“Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there’s no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.”

~ Laini Taylor

I started thinking about this post while at work, where I spend most of my shift giving directions, answering questions, and engaging in conversations with anyone who wants to chat. Recently, some of those conversations have centred around the concept of hope, probably because the theme at my workplace this year is Hope.

In order to embrace the theme, each department was asked to focus and reflect on the idea of hope in its own unique way throughout the year. Our small team decided to start the year with a question: “What is your hope for 2025?”

To make it interactive, we hung several large sheets of paper and provided paper hearts, coloured pens, and an assortment of stickers, inviting everyone to participate.

The response has been heartwarming. Dozens of people (patients, staff and visitors) have already written their hopes on the paper hearts and attached them to the sheets, creating a beautiful tapestry of dreams and aspirations that have brightened our workspace.

The conversations, and the simple messages written on the paper hearts, revealed just some of the ways people perceive hope, and I found myself reflecting on what hope means to me.

Hope is many things:

Hope is looking forward to each new day and the expectation of what it will bring. 

Hope is knowing I have opportunities to grow and the thrill of learning something new. 

Hope is the joy that fills me when I hear of someone’s unexpected, or long awaited, good news and recognise that anything is possible.  

Hope is the knowledge that warmth and laughter is waiting for me the next time I connect with friends. 

Hope is an awareness of the deep love and gratitude I feel when surrounded by my family and the belief that I will see them again soon. 

Hope is engaging in something creative with the anticipation of positive results.

Hope encompasses all this and so much more.

Every moment of hope — both the hope we have experienced and the hope we are still waiting for — enriches this beautiful thing we share: life. 

What is your hope for 2025? If you’d like to leave a note below, I’ll write it on a paper heart and add it to the posters at my work.

Jacqui x

(The images in this post were my first attempt at Exposing Both Sides (EBS) of a roll of film.)