Don't bother to look it up in the dictionary. It is a word made up just for you. It is a tendency to believe or desire the best possible outcome. It is looking at your life and your future with the lens of phenomenal opportunity instead of 'cannot' and 'not able'. It is about having faith that you will prevail through it all and come through difficulties maybe a little battered, but stronger, wiser and ready for the next challenge. The good thing is that we are all born with Hopetimism; it is a matter of finding it and putting it into practice. Hopetimism allows you to believe. Belief is the catalyst to action.
To reacquaint yourself with your Hopetimism, you need to spend some time with you and learn to hear yourself. We are all going, going, going so much of the time that we do not hear ourselves when we are crying out for a break, self-care or love. We needed all these as children and were not shy about asking for it. We cried for them, yelled for them and even threw tantrums for them.
As we grew up, we were conditioned to think we did not need these things. We suppressed our desire for them and they were replaced by stress, anger and pessimism. We did not know this was happening; we just attributed it to life. Now, here we are in the midst of global uncertainty and a host of other issues and we are exhausted with worrying about it all. There is a difference between being informed and knowledgeable about things and being completely consumed by them. We can choose consumption or Hopetimism. Chose hope. Believe me, it is difficult to hold onto hope, but try.
Looking at a challenge with the eyes of hope is far different than looking at it with hopelessness. With hope, you are firing on all cylinders, creative, happy, ready for the risks and challenges that you will encounter. You have vision and can see a positive outcome. You are not derailed by the hurdles or naysayers. You expertly navigate around them determined to succeed. Hopetimism sits differently in your soul and attracts positivity to it.
I confess that sometimes anger and negativity gets the best of me and I can get quite Grinchy (green fur and all). What is different now compared to a couple years ago is that I can snap myself out of it. Before, I would let self-limiting doubts cloud my thinking. When your eyes and heart are clouded with pessimism and negativity, you give up to soon, abandon your dreams or doubt the dreams of others. This low-energy thinking does not serve you. It is not worthy of you. Opt for Hopetimism, it will sit comfortably in your soul and keep the doors of opportunity open.
