A hopeful person does one day a week more work than a less hopeful person in a 7-day work week. – Journal of Positive Psychology, 2013.

Hope has such a profound effect on our well-being. It is a critical component for joy. Specifically, it increases our positive emotions, lowers levels of depression, and provides a stronger sense of purpose.

Boiled down to its simplest definition, hope is the belief that we can make things happen and have the motivation to reach that outcome.

COVID has been particularly trying in terms of hope. We have all wanted to get back to normal, yet that outcome has felt so out of our control—a contributing factor for hopelessness.

This week in the U.S. when the CDC loosened its mask guidelines for vaccinated citizens, my hope felt a spark. The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel flickered for the first time in a long time. I am cautiously moving “normalcy” out of the wishful thinking bucket into an actual possibility domain.

One can only hope.