Your Daily Dose of Hope

I spend a lot of time encouraging you to say yes.

Yes to hope.

Yes to joy.

Yes to opportunities.

Yes to the things that help you become more of who you want to be.

But today, I want to give you permission to say something else.

No.

No to the commitments that leave you exhausted.

No to relationships that only take and never give.

No to habits that no longer fit the person you're becoming.

No to carrying responsibilities that were never yours to begin with.

Saying no isn't selfish.

It's how we make room for the things that matter most.

Saying no is one of the ways we can keep the promises we make to ourselves. We say no to an event that’s going to conflict with a planned work out, or we say no to being around people who make us uncomfortable.

Every time you say yes to something, you're automatically saying no to something else, your time, your energy, your attention.

So choose carefully.

Protect those things. They're valuable.

Today's dose of hope: Saying no isn't closing a door. Sometimes it's the very thing that opens the right one.

Travel has a funny way of reminding us what's really important.

My flight to Texas recently was supposed to take about two and a half hours.

Instead, it took six.

Weather forced us to divert to another airport for fuel. Then more storms kept us sitting on the tarmac for another hour and a half.

None of it was anyone's fault.

I kept waiting for people to get frustrated.

But they didn't.

People chatted with each other. Parents smiled as their kids wandered the aisle to burn off energy. Flight attendants did their best. Everyone just adapted.

The crew was amazing and I know that we all recognized their efforts to be calm, to keep us informed and they did the best they could to make sure we were comfortable.

The pilot was updating us every 20 minutes or so, which I know kept the frustration level lower. Not knowing is often why people get upset. The team did everything they could to explain what was happening (or not happening) and what was next in the process.

It was such a simple reminder that when circumstances are beyond our control, most people are incredibly gracious.

The loudest stories we hear often convince us that people are impatient, angry, or divided.

But that's rarely what I experience in everyday life.

Most people are kind.

Most people are doing their best.

Most people simply want to get where they're going and help each other along the way.

Today's dose of hope: We have far more in common than we're often led to believe. Look for the kindness. It's there more often than you think.

I recently spent a few days at a retreat that was centered around writing.

Not writing a book. Just writing. The kind of writing that helps me think more clearly, connect ideas, and create things that might help someone else. Things like these Daily Dose of Hope episodes and content for my website.

One of the biggest surprises wasn't what I wrote. It was what happened because I was in a different place.

A new environment. A slower pace. A few familiar faces and several people I'd never met before.

Something about that combination made it easier to think. Easier to create. Easier to focus.

Sometimes we assume we need more motivation when what we really need is a change of scenery.

A walk in a different neighborhood. Working from a coffee shop. Taking a class. Saying yes to an invitation. Giving your brain something new to experience.

Creativity loves fresh perspectives.

If you've been feeling stuck, don't force it. Change your surroundings and see what changes inside you.

Today's dose of hope: Sometimes the fastest way forward isn't working harder. It's simply giving yourself a different view

When doubt gets loud, don't listen to opinions, look for evidence.

Make one decision today that your future self will thank you for.