Hope Floats

I love this quote…

“Beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad, but it’s the middle that counts the most. Try to remember that when you find yourself at a new beginning. Just give hope a chance to float up and it will.”

This year my life has been all about endings and new beginnings. Specifically, ending things that were long overdue to be ended. Pages of my story that I turned but what I really needed to do was just close the book and pick up a new one altogether. We fight to hold onto things in fear that something better will never come along but the reality is…until we let go of the old, there is no way we can possibly make room for something new and better to come along.

So what happens when you let go but you don’t really LET GO…and what I mean by that is that while you think you have moved on, there is a piece of that “old” part of your life that is still existent in your life presently. What happens is you keep getting the same kind of experience repeated in a different way until FINALLY you figure out the lesson, learn it and then you can close the book once and for all!

It’s hard. I know it is. I’m right there with ya! It’s scary to say goodbye to something that maybe doesn’t feel very good but it feels familiar and familiar is comfortable. It’s predictable and reliable. We know what we’re going to get. Putting an end to something that is familiar can be sad because it might mean we’re saying goodbye to someone or something that we have become attached to…even if it’s in a not-so-positive way. Often times ending things are sad because it means letting go of a part of ourselves but if we can work through the discomfort, the pain and the sadness of the ending, we open ourselves up to the opportunities of a new beginning.

New beginnings are scary. It’s the fear of the unknown. And while many times new beginnings offer us new and exciting opportunities, it is still the unfamiliar which is often times uncomfortable. I have learned that if I look at new beginnings with the perspective that everything that happens to me is for my greater good and every new experience is leading me to something better, I can forge ahead into the new…fearlessly. And being fearless doesn’t mean you aren’t afraid, it just means that you are brave enough to do it anyway…you’re willing to take the risk because you know that even if it doesn’t turn out the way you planned or hoped, it’s going to turn out the way it is supposed to.

We have two things always available to us: HOPE and FAITH. I have seen many dark days and more pain in my life than I ever imagined…but I have always had hope and faith and it keeps me going and it keeps me focused on the new beginnings and all the wonderful opportunities and potential those new beginnings may hold. If you give it a chance…hope will float up. I promise.