Feeling Hopeful

Hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. So that’s what it is but does it make sense to be hopeful all the time, some of the time, or ever if you have a chronic illness? Should you still have hope if medical evidence or your current condition indicates that perhaps there’s not a reason to believe things will get better? If not an expectation, there’s certainly a desire for it to happen, isn’t there?

I’m just going to be straight-forward here and share that without a doubt, I have hope. A lot of it.

Why be hopeful?

I get this question A LOT. “Why do you still have hope when you know your condition is going to stay the same or likely to get worse?” Or many will tell me that “hope is creating an expectation that will not be fulfilled and your dreams will be dashed, leaving you in a worse place.” “Better to expect the worse, and be pleasantly surprised by anything better,” they tell me.

To some degree, I do understand this. After years of living with an illness, it can be very easy to steadfastly support these statements. How long should one hope for something after not seeing any results? Should hope be eternal? Is there a time limit where it is no longer reasonable or logic to hope?

Why not?

I’ve admitted it. I am one of those eternally hopers! Hoping for a cure, for a better day, for better coping mechanisms, more happiness, a change in my health for the better, and the list goes on. I hope. That’s who I am no matter the situation. Even despite what scientific evidence tells me. Despite what years of being sick have told me. Despite knowing that my hopes could be dashed and I could feel let down.

Why bother?

Well, that’s a tricky one. First, I must say that I think this is a choice everyone needs to make for themselves. Everyone has to decide how they want to proceed through life. There’s no right or wrong, there’s simply what works for you.

For me, I choose to hope because I believe that in part we create our own destiny. If I hope for better days, studies show I will be more open to spotting opportunities that may improve my life. I hope because it feels better to me than living in a world with little or no hope. I hope because while I may be let down from time to time, I may also find bursts of sunshine now and again. After all, I'm so much more than my illness - much hope resides within those parts as well for me. I hope because it feels good to believe that something even better is on its way. It also gives me the energy to fight through a challenging day and get to the next day. Lastly, I hope because I want others to know this good feeling – if I can hope, maybe they can find some hope too.

As I’ve been known to say (a popular quote I steal often), “while every day may not be a good day, there really is something good in every day.” And that something good is what I hang my hat on. I want to be open and ready for that something good because I’ve worked hard for it. The last thing I want is to miss out on it by focusing on what likely isn’t going to happen. So instead I hope… I hope for even better days for me, for you, and for us all.

I hope…