Hope
I once was told that I would have the wonderful ability to spread hope to others. And then my mental health dropped to an all time low. I no longer felt like myself ( and still don't sometimes) . Social situations are exhausting and anxiety ridden. I don't sleep at night, which causes me to be cranky, eventually depleated, and obsessed over the dark circles under my eyes. Oh, and then there is the pesky companion, depression. And recently, I have had high spouts of paranoia. Now tell me, how I am supposed to spread hope to others when hope is something I feel I have lost myself.
And then, every so often, something changes inside of me. I receive a smile from a stranger. Someone compliments me at the store. A kind driver lets me in front of them on a crowded road. My husband tells me daily I look beautiful and his persistence pays off because for that day- I do feel beautiful.
Hope begins to grow within me. It starts off as a little seed, and then when something good happens, it's sprinkles with water and kindness, Little by little it sprouts. Sometimes I forget to water it. Sometimes it goes so long without being fed that I forget it's even there.
But I can promise you guys, hope is never gone. Hope is never lost. Hope, once planted, will never die. When you feel yourself becoming hopeless, it will nudge you, reminding you that it is still there. It will grow with every thought you put into it. And, like most beautiful things, it will spread. Your hope will become someone else's hope. Your hope will be a smile passed to a stranger on the street. That smile will turn into the water that is sprinkled onto their dying bud. And then, their bud sprouts and the cycle continues.
You have people around you that love you. They think about you. They are there, even when you are so deep in the darkest that your eyes are blind and your ears become deaf to their words of care and encouragement. Even when you feel all is lost and the loneliness is too much to bare, remember that little piece of hope that is growing slowly but surely inside of you. It will be there through the darkest, hardest, and loneliest of times.
And then, every so often, something changes inside of me. I receive a smile from a stranger. Someone compliments me at the store. A kind driver lets me in front of them on a crowded road. My husband tells me daily I look beautiful and his persistence pays off because for that day- I do feel beautiful.
Hope begins to grow within me. It starts off as a little seed, and then when something good happens, it's sprinkles with water and kindness, Little by little it sprouts. Sometimes I forget to water it. Sometimes it goes so long without being fed that I forget it's even there.
But I can promise you guys, hope is never gone. Hope is never lost. Hope, once planted, will never die. When you feel yourself becoming hopeless, it will nudge you, reminding you that it is still there. It will grow with every thought you put into it. And, like most beautiful things, it will spread. Your hope will become someone else's hope. Your hope will be a smile passed to a stranger on the street. That smile will turn into the water that is sprinkled onto their dying bud. And then, their bud sprouts and the cycle continues.
You have people around you that love you. They think about you. They are there, even when you are so deep in the darkest that your eyes are blind and your ears become deaf to their words of care and encouragement. Even when you feel all is lost and the loneliness is too much to bare, remember that little piece of hope that is growing slowly but surely inside of you. It will be there through the darkest, hardest, and loneliest of times.
No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible.
George Chakiris
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