I Believe In A Thing Called Hope.

Such a strange time of year. It’s funny how everyone seems to feel so much pressure to have a good time ‘because it’s Christmas’ when it’s really not that different to any other time of year. I sometimes wonder if there wasn’t so much pressure on people at this time of year to have a super-extra-over-the-top good time whether people would actually be able to enjoy it more?

My Christmas has been a good one – fairly low key and quiet. I got some cool stuff, slept in late (even for me), hung out with family (but not to the extent where we wanted to kill each other), and generally felt fairly relaxed, so I guess that’s half of what it’s about. I’ve missed the family members who have been abroad, but I seem them a lot as it is, and they’ll be back for New Year. Unfortunately not everyone has had such an event-free time, so I’ve been thinking a lot about other people…they know who they are and they will be ok – I promise. Hard times always seem harder at this time of year – because it’s this time of year; that old pressure thing again.

The past year has been a strange one for me personally, mixed with both good times and bad times…I’ve managed to keep friends that this time last year I feared I might lose, and I’ve made friends I hope to keep for years to come. I’ve not lost any real friends, maybe drifted apart from some friends somewhat, but also got back in touch with certain people – so as ever, it’s been a year of ups and downs. I guess that’s just life, and you deal with it.

Right now I’m listening to some incredibly euphoric music that is filling me full of hope for the coming year – hope for myself, and hope for all the people I love and care about…the kind of music that can both be so uplifting it can make you feel like you’re flying and invincible, but also make you stare into space and feel like you’re so vulnerable, falling down. I love how music can do that; amplify your emotions or mood, there’s nothing else like it. I’m not a religious person, I don’t know if I believe in ‘fate’, and I don’t tend to wear my heart on my sleeve, but I do believe in hope. The hope that everything WILL turn out ok, no matter how bad you feel at times, or however much you might think it won’t turn out ok. Sometimes you don’t want it to turn out ok, because you wish it could have not gone wrong in the first place, and you just want to feel sorry for yourself (I certainly felt like that this time last year) – and that’s ok. But don’t ever give up on hope. Sometimes it might be all you have, but you will always have it. So keep believing in it.

Someone once said: “hope is everything. hope is all we have x” – they should remember that.