there is only one way to rebel: to be hopeful. Rebel! By flooding their zone with joy. Rebel! By making their politics downstream from your optimism. Rebel! By finding your heroes, and wonders, and cheering them on.

Rebel, by finding a new way, every day-however tiny-to love your life, and then tell everyone you know about it.

Because that is the job-the only job, in the end-of being alive. To try and find a way to love every one of your days. To show that you know what a good life is.

The country might think it had a bad year, but the people? The people can always find a way to have a happy one.

The people already know how to be hopeful.” (Chapter 16) this ending is really fucking beautiful.

[Katy Kelly]

Absolutely inspiring, relatable and one I'm going to listen to again (and stop dreading winter).

While I'm not an anxious person or ever been reliant on medication, I do relate very strongly to Caitlin in so many other ways. Not least of which, we come from the same town, she's a few years ahead of me but I'm not far behind her in terms of life experience and the sort of questions I'm asking of my own choices, future and the world around me.

So a lot of this felt like my own brain going "yes! We've already thought this one! Good question! Good answer!" It was uncanny.

I've read most of Caitlin's recent non-fiction and fiction, and this might be the best one yet, as it's as much a self-help guide as any, relatable to almost all of us, and almost necessary at one time of life or another.

Moran here tells us about her deep dread about the future and her attempt to escape (physically) with her family to avoid the almost definite end of the world she (and many of us) fear is coming. And then, when things don't turn out as expected, going on a quest over many months after having an epiphany about happiness to seek to better her outlook, her own personal feelings about her self and about the world more generally.

From litter picking to enhance a community's look and feel, to cold water swimming (I had to put a jacket on to listen to this one), Caitlin is never less than honest. And wonderfully erudite, funny and setting herself up to be the Wise Woman in Media over the next 20 years.

She's not afraid to be open about her faults and eccentricities. She shares her self-criticism over her body image, her anxiety, her over-thinking. What life is like without headphones on. What life is like without listening to the news 24-7. Enjoying being out in the garden and making it a place for nature and not just humans. She's open about her qualms but then the unforeseen wonders of getting a dog (as a cat person I still found this chapter joyous). She even shares some incredibly valid advice (for all ages) about being online, as an activist or just general social media user.

I loved this. So much. I'm now bugging my bloke, a bit of a preparing-for-nuclear-apocalypse catastrophiser to listen to this as well, I think it would do all of us some good to take Caitlin's perspective on life and see things from a different angle.

Thank you for writing this. And narrating it, loved hearing your voice speak to readers. Naturally funny and clearly working on gaining that life wisdom we should all be seeking.

[Núria]

I had the pleasure to meet Caitlin and her husband at the Green Man festival and hear them talk about the book (and then read it before it's published!). This is an insightful, very funny and extremely relatable collection of essays on finding joy in the era of social media and anxiety-inducing news. I especially loved the chapter "Don't be an activist" and how Caitlin eloquently put into words a phenomenon we've recently been witnessing - the blurring of the lines between empathy and narcissism, and how online activism is a proxy for personal angers and sorrows.
I laughed out loud when she mentions that her therapist suspects she might have ADHD - the book screams ADHD in every. single. page. Maybe that's why I found it so relatable.
To be honest, I didn't learn anything new in the book, as I pretty much got to the same conclusions as Caitlin some time ago (though in my case, it took two Vipassana 10-day silent meditation retreats, self-traumatising as a vegan activist, and living through a year of bombings and war). But it's still nice to read something you wholeheartedly agree with. I guess I'm now really looking forward to having a dog, a garden, and trying winter swimming!

[Natasha]

Was lucky to attend an event today with Caitlin Moran talking about this book. Extremely timely and ultimately "hopeful". The world can be a dark and worrisome place but as Frank Rogers said and Caitlin Moran echoes, "look for the helpers", the glimmers of hope, don't just be hopeful but actively "do" hopeful things where you can. A great important message for us all.

[Lauren Levine]

In a sentence:

Caitlin Moran spends a year trying to figure out how to feel less anxious and more optimistic about the world, and ends up mostly discovering things we know to be true but rewriting them that makes them feel fresh and worth remembering.

In three words:
Optimistic, wry, funny

What I liked:

- I do like a book that recognises and gently mocks the appeal of the grand narrative that will change your life. Anythinf that punctures the illusion that I Will Just Follow What Happens In The Books and it will all be fine. She did not in fact walk a salt path/ adopt a hawk/ Eat Pray Love.
- I liked the idea that activism can be fun? I found this almost strange - like you can help children in Ukraine... And enjoy it? that it doesn't just have to be something done out of duty - but because there's actually something fun about a bunch of people sitting and planning and hoping they can make the world a better place
- the line between empathy and narcissism - the I ME I REALLY CARE so much about this.

Any gems:
- fannyphalactic (childish, funny)
- about the attention on bad news but the ignoring the slow progress all around us -
'you can hear the axe that fells a tree, but you cannot hear the forest that grows'
- The Larkin poem of What are days for?'
- razzamatazz
- a couture moment
- p82 and 253

Where I read it: train back from seeing Caitlin Moran after she KISSED MY HEAD after seeing me on the platform. Epic.

Misc:
- so much is common sense stuff - sleep, eat well, dont go on social media, be in nature, exercise, don't spend too much time with headphones, be deliberate about your news consumption, spend time outside early in the day, the world is far less overwhelming with a clean room and if you can get a dog. But there is something cool about how a woman who had a wee with Lady Gaga in a Berlin toilet and who Bob Mortimer wants to be friends with saying it. She has done all the things and also says these are the right ones.

[Gem ~]

It IS hard to be hopeful in 2026, there is a constant supply of disappointments, tragedies, crises, costs, and billionaires. Caitlin Moran's writing has always been an uplifting look at some difficult times and subjects delivered with humanity and humour, but I was still dubious picking up this book at whet could possibly be hopeful.
It wonderfully covers the hardships big and small of midlife/perimenopause and the greater world outside our doors. And there are many ideas, big and small, that we can also adopt to just bring some order to the chaos. I have read books this year that very much declared there was no hope, so this was a very welcome and pragmatic response to the mess of it all.

[Lisa]

I love Caitlin and this didn’t let me down. She reads the audiobook with the full force of her personality and kindness.
Open and honest with many interesting tangents.

Ah she’s a funny goddess isn’t she?
The how to have a good day chapter was epic.
And what a friend to have! That as you’re in despair does your washing up.

Though I can’t agree with her trumpeting about beta-blockers. Wish that had been cut down/out because I’ve know them to be damaging to a family member and frankly the other things Caitlin was doing to reduce anxiety may have had more of an impact than the prescription.

[Kathryn Culley]

Spoiler: Caitlin becomes hopeful.
She gets hormone therapy.
She loses her headphones.
She realises that you can invite nature by gardening less (no mow…) and adding water.

And then she listens. And sits. And picks litter. And comes off twitter (phew! I was only on there for her, back in the day). And in her inimitable way, she might just drag a few of us downtrodden, world-weary, middle aged folk with her.

Always a pleasure.

Pre-release copy from her tour, Sept 2026

[Pernille]

I listened to this as an audiobook and it was, mostly, a pleasure. It was a joy to hear about how Moran has made space for joy and hope in her life - quite inspiring stuff! Nothing groundbreaking or earth-shattering, but that's the point I think. Joy and hope are accessible if we do the small everyday things that foster them. Beautiful to see how someone who was, in her own words, flooded by 'the terror' on a daily basis could get to such a different place. There's hope!

[Flora Charlton]

As usual I love Moran’s writing, this one didn’t hit it for me as much as previous books have, however I admire how honest she is in her experience of life, and feels like is part of a wider movement of people admitting that they struggle. Honourable mention to the use of the phrase “Fannyphylactic Shock” to describe the pain in her fanny when going wild swimming in the winter, phenomenal creativity there.

[H]

As a fan of all Caitlin Moran books I preorderd a copy, booked in on the book tour and waited to start reading. The book arrived and life was particularly busy so I also downloaded the audio book (audible UK) and began listening straight away. It took a chapter to get into which was unusual for one of her books but then it met and exceeded all expectations. No spoilers here, I laughed, I cried, I was in awe at the incites at the start of part 2!

[Kate Cotton]

This book has been published and is now available!

A wonderful quick read and the perfect book for the end of the summer. The advice - less screen time, change algorithms, engage with people and nature etc - may be obvious but Caitlin has encapsulated it in a joyous way that (hopefully!) makes it stick. Now, thanks to her final chapter, to prepare and look forward to the winter :)

[Grace]

Read this in 2 days straight which is a record for me as I’m a very slow reader. I heard Caitlin talking on the happy place podcast and related to her so much that I immediately bought the book. It did not disappoint. It’s a great read, positive, funny, uplifting and honest. As a fellow cortisol kid I felt seen.

[Louise]

A book to be read carefully and with intention, with hope in your heart and a willingness to listen and change. I adored it, as I always do with this author. It's full of really good, practical advice on how to live a life that feels fuller, happier and less stressful in the modern world, especially with social media and all that entails. Thoughtful, hopeful and well worth your time.

[Anna Jackson]

Another absolutely brilliant book from Caitlin. Perhaps my favourite of hers. I don’t remember the last time a book felt as relevant and urgent to me as this one has. I feel like everyone should read it! I folded down so many page corners to come back to, and will immediately be downloading the audio book!

[SJ]

Loved it. A much needed counter to the doomscrolling and negativity. Reading Caitlin Moran’s writing is always like spending time with a warm, witty and comforting friend- this is a genuinely optimistic and sensible antidote to the chaotic times we find ourselves in with much wisdom and humour.

[Kelly DC]

I really enjoyed this, it echoed so many of the thoughts I’ve had - good and bad! She has some brilliant ways of looking at things, speaks so much sense, I’ll take a lot away from it - still skipping the cold swimming though!! 😆

[Vicki Duncan]

I absolutely loved this book! It shows you how to keep in touch with world events without letting them overwhelm you. It’s about keeping perspective and understanding where you can actually make a difference and influence things. A great one to audiobook too!

[Lauren]

This book was recommended while travelling in Tasmania, and it sounded perfect. I'm glad I bought it because I feel like reading has altered my perspectives for better.
Wonderful read, with lots of powerful points to reflect on.
10 out of 10 would (will) read again!

[Jane Anderson]

Absolutely loved this book. While not an anxious person I related to so much of it ie how social media had started making me feel.

[Emma]

Woe is me and my extremely middle class, significantly better than average life in Crouch End.

[Linda]

Top tier Caitlin

[Hannah Trudeau]

A very different topic to her usual and her other books, but thoroughly entertaining as her writing always is. And it did leave me feeling hopeful

[Barbara]

3.5

[Jess]

I just simply love this woman.

[Stephanie Stoneback]

Read, reviewed, and submitted for IndieNext:

HOW TO BE HOPEFUL is a light, compulsively readable account of Caitlin Moran’s foray into finding something to live for amid our currently cursed timeline. This memoir in essays is self-deprecating, silly, and totally relatable: we’ve all fantasized about escaping our bleak reality by buying a house in the country and going completely off-grid. Along the way, Moran finds small joys to delight in, from native gardening and headphone-free walking to giving back to her local community and unplugging from a constant barrage of news. In following Moran’s journey, readers will find their own little ways to be grateful and keep hope alive in our trying times.