Hope is one of those words that can mean many things to
many people. Webster defines it as a desire for some
good, accompanied with at least a slight expectation of
obtaining it, a belief that it is obtainable, or a feeling that
what is wanted will happen. I, like many others, live on
hope. A sign on my office door says, “I don’t believe in miracles, I rely
on them,” as I feel that I am the most hopeful person I know. Lately, I
have heard people say, “Hope is not a strategy.” I don’t disagree with
them; but I do believe hope is essential to success. Hope alone can
work, but it is not a reliable source of accomplishment. Yet, hard work,
luck and other proven success methods need to have a bit of “hope”
in the mix.
The word hope is a code for optimism. But hope carries even more
power, as an optimistic person may well believe all will eventually
work itself out. A hopeful person realizes that hope alone is not
sufficient, and that they must do something to make their optimism
a reality.
It is well known that the surest sign of insanity is the belief that if
you continue to do what you have always done, the result will be
different. Hoping that things will change will not change them. You
must actively alter what you are doing if you want to experience
a different outcome. Hope alone will not accomplish this, but
behavior that is supported by the belief that things will change is
destined to eventually succeed. It was Thomas Edison who when
asked why he continued to try to develop the light bulb after failing
10,000 times, answered that he had not failed, but rather he had
discovered 10,000 ways not to make a light bulb. His persistence
and hope led to his eventual success.
No one should ever give up hoping. But at the same time, you must
continue to walk a wide variety of paths to reach your goal and not
allow yourself to be blocked by a boulder in the road ahead of you.
Climb over the rock, march around it, or even dig under it, but never
let it stop you or your belief that you can get beyond it.
With hope, you realize that the worst that can happen is not so bad,
and that the only certainty is that there is no certainty. Hope
sometimes requires you to believe, “what you know ain’t so,” for it is
hope that will let you consider the occurrence of the impossible, no
matter how difficult the task.
In hope, there is happiness. It can cure all ills and remove all
obstacles, provided you do something other than just hope. Hoping
won’t make it so, but hoping can give you the necessary push to get
it done on your own. Hope, like chicken soup, can’t hurt. So, hope
your way to happiness.
I’m not myself today and everybody has noticed the improvement 7