ENGL101
Hope
Some people define hope as a “belief in fulfillment” (Merriam–Webster). In other words, hope is believing in something that’s not there yet. Sometimes life can be tricky, and some people may face multiple challenges keeping them from achieving their goals. Good motivation through hope is needed to overcome any challenges and accomplish goals. Hope is a valuable part of our everyday life because it motivates us to keep going by encouraging us to work harder to achieve ideal goals despite hardships. Even if hope is the wish or desire for something good to happen or occur (in the future), hope should be used wisely and should never die for it has limitations. The heart of hope is self–belief, determination, and tolerance for disappointment.
Hope is self–belief, “a combination of setting goals, having the tenacity to pursue them, and believing in our own abilities” (Brown). We must believe in ourselves and repeat to ourselves we can do this, even when achieving our goals seem way harder than we ever thought.Humans tend to believe everything in life should be easy, fast, and enjoyable. On the contrary, when experiencing something complicated and time–consuming, we should think, even if it is demanding, I got this. For some goals to be achieved, pain and hardship should be involved.
Without self–belief, setting goals is totally meaningless. Goals can’t be achieved just at a glance or just because we are hoping for them to happen. They can’t be achieved by themselves; We need to do our part too by working hard, developing our mindset, speaking positive affirmations about those specific goals, and commitment. To achieve some goals, the right attitude and a maintained focus is necessary. A positive attitude is needed to beat any form of negativity stopping us from achieving our goals. Hope will come with that positive attitude and will make it easier to keep our eyes on specific goals. One example of where hope did come with a positive attitude and accomplish something could be that time when a friend of mine was trying to get her permit driver. She went to the MVA countless time and never passed the test when she had studied and felt ready each time. Her surroundings would tell her to give up and maybe that is a sign for her not to get the permit at all and all other kinds of things to discourage her. Different things came as setbacks on my friend’s way, but she believed that she would get it one day if she didn’t listen to what other people were telling her. She kept studying and went to get it once again and surprisingly got the permit.
Hope is determination. Despite the obstacles that might be encountered towards achieving a goal, with determination, the work will be irrelevant. It is a strong personality through which it could be shown that people are motivated to succeed by getting what they must get done to accomplish their goals. Being determined guides us to success through extended plans or short–term goals. Hope is there when we have a strong desire to do something without allowing other people or obstacles to stop us. Everyone needs determination; without any of it, it will be easier to give up on the one goal set out to accomplish due to the difficulties encountered or something someone else said. Nobody should ever give up on anything they genuinely want to do. Everyone can succeed if they are willing to put in the effort and have a positive attitude toward solving specific problems. The hope will always be there and might give all kinds of comforts, but determination is what will help to get back up and try again harder. For instance, most of us from 1st grade when seeing our elders in higher grades we have always hoped to be where they were. Once we got there, this hope was still there to finish school and graduate as they did.
Additionally, hope is tolerance for disappointment meaning that if one wants something, one must persevere to get it even if they have once tried and failed. One must have hope to be successful in life; it has been said that many people who are successful today have failed multiple times. With hope, even if you have failed multiple times, it is okay as long as you get back up and try again. Colonel Harland David Sanders is a perfect example of how hope is tolerance for disappointment. He is the founder of KFC, who became a millionaire at 73 years old because of his hope to have one of the best chicken recipes. He had over $100.00 in his pocket, traveling trying to sell his recipe. He got turned down many times but still hasn’t given up because of hope. Colonel Sanders continued to travel to get a yes, and eventually, he did after so many noes around the late 60s. The point that I’m making is because of hope he was able to continue to fight for what he believed in and was successful because of his consistency.
To sum up, self–belief, determination, and tolerance for disappointment are the fundamental characteristics of hope. Putting them all together could eventually take us somewhere. Hope will be within us as long as we are still alive. Hope will always be there when there is nothing else to lean on. All we need to do is believe in ourselves, continue to work as hard as we can on our goals anyways, and always expect the unexpected. Everything will not just come just as it was hoped for. Adversity and challenges encountered towards our dreams can be overcome with hope. Throughout my life, hope always motivates me to look on the bright side of life. When I first started looking for a job, I went to plenty of interviews, but they never called me. I often thought about giving up, but that tiny hope in me told me to continue applying. I kept applying for different jobs with the hope of finally getting hired. Unexpectedly, on a Sunday right after church, when I had been praying for my longing to happen, I received an email saying I got hired. Good things happen through hope when we keep going and absolutely refuse to let one failure stop us.
