Well, hello there. My name is Morgan Harper-Nichols. I'm an artist and a writer, and this is a space where I share words that I hope can make a little room for you to slow down and take a few deep breaths as you prepare for whatever lies ahead.

Thanks for being here today. And now on to today's episode.

As adults, sometimes having hope can feel a bit naive. The idea of anticipating that something good is going to happen, even though we've seen so many things go wrong, can feel

reckless and immature. But hope is not wishful thinking. Hope is the audacity to believe. I do not have

all of the answers, but I know there is more ahead of me. Hope is knowing that you don't have to have everything

figured out for the future before you can take action. You don't have to be fearless before you can

sow seeds of faithfulness. So much of our adult lives are spent preparing for the future,

and this often centers on things that could go wrong. From the time we are young, many of us

are taught to always have a plan A and a plan B and a plan C when it comes to our career choices. We are encouraged and even pressure

to get into relationships or be a part of certain groups so we don't end up alone or viewed as

outsiders. Even when it comes to marketing and advertising, we are often bombarded with fear-tactic messaging that makes us think

we need to buy certain things to prevent something from going wrong. There's nothing wrong with

adequately preparing for all possible outcomes.

But oftentimes, we forget to prepare for the best outcomes too.

We forget that the amount of time we spend preparing for the worst

doesn't have to outweigh the time we spend preparing for the best.

Even when all of the odds are stacked against us, and we cannot imagine how we could ever get out of that low place,

we still have every right to have hope. We still have every right to trust that

tomorrow could be better and take whatever action we can to show that we truly believe that. So as long as you are still breathing,

you are not as far away from hope as you may think. You may be deep in the valley, but you can

also be deeply rooted in hope. You might encounter people that tell you it's too late for you.

You might have moments throughout the day where you are reminded of times you failed,

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