Hopefully…

I have decided I am no longer going to use the word ‘hopefully.’

This word has stood in my way for far too long and I am finally casting it aside.

‘Hopefully’ is almost like that afterthought you wish you never had. It brings in an element of uncertainty, negativity, questioning, and anxiety. ‘Hopefully’ creates a quick moment of doubt in your mind but sometimes all you need is that quick moment to veer you off your path.

No one knows what will happen today let alone what will happen tomorrow.

I have been hopeful for too long. I am giving up hopeful and deciding to be faithful instead.

For years I used to doubt the power of positivity and the power of the mind. But I was raised by two very wise individuals. My father always says, “mind over matter.” My mother always says, “where is your faith?”

Little did I know how strong those words were.

You can hear something all your life and then finally hear it.

So I started putting those words into actions. I thought to myself, “if the mind is such a powerful tool then I need to tap into it.”

Your thoughts, your mood, your attitude can change your life. But most importantly it can change the lives of others.

I stuck a note to my computer. It read:

“What you think, you become.”

I stuck another note to the wall in front of me. It read:

“Faith.”

And every day I would look at these words and internalize them.

Then came the storms. Then came the darkness.

I wondered where the faith was taking me. My thoughts turned bleak. I dressed in black. I swirled in the negative and tried to reach my way out.

Then I saw another quote. I pinned it to my wall. It read:

“Dwell in possibility.”

Somewhere in those words was the shining light I needed to wake me up.

All the while I kept telling myself, “well, hopefully things will get better.”

The universe has a funny way of working things out. And those hard times serve to make you stronger and appreciate the things you have.

Dwell in possibility.

Not hopefully dwell.

Faith.

Not hopefully faith.

What you think, you become.

Not what you hopefully become.

Screw that word!

That word was created by naysayers. It was created by doubters, ready and willing to drag you down.

Watch with cautious eyes the people who interject the word, “hopefully” into your conversation. Those are the naysayers. Those are your critics, your doubters. They don’t believe in you but even more shamefully they don’t believe in themselves.

So I will no longer be my own doubter. Who am I to doubt myself or doubt others around me?

What gives me the right to place anxiety in my mind and in the minds of others?

Why am I hopefully?

Why am I not faithfully?

Starting now I am giving up the word.

It means nothing to me now.