High Hopes

Have you ever pictured a moment in your mind? You build up this story of how each second will play out— what someone will say, what you’ll wear, where you will travel, what job you will have, and so on, but then the moment comes and goes. Sadly, it’s nothing like you imagined. The expectations you had were not met, and your future thinking sucked all the joy out of the now. This happens in the big and in the small. We allow these moments to define our measure of success. Webster says that expectation is a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future. 

Don’t get me wrong— it is good to believe. It is good to have hope, but it is toxic to our mental health to base our whole lives on a future thing and stake our confidence in our contrived fantasies. We set our selves up for a massive let down. Life is fluid. It changes and it shifts, and if we cannot move with it, we will fall into sticky stagnation. 

Our disappointments start to become the microphone from which our narratives speak. We begin to view the world from this state of disillusioned discouragement. No one wakes up bitter, it’s a slow process— step by step and little by little, apathy sets in. Our failed expectations set the stage for our disheartenment. We repress and then we depress. You have to decide to move with grace in every situation— grace for yourself and others. You cannot stay stagnant with clinched fist and still expect movement. Hope requires action and it will require your belief. Next time you grab the mic, ask yourself— what is the narrative I am telling? It will never be neutral. Your thoughts and words are too powerful for that.