I know that some individuals are surprised by my comments and/or ways of reacting of late since I am often told I am the eternal optimist or Pollyanna because I choose to live with audacious hope.
However, I believe courageously voicing how the daily news impacts my immediate and future wellbeing is not only a democratic privilege and responsibility but the only way I can remain hopeful in this time of uncertainty. For me, that means questioning how we might see things from different perspectives.
Although ignoring what is immobilizing me is an option, experience has taught me that when I stuff my fears inside hoping it will disappear, the fear grows and consumes me like a smouldering fire that eventually erupts into a raging firestorm that I cannot control.
Living with audacious hope requires that I face my fears. Once I know what I am afraid of I can determine how I can react given the severity of the fear I am feeling.
Rather than ignoring a fear, naming it and thinking about what I or we can do to manage the fear while imagining at the same time how things might be different, enables me to cope, suggest, and/or wonder about other ways of relating, feeling, thinking and acting that we might want to embrace so that over time we are okay with how things turn.
So, when I do question or sound less than hopeful in my comments, I am not doing so to instill more fear or anger. On the contrary, I hope to inspire divergent and deeper conversations to inspire a brighter future for all.
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