Tag: Hope

It’s Not Over

Life has many ups and downs. It will take us down numerous paths, detours, and roadblocks. Life has a way of taking us on an emotional roller coaster. It ebbs and flows, it’s great and it’s depressing.

We never know what life might hand to us. In some ways that’s scary, in many ways that’s thrilling and leaves us with much hope.

Despair

Unfortunately, sometimes in life, we will have moments of despair. We may feel like we have lost hope, we are depressed, and feeling lost and broken.

In these moments, it’s hard to see any good at all. It’s hard to see the positives, the silver lining, and it’s hard to practice gratitude.

Life Happens.

As we go through life, we encounter many things good and bad. During the happy moments, we feel full of life and on top of the world! Maybe we just got married, had a baby, got a job promotion, and moved to a new area. We feel full of life. Things are going our way!

On the flip side, we have times when we feel that the world is against us, we feel like we don’t matter, and that everything is going wrong. We might be grieving the loss of a loved one, have been laid off, or ended a relationship.

It’s Not Over

Our world might be crashing down around us, and we feel that it’s over. The job loss changes everything, grieving a loved one is debilitating, and the loss of a relationship really weighs on the heart. At that moment, we feel that everything is over, it’s too much to bear.

It’s not until much time has passed that the clouds can lift and we can start to see life in a different light. Hope comes back stronger and we feel like we will be okay, we can keep moving forward and tackle anything in the way.

Transformation

Although we never forget. Time has way of healing and making things feel less intense. It’s sad to see our loved ones going through a rough time, but it’s a beautiful thing to witness others who were deeply sad or upset become whole again. A smile returns to their face, and they have picked up and started moving forward.

Witnessing this transformation in life is a beautiful thing. It shows how strong the human mind is, and how much strength we all have as human beings even throughout our darkest days.

A Little Motivation 

Think of all that you’ve been through in life and here you are! You’ve made it. Sure, it wasn’t easy, but you did it. Life is ever-changing, we will have many highs and lows. Each time we go through something stressful, devastating, or traumatizing, we grow that much stronger. We realize that we have what it takes to pull through.

In closing, I leave you with a quote that I have always found to be encouraging and true:

“Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”

   -John Lennon

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The Leprechaun Trap

It seems like every holiday takes me back to family traditions and fun school memories as a child. On St. Patrick’s Day when I was in elementary school, we were assigned a very fun project that I still remember today. It also left me with a reminder about life.

Our goal was to catch a leprechaun! The instructions were to get a pencil box and decorate it with stickers, glitter, or art of any kind. We were told to use our creativity and design the box any way that we liked. Our teacher helped us cut out a pot of gold and a rainbow made out of construction paper. We put this inside the pencil box to lure the leprechauns in. The final piece was to put an upright pencil inside of the box to prop open the lid. We placed these on our desks as we left for the day and waited for the magic!

That Night

I remember going home so excited to tell my parents and my sister what I had made in class and what we were going to catch that night. I was excited with anticipation of wondering what we might see the next day. My mind flooded with thoughts. “Are leprechauns real?” “Is it possible to catch one?” “What if this is just for fun?” I tried not to let those thoughts keep me from the fun! I was a child that adored magic and I liked to believe in anything and everything. I felt that it created so much happiness and excitement.

I couldn’t wait to get back to school the next day. My mind was busy wondering if we had caught anything in our traps! The possibility was thrilling.

The Next Day

I went to school the next day dressed in green with my treats in hand for the classroom party. I walked quickly into the classroom to see what had unfolded from the night before. There were tiny black footprints on our desks and the walls. We could find these little prints around the room. They were on the tables, in the bathroom, on the floor…it was magical!

Our teacher had used paint and a sponge to create these little footprints, like that from the black boots of a tiny leprechaun. My heart filled with joy! At that very moment, leprechauns were real, even if only in my heart.

Life Relationship

There is a lot in life that we wonder about. There are many things that we can’t see or explain. There is always the possibility that someone or something in our lives isn’t real, but we keep going and believing in whatever makes us happy, whatever brings us joy in this crazy world.

We have goals and dreams. We might know that the possibility of reaching these dreams is very small, but a possibility is a possibility. There is a chance, and it is that hope that we hold onto! Keeping hope lets us have fun and keeps us motivated. We keep trying and trying until we are the person that we want to be, and we keep persisting until our dreams have been met.

Even when we knew we possibly wouldn’t catch a leprechaun, the chance was there and that made for some magical and fun memories! I think that we could all benefit greatly in life if we chose to keep hope alive and know that there is a chance for anything to happen, no matter how small!

There Is a Message in Rainbows

I was looking through the gallery on my phone, specifically the nature pictures. I was taken back to spring, summer, and fall. I even looked over the winter pictures that I have of bare trees and snow-covered ground.

Currently, we are in the dead of winter. I am still holding onto the hope that we will have substantial snow. Usually, by February, we have already had multiple snowstorms, but this year has been warmer than average, and a dusting is all that we have had.

I came across three pictures of rainbows that I wanted to share with you today. I also have realized that rainbows may hold a special meaning when we see one. They have often appeared exactly when I needed to see them. I remember what I was going through when I took each of these pictures, they all have a story!

Photo by author, Blogs by J

It was a crisp fall day a few years ago, I had left work and made my way to the parking lot to get ready to go home. I remember feeling defeated on this day. My job was very challenging, it was in the medical field. I adore anything medical, despite how challenging it can be. I was so happy and surprised to see a rainbow on my way out! To me, this symbolized hope that things would get better. Most jobs have their challenges, I took this as a sign that all would be okay.

Photo by author, Blogs by J

This picture is not very clear unfortunately because I was driving, and this was taken through the windshield at a stoplight. I had recently lost a very close loved one of mine and I was thinking of them and praying about them. I happened to be talking to my departed loved one as I drove. A few months earlier, one of my good friends also lost a very close family member and I believe that this rainbow was a symbol that they were with us. I believe that they were letting us know that they are still with us in Heaven!

Photo by author, Blogs by J

A few years ago, I was faced with a massive decision. This particular decision took me months to ponder. I looked at every angle and every possible outcome. I was in debate for most of those long months, but in my heart, I knew which option I wanted to choose. I happened to have seen this gorgeous rainbow during the months of me contemplating a life-changing decision.

Messages

Not only are rainbows stunning to see, but they are also quite rare! I usually see only a few of them each year. I am always amazed by their beautiful colors; they are so magical! The fact that they aren’t a common phenomenon makes them even more special.

Rainbows are believed to be symbols of good luck, hope, and new beginnings. It seems that the rainbows above served as messages when I needed them the most.

The next time that you see a rainbow, try to see if there is any sort of message that it has for you!

When the World is Against You

Most of us have been there. We face issue after issue, roadblock after roadblock and still there is no sign of it slowing down.

Every day, we start to wake up and wonder “what will happen next?” It can be a very uncomfortable feeling and one that can leave us thinking that the world is against us.

When It Rains, It Pours

There seems to be a lot of truth to this phrase. Often when life gets us down, it has to kick us a few more times before we are shown the light.

We might start to feel singled out and that we must have done something terrible to deserve all of the bad events that have happened to us.

Recently

Lately, I have been feeling this way. So many things have not gone smoothly, and it can get you down and make you see life negatively.

I truly wonder why things happen so often in numbers rather than a single event, but I suppose that once we can get through this mountain, the sun will shine for a while, hopefully without interruptions! It’s like getting all of the bad out of the way, to make room for the good.

Tips

When I feel like everything is working against me, I pause and do the following:

  • I write about what is happening in my life to let my feelings out. I also make sure to include what is going RIGHT in my life, so that I can see that not everything is working against me.
  • I spend time in nature so that I can see the beauty and peace that surrounds me even when I cannot feel it inside.
  • I cook or work on a craft. I do something that helps me feel more in “control” when I feel as though everything is chaotic.

Life 

Bad and good are normal parts of life. We can try ways to help with our feelings and also our perspective. I hope that these tips will come in handy the next time you feel your world has come crashing down.

A Glimmer of Hope

Most of us have been there, we hit rock bottom with no light in sight,
and we feel so low that up is the only way because it can’t get any worse. Life has its ups and downs and will take you on many journeys. Even in our darkest days, there is some little part of us that keeps shining, I like to call that hope.

We all have different ways of coping with a negative situation in life, some of us may withdraw, some may emotionally eat, and others may seek the comfort of family and friends. Whatever you tend to choose when feeling like this, you most likely choose it because it makes you feel better. Some of us may not choose anything, but we hold onto something dear to our hearts and that is the mere fact of hoping that things will get better.

Hope sometimes is the only thing that we have left and we are so thankful for it because, without it, we can feel so lost. We cling to the idea that the future is bright and unknown, we have hopes that our current situations will change and it is that positivity that keeps us inspired and motivated. Hope is something that we must never let die.

Even when you feel like you have no one or anything left, you can hold onto something that cannot be taken from you and that is hope, a little flame that burns inside of you that keeps going strong and tells you not to give up.

The possibilities of the future are endless and we must keep reminding ourselves of that. The situation that we are in today, we may not be in tomorrow, a day can change so much. Life tends to change when we least expect it, life has a way of throwing us curveballs and roadblocks, yet it also has a way of bringing us blessings and pleasant surprises.

For anyone reading this today, please don’t ever lose the sense of desire inside of you, please don’t ever let anyone or anything dim the light that we call hope, let it shine bright and get you through even the toughest days. Sometimes the greatest thing that we can hear is the notion that life can truly change at any moment and in the meantime, hope will be there right by our sides.