Hope

It's amazing what a few words can do to ones spirit.  As I start off a new year, I know that it will be full of lifes challenges and I have a long road in changing the way I fight the battles that inevitably will come my way. I have to admit as this past year was coming to a close, I wondered how low my reserve was, but on the first day of the new year, I received a gift. One of renewed hope, that life was not lost. It goes to show that you never know the impact you can have on someone, with just a smile, a kind word, a quick note and how it can restore hope. This gift, this note, filled my reserve.  Part of the message also gave me renwed hope, that I can fight the enemy, if I can stay out of my own head.

I, like most people, am my own worst enemy and the last few years I stopped fighting that enemy. I gave it more power and let it take control over so much of my life, I gave up fighting the demons in my mind, letting in more of the dark, the fears and doubts.  There have been so many thoughts, so much emotion and yet I have never felt so empty.  I realize that we all go through times where we may not be something special to someone in particular, we may not have a special shoulder to lean on, or someone to talk to and its often what is not shared that weights the most, but we are not alone, if we hold hope in our hearts.

I still may not be able to shed those weights, but as I endeavor to grow, learn, and face lifes challenges in this coming year, I hope that I can remember that everyone deserves compassion, consideration and dignity. That we all fight battles that can't been seen. Most of all I will continue to believe in hope, even when the odds are not in my favor.

So, cheers to a new year filled with hope and to fighting those unseen battles within.

Cheers to believing you are enough. Hold on to your own compassion as you fight the cold and darkness to bring more light into your life this year.