I’ve written about hope. In a post from 2019, I talked about it being timeless and having no constraints. Hope brings comfort and reassurance to all world residents who struggle with the turbulence we’re experiencing now in our society and will undoubtedly encounter in the future. Hope reminds me a conflicted world does not need to destroy my joy and happiness through the coming years.
Ways to create hope are laid out by countless mentors and counselors. The steps include taking an initial stock of your life and assessing where you are with yourself, your goals, and with your plans for the future. Managing stress through calming practices such as meditation, acknowledging gratitude, and spending time in nature all help us visualize a positive future. Finally, the concept of guarding against negativism – either in the media or through friends and family who relish the perpetuation of bad and scary news – is critical to maintaining a strong core of hope. Check out my full post from 2019 here.
2019 was a tough year, as were the years leading up to it and the years since then. I write about it again here where I talk about the things that I’m hopeful about, in spite of devastating circumstances in the world around me. The main thesis of my words in this post was: Without hope, we’re guaranteed to come up empty handed.
Individually we can decide if we’ll be investors in hope as we plod through civil unrest, a multi-year pandemic, climate change, and now, war, let alone all the socio-economic and civic unrest that seem to carry over from one decade to the next. We can give up or we can set aside our discouragement and double down on efforts to keep hoping for a future without the destruction of all that we know and love.
Anne Lamott reminds us that hope requires our active participation. In 2018, she wrote a beautiful piece, “Show Up With Hope,” for National Geographic. She so eloquently says, “Sometimes hope is a radical act, sometimes a quietly merciful response, sometimes a second wind, or just an increased awareness of goodness and beauty.” It makes me wonder, where do you find hope?
I find hope in strong leaders who care nothing for themselves but only for the well-being of our human race. I find hope that we can live in the beauty Anne speaks of without first having to wonder if we’ll make it to the end safe and sound. I find hope in technology and the smart people who harness the answers to our many problems. And I find hope in myself. I know the simple things that bring me joy and happiness – my human and furry friends, reading, and an imagination that will last the rest of my days. I’ll do my best to keep hope alive.
We really have little choice. If we want to salvage the remaining years of our seniordom, we must become Investors in Hope.