On Not Losing Hope

Never lose hope of being better than you are.

Never.

This is harder than it sounds.

The world is full of broken dreamers. The world is full of people who have tried and failed, for whatever reason: money, will, circumstance, faith. The cause of their loss is not germane to their story, although they may spend inordinate amounts of time attempting to explain it. Affixing blame becomes a priority for some folks, but I'm not so certain this is wise.

When you encounter these folks, remember:

• Listen and move on

• Don't linger

• Stay on your path

Your dream is not theirs—although both might look, sound, and smell alike. But your dream is yours, and you are you.

Broken dreams happen to everyone.

There is not a soul among us who has received everything they ever wanted in this life. Not one. But there are people who choose to take the lessons of broken dreams and move on. These people use that pain to make the next dream a reality. They sit on their painful stories of failure no longer than the cat sits on the hot stove. Lesson learned. Time to do something else.

If you would better yourself, do the same.

And learn to quickly identify the broken dreamers in your life and limit your contact with them. Enough to learn, not enough to scar yourself again and again. Have sympathy but be wary of the dampers they may be on the fires of your ambition.

You have bigger dreams.

You have the heart to achieve them. You will be better than you are.

Go make that new you happen.