The Importance of Hope

Approximate time reading this post: 2 minutes

Last week a few different people asked me why they should be hopeful on Mondays. And this is a very reasonable question. Just because it’s my middle name doesn’t mean I am hopeful all the time and believe me I am not always cheery and full of hope on Mondays. But I think it is important to start anything with some positivity and comfort so simple or dreaded tasks can go more smoothly. The power of persuasion can be used in this sense to set your day and the rest of your week up to be successful. I found that even without directly using the word “hope” people continue to desire a better outcome than experienced last.

You may find yourself saying “I hope I don’t fail this quiz,” “I hope I make it through this Monday,” “I hope my fantasy football team makes it to the super bowl” (or whatever happens in fantasy football) but regardless of the way you use the word you are trying to maintain positive in a possibly negative situation.

Photo by Geneva Patterson

I found a great blog post by Jeremy Binns where he wrote multiple posts on his blog, “Jeremy Binns” that he called “The Hope Series.” In his first post, Binns explained what hope is and I find his description very accurate, “hope is the conviction that the future has the potential to be better than the present.”

This all may seem a little cheesy but that’s only because we are breaking down such a simple, positive and often overlooked concept. Two summers ago I went to California with my best friend Allison where we stayed at her family friends home where they treated us to amazing meals in their adorable home. The quirky couple had an acronym for almost everything including my middle name, “Hold Only Positive Emotions.”

I believe that it makes life so much easier if you start your day with a hopeful phrase or idea. If you can do this on a Monday, which has been deemed the worst day of the week by the world, then you are already conquering something small. It’s easier than you think to change your mindset about hating Mondays so much. You are going to continue living through thousands of more Mondays while you are alive so why fight them any longer? It’s like getting stuck in 4:00 traffic on the freeway. There is absolutely nothing you can do about it so why not turn on your favorite playlist and enjoy the moment of actually being still? But if you can't do it on your own that's okay because you can just continue getting hope from my little blog ;)

It’s been difficult to enjoy the past few weeks and finding happiness in them. But for now I am hopeful that things will get better, so I am going to start with today instead of tomorrow, to start holding only positive emotions on this Monday.