When we say ‘everything is going to be fine’, we tap into optimism and positive thinking. Without action, that’s all it is… a nice sentiment floating in the air.
But when we fight for something with everything we have, regardless of the expected outcome, we embody hope.
I love how Jane Fonda instantly transformed my understanding of hope by discussing it this way.
Until this moment, I’ve always thought of hope as something I possess or believe in—a feeling or attitude. Yet, not once had I connected it directly to action. I’ve treated it as a passive state rather than seeing it as something brought to life through deliberate movement.
Think about it this way: When a group of people stand up and advocate for something you deeply resonate with, there are two paths. We can sit back and say, “I hope things get better,” or we can recognize that the very fight people are willing to undertake IS the hope—hope made visible and tangible in the world.
These are fundamentally different perspectives. If we all remain in isolation, individually hoping for something better without acting on it, what mechanism exists for change?
Hope without action is just wishful thinking. But hope expressed through action creates the possibility it seeks.
I want to explore this shifted understanding of hope as something we do rather than feel. Perhaps true hope isn’t a sentiment but a practice.
