When people request to join the New Girls Group on Facebook, one of the questions I ask them is what they hope to get out of the group.
Do you want to know the number one response? You guessed it. They want to find hope... They are looking for answers. And while this all sounds a little vague, we’ve all been there and it doesn’t even matter what the “it” is that they are going through because we’ve felt the same way over our own “it.”
Right now I’m feeling lost
I feel very uncomfortable with my life right now and anxious about the future. I can’t see ahead, but I know what I’m going through now is preparing me for something else. That is just how life works and in that truth (in bold one sentence back) is where hope is found.
Look back on your life to a time when you felt lost and needed the hope of a better tomorrow almost as much as you needed air itself. You could have never imagined how you’d end up where you are today. And you could have never seen the many blessings that came out of your pain, until now.
Hope won’t show up unless you do
In my story, I go through a distinct cycle of:
1. Perceived damage.
2. Trying to fix “it” myself.
3. Giving “it” over in order to appreciate my growth.
4. Finding renewal as a better version of myself for all I had learned.
Sure, I had bouts of hope at every stage, but when I was rock bottom between 2 and 3, hope seemed like a ridiculous wish. I needed to understand that where I was, was exactly where I was meant to be and I had to at least try to look for opportunities or advantages for being in such a hard situation. For me, it was the gift of seeing my mortality as a real thing. Sure, being smacked in the face by the reality of death messed my life up, but I was given the clarity I didn’t know I needed so much.
Maye if we look at our adversities and traumas as something we can grow and benefit from, we can fan the flame of hope by looking toward a new future with all we will have learned through our experiences.
Hope is a choice
Hope isn’t something we just have or don’t have, it’s a lot like faith in this regard. It’s choosing what you can’t see yet.
The future is never set in stone. We have free will. We can choose damage or growth. We can choose sorrow or joy.
We can make what we want out of what we have been given.
Look at what you have now, what good can you do with it?
Hope in that, friend.
XO
