3 Reasons to Be Hopeful
Optimism has inherent value. Yes, even now.
“Hope is the thing with feathers,” Emily Dickinson once wrote, perhaps to confuse us or else to acknowledge what a fluttery fleeting creature it can be. And hope can be hard to come by these days. I don’t know about you, but I look at my phone first thing in the morning (I know! Forge even reminds us all not to!), check the news, view the day’s smorgasbord of panic-producers — from news about the election to the pandemic to climate change to the daily update from my kids’ Google classrooms — and feel my natural inborn optimism squawk in distress. Why even imagine something could go well? It’s so likely that it won’t!
So to make myself — I mean, you — feel better, I optimistically combed Forge for proof that optimism is a good idea. And guess what, I found some:
Shaunta Grimes reminds us that getting your hopes up might just be the best part of an experience: “You think you can avoid the heartbreak of failure if you don’t anticipate great success. But this advice also glosses over something crucial: Getting your hopes up is deeply satisfying. It feels good. It’s fun.” A disappointment will sting no matter what. Why deny yourself the joy, even if fleeting, of imagining your desired outcome?
