Hopes Dashed

Hope.

Hope is a vision that requires hard work to achieve.

Hopes of billions around the world were dashed this week, reminding me of Mark Manson’s book, Everything is Fucked: A Book About Hope. Mark’s reflection on philosophy and the human condition was pretty much summed up this week. We put faith in our hopes for two better people who reflect the world we aspire to. When that has failed, we are left with the realities of why.

Why?

The answer will vary from perspective to perspective, but if we look at nature, we can see Harris and Walz as the seeds with so much potential, but the ground they tried to grow from didn’t have the nutrients to allow them to flourish.

As much as their roots strived to grow, the environment didn’t allow them to flourish.

As much as we are all tired of ‘fighting’ for the better, I think the only way to make real change is to regenerate the dirt on which we want our seeds of potential to take root.

Right now, the nutrients favour labels, and if you don’t have the right colour, sex, perspective, or economic caste, anything good you put in gets the life sucked out of it. Eaten up and excreted to create more of the same.

We must look to nature and processes that regenerate and nourish the land, which aren’t based on labels. We need land that sees all seeds (life) as the possibility of a self-determined potential.

So, the hope we held onto the last four years is breaking down not unexpectedly but definitely irreversibly. We all knew it. Leadership begins in your homes and neighbourhoods. It is what nourishes more of the same.

Now is the time to rest, dig deep for your joy, and internalize your self-determined value.

Human society has been based on a one-sided definition of prosperity that benefits those at the top for thousands of years. This definition needs to change, and I think changing it to one that benefits all will take work.

I know many are tired of fighting, but damn, we know how to work and focus our efforts on what matters to us. The more we work to lift each other up, the more we can change the definition of prosperity and what leaders do.

Everyone is a leader. It all starts with making choices that support our well-being and understanding that our well-being requires the same from those around us. We can focus on abundance and eliminate scarcity.

Embrace all of your emotions. Let them flow, open your eyes to the fissures, and learn what really needs to be corrected, fixed, or let go of.

With all marathons of life, pacing ourselves is essential. We just rolled back down a hill we had worked so hard to climb. So take care of yourself.

Rest.

Refocus.

Choose a new path.

Consider new ideas.

And know that we will fall again, but we are really good at getting back up.

I’m choosing to focus on making space to plan for wonder. That space is where I dig deep for my joy and learn to hope again. You can join me weekly at planforwonder.com.

 

By Crystal Reynolds, planforwonder.com

Content provided by Women Belong member Crystal Reynolds