Every Monday in 2025 there will be a new journal prompt in the Year of Hope classroom in the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership.

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Leave them in the comments at the bottom of that page so we can discuss this as a group. The discussions already have been so good! Practicing hope in community is MAGIC.

I don’t want to do the year of hope today.

When I remember how I felt about this project before I started, how excited I was for this commitment to show up for hope and optimism and to make space for the process of holding onto hope…

That just feels very far away.

Now I feel a lot of heaviness and resistance and I just want to distract myself from how far away hope feels.

I don’t want to summon the inner strength to be my most alive and creative self. I want to rest.

And that seems legit, everyone is tired, rest is valid!

AND/BUT

There is something in there that doesn’t feel straightforward.

Like - why can’t I rest AND be my most alive and creative self? Like why would I even need to choose?

I DO NOT WANT TO BE MY DREAM SELF.

I WANT TO BE ALL CURLED UP IN A BALL.

I see a snail that’s tucked into its shell.

Hey snail. Do you need anything in there?

No. I never want to need a thing ever again.

OK wow that’s intense!

No it’s not. It’s cozy.

Well, everyone has needs.

It’s all too much.

Agreed! It really is.

I’m just too tired to even think about this.

Yeah, I get it.

So why are you pushing me?

Oh that’s a good question. I guess because I am afraid that if you just curl up in your shell and never leave or do anything - you are going to die.

You want me to live?

I want all of us to live. Like, really LIVE. To feel free and happy and at peace.

Oh, yeah I see how hiding in my shell in the dark forever doesn’t exactly feel happy.

And I see how forcing yourself out of your shell doesn’t feel happy either! So what can we do?

I could get behind a little picnic in the meadow.

A picnic in a meadow sounds great.

OK putting pressure on myself to feel alive and happy does make me want to just hide under the covers forever.

I didn’t want the Year of Hope to be pressure, I wanted it to be a safe space to explore.

And some days, exploring feels like pressure.

Maybe my internal sense of “what is pressure” vs “what is encouragement” is changing. That would make sense!

What is the “let’s have a picnic in a meadow” equivalent to journaling in my Year of Hope journal?

Painting. Collaging.

Doing it laying on the floor. Or in bed. (Well, using paint pens in bed would work) With a cup of tea and a cookie.

OK yeah I can fill pages with colour. Listen to nice music. Be in the VIBE of Year of Hope without doing any parts that feel hard.

Show up for practicing hope WHILE ALSO meeting myself where I am.

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