I remember back when I was in high school, my teacher in my values class asked what the meaning of hope was for us. I defined hope as “Humans Overcoming Problems Eagerly.”
Although I am proud of my response, as a high school student back then, I never really knew the gravity of what I had said.
How could I? I am just the typical high school student whose problems revolve around having good grades, the latest social trends, and having a love life. However, as a kid, I already took those problems like it was the end of the world.
As I grew up, I realized that my problems also grew up with me. When I was still studying in college, my main concern was will I ever graduate; when I graduated from college, my main problem was will I ever find a job; when I was working, my main problem was will it be enough to sustain my needs; when I was able to receive a competitive salary, my main problem was will I ever find a loving wife; and now that I am married, my main concern now is will I ever have a family of my own.
To add, the COVID-19 pandemic also served as an eye-opener for me and woke me up to a realization that you cannot live each day like tomorrow will always come. This gave me a tantamount of fear which somehow crippled me into hopelessness.
Nevertheless, when news about the creation of vaccines started to come in, this became my initial source of light from the dark place that I have been. And when I was able to receive my full dose of the COVID-19 vaccines, I could say that my hopes for a brighter future were already starting to come back.
The presentation of Mr. John Reilly D. Baluyot on Re-imagining Hope made me appreciate further the importance of striving for hope every day. Mr. Baluyot’s exercises made me realize that I should be thankful that I experienced a time when I was hopeless but could also overcome it and can now continue to be hopeful.
Learning about Charles Snyder’s Hope Theory, I realized that hope has three components: Desired Goals; Agency (will power); and Pathways (way power). Moreover, I realized that it is shaped like a triangle, wherein the Agency (will power) and Pathways (way power) are at the bottom of the Desired goals.
This made me realize that although we hope or desire something to happen, it will not materialize if your will and way power will not support it. Moreover, your will and way of power will be pointless if you have no desired goals to begin with.
When Mr. Baluyot discussed his personal experience in practicing the Hope Theory, it hit me that not everyone desires and craves materialistic things but being accepted as who you are as a person is worth more than being rich and powerful.
Moreover, the presentation also made me realize the importance of doing something intentionally. Lately, due to being overwhelmed with the various and loaded tasks, I cannot help but do things just for the sake of doing it—or mere compliance, if I may say. Hence, I will commit to doing my best to make my actions and words more intentional rather than just for convenience.
Furthermore, I would like to add that I highly appreciated when Mr. Baluyot pointed out the importance of preparing for the changes in my external environment. It should be done under future tense because it will be just “troubleshooting” if it has just been done in the present.
To cap it all off, I enjoyed Mr. Baluyot’s presentation on re-imagining hope, as it indeed gave me a new perspective on what hope means. From now on, I’ll do my best to provide hope to the people, one at a time, around me; and so I will define hope as Helping Others Passionately, Everyday.
The author is an MBA student at the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business, DLSU. He can be reached at charleston_bambalan@dlsu.edu.ph.
The views expressed above are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official position of DLSU, its faculty, and its administrators.