“hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. and no good thing ever dies”

When I saw Shawshank Redemption many years ago, this quote always stayed with me. I don’t know why and I couldn’t remember the exact words. I just always remembered that hope was a good thing and it kept me going. In looking up the quote, I realize the importance of the last sentence – no good thing ever dies!

We all go through difficult times in our lives. Maybe a loved one passes away. Maybe we go through a bad breakup. Maybe we lose that job and don’t have savings to fall back on. But when you dream…when you have hope that things can get better, then it provides fuel to your soul. It seems to be the good thing to all that is bad, the light to darkness, the hero to the villain.

I’ve recently endured some hardship. There are times when I’ve wondered what I’ll do given the changes the lie ahead, or what feels like the unknown. When you take something away that you love and that feels comfortable, there is emptiness. I’ve tried to grasp on to things that may not feel right, but they feel comfortable.

Separating comfort and what is the best path has been the most difficult thing I’ve done in my life, and at times I feel like the decisions made weren’t the right ones. Comfort isn’t right. It’s what gets us by. It’s the “gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat” (see my leadership philosophy). Life is more than comfort. Life is about happiness, passion, love. Yes, maybe that’s idealistic, but that’s why we dream. At least, that’s why I dream.

And that’s where hope comes in. Hope that one day I will find peace in knowing that no matter what happens, I’m with me and that’s ok. Hope that I will one day be with someone who sees things the way I see them. Hope that I can focus on things that I should of focused on for the last several years. Hope that what I’ve built with my best friend over the past five years isn’t lost but simply a foundation of something wonderful to continue in the future. Hope is so much more than comfort.

Wikipedia has a LONG definition of hope. To me, I can feel hope and that’s what matters. I thank the world that there’s hope. If you haven’t discovered it, if you haven’t learned how to dream and hope for better things, then today is a good time to start. Because today could be the first day of the rest of your life. And that is something to be hopeful for