Learning to hope...

It's such a beautiful concept, to have been given the chance to experience this life, just to learn to let it go in hopes of a next adventure.

We tend to think that everything on this earth is ours to conquer, as if there's anything here we could truly take with us. I've always been pretty attached to the things in my life, even when no one else notices, correction… especially when no one else notices. I used to think that if I wanted something bad enough but kept it to myself, it might just come true. As if life was a collection of birthday wishes and fountains full of pennies.

Somewhere along the way I realized that wasn't how it worked, and I let that take my hope. But losing the wish was never the same as losing the hope. It just meant that ownership doesn't always equal permanence. I mean, imagine if everything you ever wanted became yours. Every person. Every opportunity. Every dream. Every version of your life you could think of. There would be nothing left to long for, nothing left to discover, and nothing left to become. And aren't we glad that's not the case?

Maybe the beauty of life was never in collecting things we could keep forever. Maybe it was always in borrowing them for a little while. People, places, moments, and even versions of ourselves, and loving them fully anyway.

Because the greatest lesson life has to offer isn't how to hold on. It's learning how to let go with gratitude.