Afraid To Hope

It is challenging to amp oneself up for an optimistic new year when the wounds of the previous year still gape. Instead of hope, we may feel dread or a sense of impending doom. “When will the next shoe drop?” we might wonder as we reel from a season that has brought more valleys than mountaintops. Afraid to hope, we may want to guard ourselves from more prospective pain, even while we try to be cautiously optimistic. In the television series Ted Lasso, Ted’s soccer team will be relegated to a...