155 Big Green Pen Minutes Day Four: Hope

I am participating in the 31 Days of Free Writes October challenge. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. (Confession: I *may* not be able to resist spell-checking!)

Today’s prompt: HOPE

It seems presumptuous to write about hope (and my struggle to muster it) in the face of the true tragedy of this week, as people are still reeling from the situation in Las Vegas. I don’t minimize their grief at all. (Side note: the off-duty police officer that was killed wrote a book about being a police officer — I have that on my list and think it should be on the lists of many readers as a show of support.)

There was a consultant who worked with our project at Healthy Kids who often said “hope is not a strategy.” I know he meant that in the business world you have to have specific plans and measurable goals.

That’s where I’m struggling personally — in the “specific plans and measurable goals” category.

With two kids in college and way too much house, and being almost 3.5 years out from leaving my full-time job, the financial puzzle is …… puzzling.

I have chosen to (had to?) depend on help from my family more than I would, um, “hope.” I keep thinking, “if I could squeeze in one more project, one more gig, or overturn the whole current situation, this could be solved.”

It is a time when it would be tempting to wallow.

Nevertheless, I have reason to hope. Now it’s time to put feet, a brain, and my heart into surrounding that hope with a plan.

Paula Kiger

Wife of one, Mom of two, Friend of many. My pronouns are she/her/hers.