Hope
Make a choice
We don’t do well with uncertainty.
We strive to create lives of predictability and routine, and although routine itself is not inherently harmful, it can keep us confined to places of comfort.
We would rather engage in low-risk, low-reward dealings to avoid feelings of fear that may accompany taking a leap of faith.
As the late German social psychologist Erich Fromm wrote in his 1956 book The Art of Loving, “The task we must set for ourselves is not to feel secure, but to be able to tolerate insecurity.”
We can’t remain in our sheltered bubbles and expect to live a life of service in accordance with nature. It’s naive to believe that the fewer anxieties we feel equates to a “better” or “happier” life.
Feeling anxious, insecure, or stressed is by no means a place to spend a majority of your life, but when these feelings do arise, know that growth is on the other side.
The bridge from our reliable bubble to the life we deserve is comprised of many feelings, with one standing as the foundation: hopefulness.
Hope is scary. It’s vulnerable. It removes us from safe, known confines and requires a belief that something better is on the horizon.
“Hopefulness is hard-earned, makes demands upon us, and can often feel like the most indefensible and lonely place on Earth. Hopefulness is not a neutral position either. It is adversarial. It says the world and its inhabitants have value and are worth defending. It says the world is worth believing in.” — Nick Cave, musician and writer
Hope challenges the present-day status quo that the world is falling apart. Surrounded by cynics and complainers—people outside the arena—it is easy to fall into the laissez-faire lifestyle of comfort. A lifestyle of setting the bar low so we guarantee “success”.
Not only is this cowardly, but it is a direct slap in the face to those who believe(d) in us.
It’s throwing in the towel after the third round.
Hopefulness enables us to dream and set goals that truly excite us. And in pursuit of these goals, we will encounter the anxieties, insecurities, and troubles called life.
It’s an unavoidable part of the journey, but it’s necessary to give our hopes and goals meaning.
Be bold. Be hopeful.
“But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.