Why We Need A Bucket Of Hope

We need hope. And not just a little hope, but bucket loads of hope.

When we are in strife with our life circumstances, we can feel trapped. Many people who have a heart’s desire to be married can feel “trapped in singleness,” as if they are doomed to singleness for eternity. When we feel hopeless, we not only feel trapped, but we may begin to spiral downward into negative thinking. Hope is the lifeboat in the stormy seas of life. Essentially we stop sinking in negativity when we have hope.

As single people, we need to keep hope alive and well in our lives.

Imagine fast-forwarding to the next year at the same time, and focus on how life could be completely different in a positive way.

When I was dating, I was alive with the possibility of “hope.” I met incompatible people, I secured my bucketful of hope and I kept on moving. Yes, the person before me was not compatible, and our date resembled an emotional train wreck from beginning to end, but I still had HOPE! Hope that I would meet someone new! Hope that I would be married one day! Hope that I would be a mom! Each hope possibility filled that imaginary emotional bucket that I carried with me everywhere in my subconscious.

If we start to drown in broad, sweeping generalizations about how “men are … ”, “women are … ” or that all the good people left are already married, then we are losing hope. We end up living life in the “scarcity principle.” Then we begin to diminish our hope and empty out our emotional bucket of positivity.

Essentially we need to hold on to our imaginary “hope bucket,” knowing that things can and will change.

I’ve learned nothing stays the same forever, and prayers are answered within God’s perfect ways as well as timing. New love is in motion, coming toward us, but the E.T.A. is unknown. Perhaps our new love needs to learn a few lessons before they get to us, and as a result, our relationship with them will be that much better.

When we hold our bucketful of hope, we know that the fact we are single is not a bad thing and that our love life is “in motion.” Sometimes that “motion” may feel slower than thick molasses, but that is just the voice of impatience. Good things are worth waiting for, and with hope we know those good things are coming our way.

6 ways to keep filling your hope bucket:

1. Turn negatives into positives. See the bright side.
2. Know that things can and will change for the better.
3. Know that life is about seasons. If you are in an unhappy emotional “Winter,” then know that “Spring” or even “Summer” is coming your way.
4. Each day brings you one step closer to meeting your new great love, and he or she could arrive at any time.
5. Endings are new beginnings. As one door closes another one opens, so there are opportunities for meeting new love when you undergo natural changes in life.
6. Take your emotional hope bucket with you everywhere you go, and you will be able to weather the emotional storms on your way to finding new love in your life.

What are some ways you fill your bucket of hope?