The importance of Hope

Great thinkers have always vouched for it. Great leaders have used it to inspire generations. And all great revolutions are based on it. It is a force that exists in all of us, however oblivious we may be towards it. It is a sweet gift that all humans are blessed with. This is our ability to hope.

I have learnt a lot of things during the course of the last year. If there is one thing that I have gained from it, then it is the importance of hope in my life. The last year was in many ways an eye-opener for me, and I have come to realise the root causes of many of my problems, both personal and academic.

There are ups and downs in everyone’s lives. But the difference between the happy and the sad is essentially this: how these ups and downs are viewed and dealt with. For too long now, I have dwelled endlessly on what I perceived to be failures on my part. Reflecting on one’s failures is generally good, but when it takes too much of your time, it is dangerous – for it soon becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that will very quickly break every slice of confidence that you have in yourself.

So the first step for me is to realise that failures are often the stepping stone to success. Whoever became what they did without facing failure? It is clear that he who quickly learns from his failures and gets on with life unperturbed is the one that will triumph.

To hope then, is to breathe life – to free the mind from negativism and fill it instead with a lifting, positive attitude. I am so glad that I have come to learn of this all because of my own experiences. Three cheers for hope. Its hit me, and here to stay.