אות-קיד

One must not despair, G-d forbid — even if one has strayed like a lost sheep — for there is absolutely no despair in the world, in the aspect of: "and if I make my bed in the depths, behold, You are there". And this is the essential teshuvah, as explained elsewhere. And this is the aspect of the mitzvah of returning a lost object specifically before despair. (Halachos of Lost Objects and Found Objects, Halacha 2, Ois 2)