Today was hard for me. It was hard for so many, many people. It was a culmination of months that have led to this hard moment. Hope has been hard to come by.
This past November, I especially struggled with hope.
Hope is supposed to move us through hard times. It’s supposed to shore us up to finish the battle, the journey, the whatever.
But sometimes, hope seems gone.
In reflecting on what to do with my journey in a moment when hope seemed gone, I heard this message:
“Hope isn’t ever gone. But the placement of hope will change.”
You can’t fake hope, any more than you can fake chemistry with someone, or liking Coldplay if you don’t (and I don’t). And so in that moment when hope feels lost, consider that it may not be lost. Consider that its placement may have changed.
When you no longer have hope that your former lover will return…you can place hope in a new love finding you.
Perhaps you no longer hold out hope that you’ll win the lottery…but you can place hope in finding a different solution to ease your financial woes.
Maybe you are losing hope in the idea that climate change can fully be stopped…but you can place hope in the ingenuity of humanity to find ways to adapt and prevent further damage to the planet.
Hope is energy. And like all energy, it is never fully destroyed. It simply changes forms.
When you feel hopeless, take a moment to grieve the space where hope used to be.
And then, look around.
Where did hope land?
I promise you, it’s not far from where it was.
