The word “hope” has gotten an awful lot of play lately. It’s also gotten its share of detractors, who suggest that starry-eyed idealism is hardly what we need in a world with so much uncertainty and so many challenges.

Regardless of your political inclinations, however, hope in and of itself is much more than part of a catchy slogan. It’s been said that hope is belief in things yet unseen. In a time when the economy is depressed, jobs are dropping like flies and some of us wake up daily trying to figure out how to pay the bills, hope can be the one thing that sustains us.

Now, there’s hope and then there’s self-delusion. Ignoring real-life hardships and challenges, however, are not what real hope is about. To hope is to believe that, no matter how tough things are today, there’s a chance they will be better tomorrow, or the next day.

Hope also doesn’t let us off the hook of doing the hard work to get there. However, it can serve as a beacon to help guide our efforts. If we can at least imagine a better reality, it’s easier to feel like we have some direction or focus, rather than simply drifting aimlessly.

Don’t be afraid to hope. To dream is to believe life is worthwhile.

Written by Kristan Cole