When You've Given Up Hope That Things Can Get Better, Please Read This Letter

To the One That Gave Up Hope,

I remember our conversation like it was yesterday. I asked you a question that I don’t think you were ready to answer. Maybe it was too soon to ask. Maybe you needed more time to come to the conclusion by yourself. It was a question I asked countless others in different situations, but your response was the one that had me thinking the most. 

I asked, “Can you tell me about the positives?”

You wrote back, “What would that do? Instill a sense of hope that things will get better?”

It took me a while to respond to you after that. It made me think a lot about the struggle we all have to believe in one another; to believe that hope can exist in this world.

Everyone’s circumstances are different, but in a society where hope can seem unattainable, it can be easy to come to the conclusion that things can’t get better. 

For me, though, hope is something I think we should all aspire to.

It was my family’s hope for me, their determination to fight for me, that led to my progress. Accomplishments that may seem small to some — like getting a job, finding a girlfriend, graduating from school — were things I could have never imagined achieving while I was growing up. 

I was put through the ringer as a kid, but hope gave me motivation — the same motivation I have today. I hope to show others, through my story, that great things are possible not only for those with disabilities but for everyone.

If you ever come across this letter, I hope you reach out to me again and let me show you the reason why things will and are getting better. I want to show you, just like my family showed me, that hope is possible and that there is someone willing to fight for you. Some days will obviously be better than others, but if you take anything from this letter I wish it’s this… 

Never close the door on hope. 

Hope helps us push through some of the toughest times in our lives and gives us the strength to get to that finish line when we don’t think anything else will. We’re all human beings who make mistakes and have to live our journeys the way they were meant to happen. 

I wish I could give you that hope now. I have enough hope for both of us, and there’s someone out there in this world who wants to be with you every day. There’s someone out there who would go to lengths unimaginable to make you see hope.

So, please, the next time you give up hope and believe things can’t get better, remember this letter. Give hope a chance now, and I promise you, if I can be there to guide you, it I will. I hope you know that now.

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

This post originally appeared on KerryMagro.com.