Reflections and hopefulness

The more I catch up with folks, the more I am hearing that my people are contemplating life and goals and how to achieve more quality-living and more success. It's inspiring to hear so much desire to do better and to live more fulfilling lives, but there is a weight of expectation than can be difficult to shake. So many aspirations and a willingness to believe... but it's fragile, y'know? There are forces all around us telling us to shut up, shut down, and just be content with the status quo.

I'm trying to nurture my own optimism and keep my deference to the doubts at a minimum. I find it's actually easier to do this the more I can support others in their own pursuits. Funny how it's easier to give accolades and support to others than it is to give it to myself. I guess it's part of the ol' it's easier to give than to receive... Really, I think it's less terrifying to support someone else taking a risk than it is for me to take a risk myself. Sometimes supporting someone else is just a way to live vicariously through the other person's possibility of success. That can sound cynical, but I think there is something very precious and wonderful about believing in someone else's success and hoping for it. The danger, I suppose, is projecting my own fears onto the person and hoping they will fail in order to confirm my own choice of inaction. (I know...yikes! That's rather harsh. But it happens...schadenfreude, baby.)

As I myself am limiting my levels of activity in order to be effective in one thing rather than balance a multiplicity of activities to a mediocre level of success, I am also trying to nurture other people's goals in the hope that they will continue to inspire me to pursue my own goals when I am ready and able. I'm getting into a habit of taking time each day to send out the good vibes for those I know are taking risks. And it does leave me with a feeling that success is possible, not as an end point, but as a way of life. All this makes me think of my grandmother who reminded me whenever I visited her that she said a little prayer for all her grandchildren every day. She believed in the possible and managed to find joy in the everyday living despite the challenges or disappointments. So there's my springtime goal: find joys in the everyday and nurture the pursuit of the possible.