HOPE IS NEVER A MIRAGE

Hey dearies. I just realized it’s been a week since my last post. That’s STRIKE ONE for me, right? I do not want to morph into the habit of leaving my blog full of cobwebs and then having to use a broom of words to clean it up later on. Lol. That’s a no-no. My thought-waves have been static of late but something my dad said today got them all swirly and into overdrive.  

We were both heading into town to get some things. There was a little traffic and there was this old woman on a street begging for alms. My dad gave her some little change. He then turned to me and in his ‘’wise-daddy voice’’ said ‘’She stays there, day after day in spite of the scorching heat because she has hope that it will be better. Hope is what keeps her moving, keeps her alive to stay another day. Life has its ups and downs. If you find yourself in a bad situation and you feel like it’s all going downhill from there, believe in God, do not let it depress you, think positive and it will all work out for the better ’’.

Those words were etched into my memory. I literally crammed them (I too dey cram things put for head..lol). It has become my new mantra for the time being and I have been mulling over it. We all experience some bad downturns at some point in our life, some so terrible that one would think nothing better can come forth ever. The thing is how do we handle them? How do we move on after? Most people will wallow in depression and misery because it’s that bad or worse, make an attempt to commit suicide.  Depression can get so bad it turns out to be an illness, a diseased state of the mind. Some people take prescription drugs for it sef. Still, at that dreary point, who do we turn to? We call on God, pray that this dilemma we find ourselves in be vanquished and we have faith in Him that things will indeed work out for the better. Remember though faith always goes side by side with hope.

Hope. Hope. Hope. That abstract emotion we feel and believe that events in our life will turn out for the best and everything will be great and dandy. It’s not a misplaced emotion. Some pessimists say hope is a mirage, a false feeling we use to console ourselves that things will be better. I say that is ultimate crap. I know there are hard times, times we want to scream out loud, cry, tear our hair out even if we have this indifferent look on our face. Still, a boiling emotion within. Without hope, we are left with a feeling of despair, a pale inner self, a lack of determination and we die a little inside with each day that passes because the desire to LIVE in time will be gone. We feel forsaken, become resentful of the world and it ages us fast. The philosopher Theocritus once said and I quote ‘’While there is life, there is hope and only the dead have none’’. I totally concur. 

When we find ourselves knee-deep in despair, we must try to reach out to the ones that care about our existence – our family, close friends, a sister, a close cousin or whoever is in a serious romantic relationship with you so we don’t become an island of self-pity and misery. Despair is a dark, dark partner to live with and you shouldn’t let it reside in you else it eats you up slowly like a virus. We shouldn’t let it embrace us. Not an option. It still stresses my point that you need loved ones around you that are willing to put a smile on your face & fill your heart with happiness.

I believe hope helps us to be optimistic, you know, think positively. Besides, I don’t need to stress too much on the power of the mind and how our thoughts affect our well-being.  With hope comes the desire to be proactive and rise above whatever bad situation you find yourself. It’s not easy but we have to train our mind in that direction so hope frees it of sad, befuddling thoughts and instead place it with the belief that a positive outcome will prevail. With that belief brings a consequent desire to find the inner happiness eluding us at that point in time. Still, it doesn't mean we should rest on our oars and wait on hope alone to work it out. We only use hope as a positive incentive to realize those outcomes we want for ourselves (hoping that makes sense). I do not qualify as a hundred percent ‘hopeful’ person but I’m getting there, still building my relationship with hope.

If my dad believes in it, I will too. It’s no wonder he still looks sooooo young for his age. I guess a heart filled with happiness and optimism will do that to you. Hell yeah, I’m totally down with ‘’proactive hope’’. You should be too :)

Bye for now. Will be stopping by soon.