Wishing or Hoping?

Wishing is not the same thing as hoping, but the terms are often used interchangeably. The important difference is that a wish is based on nothing more than a desire for something. “I wish I could live forever”. Bad news. You won’t. And wishing won’t make it so. Hope on the other hand, has some basis in reality. “I hope I live to a ripe old age” is not unrealistic. You may indeed live to be old if you eat right, exercise and avoid stepping in front of a bus. 

Hope has the ability to propel us toward positive change; to aid us in setting goals and to give us purpose. Wishing detracts us from our purpose and depresses us by focusing our attention on what we lack. The good news is that wishes can be turned into something more than empty pipe dreams, but only if we are willing to do the work.

If you wish you had a different job, it’s time to do the work it takes to get one. Go back to school, network with others, find a mentor and send out some resumes. If you wish you were thinner, then talk to your doctor, start exercising, and change your diet. Stop wishing and start taking action to get what you want.  Take charge of the parts you have control of and see what happens!

I would encourage you to a look at your “wish list”. How many of the things on it are things you have a measure of control over? What steps are you actively taking right now to turn a wish into something more concrete? A wish + an action = a plan. And if you have a plan, then there’s hope.