I’ve been accused a time or two of being unrealistically optimistic. My accusers may be right! However, my optimism comes not from a place of vanity or blissful ignorance, but rather from a deeper place of believing even despite the worst circumstances that hope is a realistic and worthy choice. To put it succinctly, I have great hope for you and I in the coming year, and I believe this hope is justified!
Acknowledging the hardships we have faced is not a step to skip – it’s actually the starting place. Some of us have lost loved ones recently. Some of us have battled addictions or bouts of mental illness. Some of us have joltingly transitioned our careers. Some of us have gone into debt just to pay the regular bills. All of us have adjusted to daily pandemic precautions. It’s been a tough couple years! Pain and hardship begs to be acknowledged, lest we risk missing the point of our choosing hope altogether.
Once the pain is acknowledged, we have a choice to make. Vietnamese Buddhist philosopher and leader Thich Nhat Hahn wrote, “Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.” I couldn’t agree more. Can you imagine facing the past two years without having any hope for improvement? Hope is what draws us through to the sunrise, just when we think the dark night may last forever.
But, is hope realistic? Of course it is! For most of us, things have indeed gotten at least a little bit better, right? We’ve had the chance to process our grief with our loved ones. We’ve stayed sober one more day, or found a new strategy to cope with our stress or depression through therapy. We’ve finished the onboarding process at our new jobs and are starting to get the hang of it. We’ve made some meaningful progress on our debts and bills. We have vaccines now that are literally saving lives. Today is so much better than yesterday!
American inspirational author Orison Swett Marden wrote, “There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow.” I love thinking of hope like an incentive. The feeling of hope deep within us is itself a gift to be experienced today before tomorrow has even arrived. To be clear, hope is not the same thing as certainty. There are many uncertainties in our day and age. At the very least, hope is a foundational optimistic lens through which we can approach our uncertainties.
As 2022 settles in, I hope for peace of mind. I hope for collective growth and for positive change. I hope for better health and for better choices. I hope for laughter and for friendship. I hope for connection over division. I hope for love over hate. I hope for many more better tomorrows.
What do you hope for?
-Written by Chase Cotten, Community Director
