Amidst the vicissitudes of life, what sustains man the most is hope. Many who are going through stuff keep going because there is hope to cling to. This hope keeps assuring them that things can only get better. Remove that hope and all will be lost.

Hope applies in all situations. When the going is good, you hope it will be better. When better beckons, you begin to hope for the best. Even the worst situation still hopes that bad times will turn to good and better will turn to best.

However, to keep hope alive is not the same as to hope on hope. If your hope has to depend on another hope, you are hoping on hope. You could lose control and not be in charge. That is a dangerous way to live.

Football followers can relate better with this in a point based qualification competition, where your team’s success would depend on either the success of another team or even the failure of a rival team.

It is good to pray for the success of others but if you layer your own hope on the hope of another person, you are hoping on hope and you are taking a big risk. Multilayered hope may amount to building your castle in the air.

None of us can do it alone. We need one another but there is nothing as good as being in control of your life. Have you ever hoped that someone would help you only to find out that he genuinely needs help?

The reason someone you had hoped would help you is unable to do so may not be because he doesn’t want to. Priorities do change. The unexpected could happen that he may choose to keep private. Life happens.

As you wade through life and at every step of the journey, always check to be sure your hope is not multilayered. It is unsafe to leave the key to your peace of mind in someone else’s custody.

You must have heard this before about the bird. “A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because her trust is not in the branch but in her own wings”. Credit to anonymous author.

Please, keep hope alive. Take charge when you have to. Seek help when you need to but never place all your hope entirely on another hope that possibly depends on another hope. By this, you will save yourself avoidable heartbreaks.

I sincerely hope that your week is brighter than ever. Blessings.

©️Akin Oluwadare Jnr
13 February 2023