“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work. You DON’T GIVE UP.” -Anne Lamott
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“Never, Never, NEVER Give up!” -Winston Churchill
Every soul has a story. Sometimes in the heat of our personal battles, we forget that people have gone before us and under similar circumstances, not only fought the good fight, but won. Hope is a fleeting thing. It is like a simple carbohydrate for the mind and spirit. Sugar hits our bloodstream quickly and dissipates quickly. Much like sugar we find a burst of inspiration and feel our energy renewed, but as the world comes at us, we need continual renewal.
And yet…the history of the world is colored with stories of hope. We write books, movies and songs about our heroes and we tell them to our children. Our schools teach us stories of Winston Churchill, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr and many others, while our churches talk about heroes of the faith. All our heroes have something in common. They have all failed. They have all been desperate and felt weak. They have also needed hope and whatever the source of their own inspiration, it was just enough to get them over the hump so that they could fight again.
Hope is not for those who have overcome, but for those who are brokenhearted, desperate and do not know how they can make it another day. Those of us who have overcome do not need hope, because we know…WE KNOW. We know that fear is an illusion. We know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. We know that weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. More than anything, we who have overcome know that as long as you have fight in you, you can make it.
How do we know this? We know, because we too, used to wonder how we were going to make it or if our trial would ever end. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes of our failures and tragedies, the fire that consumed us, renewed us. We were once the hopeless. Each of us were a seemingly desperate human in a seemingly desperate situation, looking for a lifeline.
If this is you today, you must guard your thoughts. Surround yourself with stories of overcomers. These stories are everywhere and so accessible to the us. We can find inspiration online, in a book, podcast or reading a newspaper. If you are needing encouragement today, here are a few to get you started:
Jim Carey - an amazing rags to riches story
Albert Einstein - a horrible student turned genius
Jim Kwik-a child with multiple learning disabilities teaching others how to overcome
J.K. Rowling - another rags to riches story
Wilma Rudolph - suffered multiple physical ailments and become the “fastest woman on earth”
Colonel Sanders - serial failure, turned billionaire at 88
Bethany Hamilton-lost her arm to a tiger shark, conquered her fear and become an award-winning surfer.
“You’ve seen my descent, now watch my rising.” -Rumi
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