The Hope Jolt

Do you remember when you were a child, and your birthday was coming up, and you'd think ahead to your birthday party or a present you hoped to get, and you'd feel a shot of excitement and anticipation? Maybe you, like me, got that feeling as Christmas approached, or on the occasions when I knew I was going see my cousins. Let's call that feeling the Hope Jolt. As we get older the Hope Jolt gets dulled. We still get excited about things, but if we're excited about, say, a trip to the lake, our excitement is tempered by the packing we need to do, our time away from work, the stress of travel.

Lately, however, I've felt the Hope Jolt, but here's the thing: it doesn't appear to be connected to any specific event. I'll have these moments when I feel a rush of promise, when the world suddenly seems to make sense--even just for a second, and when I can see around the edges of the mundane to something great. Spectacular, even. But it's nothing that I can name specifically. It's just a feeling a get sometimes.

My life consists of a fair amount of work, some fun, and a lot of everyday stuff: laundry, cooking meals, cleaning up. It's weird to be folding clothes and then all of a sudden feel the universe click into place around you, and then have the feeling disappear again just as quickly. I have a theory, though, a reason for why this seems to be happening more recently. The truth is, I can't know what life has in store for me. Triumphant or tragic, I just have no idea what's coming up. I can make plans, and I can work and do everything in my power to make things happen, but the fact remains that unforeseen situations will arise to change my plans. Perhaps the Hope Jolt is a signal from somewhere--maybe it's just from inside of me--reminding me that the future will change my plans, but that it may change them for the better.

A friend once told me, if we got the things we wanted in just the way we imagined, how boring that would be for us! The Hope Jolt is the promise that sometimes--not all the time, but every once in a while--something incredibly good and unforeseen will make things turn out even better than we could have imagined. Or maybe we'll just end up following a path we didn't really expect to follow, but in the end, the path leads to greater success, more love, more friendship, or financial security, who knows?

We've all heard stories of the unexpected ruining plans: the jury duty summons that canceled the vacation, the car repairs that drained the Christmas money, the broken arm that spoiled the summer, the lay-off that put just about everything in jeopardy. We hardly ever recognize the times that the unexpected actually helped us along, partially because those unexpected benefits often start out as those very same disappointments. We don't know until much, much later that the lay-off prompted the move to a better job, or that the guy sitting next to you in the emergency room the day you broke you arm will actually introduce you to the person who will help you get that dream project off the ground.

The truth is, seeing the links between disappointments and future successes is difficult. And seeing the true nature of an unexpected situation is nearly impossible. The Hope Jolt is just a reminder that good things do happen. Sometimes it's the obvious lottery win, and sometimes it's much more subtle. So feel excited every now and then. Feel like your birthday is coming up because there is greatness afoot. You just might not know it yet.