GAP to a Hoped for Future
Because now is the time. It’s the time to maintain hope and to create a better future for all people.
No matter your goals, it's imperative that you maintain hope to see them through. Regardless of whether they are individual goals or communal goals, hope must be maintained. The opposite of being hopeful is being hopeless, so let's choose hope.
In his book Making Hope Happen, Shane Lopez shares how hope consists of three main elements: having a Goal, having Agency, and being willing to explore Pathways.
Let’s break each of these components down further.
Goal
We want to have a goal or vision for the future that lights us up. We have to be clear on what we’re aiming for, why that matters, and how it can positively impact others.
Agency
We have to believe in our abilities to bring our Goal into reality. This doesn’t mean you have to have accomplished something similar before, but you have to believe in your ability to do what needs to get done to accomplish your goal. Look back at times where you didn’t give up. Remember the times where you ended up accomplishing something you never thought possible. No matter who we are or what we’ve done, we’ve all accomplished something beyond what we considered possible. Use those successes to fuel your belief in your ability to make it happen. You have agency.
Pathways
It’d be nice if we could set a goal, believe in ourselves, make a plan, and accomplish our goal. But that’s not how it works. We run into an obstacle, then we hit a bump in the road, then we get sick, then something unrelated changes but indirectly obscures our path. But the hopeful and committed are willing to explore pathways. How many pathways? As many as it takes.
Path A won’t work? Onto Path B. Path B no longer viable? Then onto Path C. And on, and on, and on.
Now I’m not saying run your head into a brick wall hundreds of times when there is no possible path forward, but what I am saying is that depending on the audacity of your goal and hoped for future, it’s going to take more pathways than we’ve ever had to explore. If your goal is worthy, then let’s get after it.
Because now is the time. It’s the time to maintain hope and to create a better future for all people. It’s the time to do what you can for those who are treated unjustly. Let’s create a better world for all those living and the world’s future children.
With love and hope, let’s do this.