In a world of disorder, of 24/7 news cycles, dirty politics, wars, massacres, heartbreak, etc. daring to hope continues to be the most courageous of acts.

I think it is easy to sit in the valley and look up at the mountains in our lives and not see a way out. I think it is easy to get lost in the steepness of the climb ahead, to not see anything else around you – but what if in those moments we chose hope over defeat, hope over fear, hope over despair?

It is no secret that 2019 for me was an extremely hard year.  One in which I felt like my vision was cloudy and I was singularly focused on survival, on stopping the hurt, of easing the pain, of keeping myself in the fight. But that has its effects.  When we take our eyes off of the goal, off of those around us, we lose the ability to love and care for those around us well and that directly correlates to how we love ourselves in return. It often times curtails our passions and drive for things outside of the climb. However, hope changes that.  Hope for the end of the pain, in a different world pulls us out of that mindset – allows us to look outside of the valley.  It is courageous – it is hard, but it is necessary.

Let us be people who dare to hope for a better world – let us be a generation who hopes for more and lives and acts in that manner.  Let us choose to see the mountains – and overcome them hope by hope.