Hopes are interesting things in my mind. Many people in our lives have different hopes for us. Also, many people have similar hopes for us. What I find most interesting, however is not their actual hopes, but how they convey them to us. This sounds really odd, but the way in which they share these hopes with us makes all the difference in the hope being placed within us or placed upon us. I will use as an example, the hope for success. For instance, your grandparents might wish you success, but then qualify it as something you must continually strive for in life. I do not think this at all wrong, mind you, but this is now a hope that has been placed upon you. It is a hope that can weigh you down in a sense and wear you down. A hope is something I prefer to be instilled in the designated person. I wish success for my loved ones, but I guess what I’m trying to say is that I want to allow them the ability to accept my well-wishing and then decide for themselves if they actually want to take that hope and strive toward it. In other words, I do not wish to force my hopes upon those who I am trying to bless with those hopes.

Metaphorically speaking, hopes placed upon us are like heaping rocks on our backs while trying to hike up a mountain. You may make it up, but it would have been far easier if you did not have the rock on your back in the first place.

OK, so it’s time to share my philosophical metaphor on life. I came up with this (though it’s not original) when I was a junior in high school and have tweaked it some and expect to continue to tweak it, but I really like it. Life is like surfing a huge wave. All we really need to do is just go with the flow and let life take us where it will. Don’t focus on the past, because you’ll miss the shark in front of you getting ready to rip you shreds. Also, don’t work too hard, because the current is simply too strong. You can paddle as hard as you want, but remember, you’re paddling against a monster wave so you won’t really get anywhere. I do not advocate apathy, because there are definitely times when we need to steer away from maybe someone else who may be getting ready to wipe us out or that obstacle that pops out of the water at the last second. Finally, life is simple. We try to complicate it with all this technology, clubs, activities and knowledge, but for what gain? All it does is takes our eyes off the journey, the true experiences and joy we should be finding in the everyday. I mean, what’s not to enjoy about catching the biggest wave you’ve ever seen and just riding it out?

I feel like there’s so much more that I want to write about, but I can’t think of a single topic, therefore I will end this right now.

Later…