Hopes and wishes. Are they the same? Definitely not! But what’s the difference?
Wishes are ephemeral things, floating around in your brain, but they never “put their feet on the ground,” so to speak. Instead, they lie around on the sofa with you, watching television, eating snacks, daydreaming, simply wanting something to come true without any investment of effort. It’s like praying for what you want without lifting a finger to make it happen.
Hope, however, gets busy doing its part. Yes, the wish may come first, but then you must think about how to make it come true. To me, Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar (formerly Burma) said it best: “There’s no hope with endeavor. Hope has no meaning unless we are prepared to work to realize our hopes and dreams.” This is a woman who clearly knows the challenges in hoping. She was detained under under house arrest by the military for almost 15 of the 21 years from 1989 to 2010, becoming one of the world’s most prominent political prisoners, yet she had a significant impact on that country’s ability to finally hold fair elections and end military rule.
How can you move from wishes to hope? First, understand that hope is more than a positive attitude or optimism. Those are key ingredients, of course, but insufficient by themselves. Instead, clarify your wishes, project them into the future, and decide what it will take for you to get there. Believe in your ability to make that future come true, then identify and take the necessary steps to make your hopes become reality.
The benefits of hope are many, including being a more productive worker, getting better grades if you’re a student, experiencing less psychological distress, and having a stronger sense of meaning to your life. Hope. It’s worth the work.
by Kathleen Vestal Logan, MS, MA March 31, 2017