Un-Hope Yourself

"Hope is a euphemism for surrendering one’s fate to someone or something else’s will.”
- Father Crane, Polarity Reversed

Today's blog will center on the concept of hope. I won't give a dictionary meaning of the word - that's a bit expected; however, I firmly believe that hope is more personal and unique to each of us. Aside from Father Crane's distilled point of view, we find that hope has many flavors and many avenues.

Buying lottery tickets is, in effect, buying hope - you probably won't win, but you certainly can't win unless you play. Doing everything you can for a sick, loved one is then left in the hands of hope; hope becomes the unseen force of optimism that drives recovery. Hoping for world peace is quite an endeavor, but at a minimum, peace cannot happen unless you (as in yourself) are peaceful. Many people survive day-to-day relying on hope: Consider the many violent conflicts going on at this very moment. While I'm the comfort of a keyboard, there are literally thousands of men, women, and children stranded on a mountaintop running from ISIS.

On one end of the spectrum is lottery tickets. On the other end is day-to-day survival. The latter example puts much of what we complain about into perspective.

Personally, I dislike the concept of hope. It is tantamount toward declaring that you will do no more to achieve something. Many times you can't do anything more, but I would urge you to reconsider relying less on hope when given the chance. Look into every possible way to reach whatever goal you seek. Instead of playing the lottery, save the money for a higher education, starting your own business, investing in someone else's business, or buying a loved one a gift (you would be surprised how enriching this act can be). Relying on hope is throwing in the towel; sometimes you must, but not all the time. If you've acted on all possible angles, then focus on backup plans, if possible.

I sometimes talk about my day job - it's very technical. I've been privileged to make some really state-of-the-art systems. I can tell you this: Those I work with have never relied on hope. Instead, they plan for suppliers to be late, R&D to be late, funding to be late, and so on. We know that when we deliver something to end consumer that they may not like it - this is out of our control. However, we develop backup plans for the "what-if" that they don't. We make a plan instead of hoping.

I've had those close to me pass away from illness. All I had was hope - I'm not a doctor and even the doctors were left relying on hope.

Before you rely on hope: Make sure that you've tried everything. Make sure that you have a backup plan, if possible. Don't let your fate be surrendered to someone or something else's will, if you have to power to do so.