If you won the lottery, what would you do with it?… if you could go back in time, what would you change?… If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?… if you had three wishes, what would you wish for?

Firstly, ask yourself, what do all these questions have in common?…

Answer: they all start with ‘if’. This ‘if’ business, tells us that the following scenario is not realistically possible. All of these questions all surround circumstances we cannot control, negative things we cannot change, but for some reason we like to imagine that we could.

They’re also asking us to imagine what life would be like if we had more or better than what we already have, which really, if you consider seriously for a minute, is both stupid and selfish. These questions encourage us to engage in wishful thinking that is extremely unhealthy for the soul.

Wishful thinking; that is what I’m here to talk about today. We’ve all been guilty of it; including myself. So, the question is, why do we do it? Well, I kind of mentioned it before when I said we like to imagine what life would be life if it were different. Sometimes we get sick and tired or the ‘boring’ life we currently live, or we think that there are things about our life that just seem impossible, so we fall back on our imaginary thoughts to give us comfort.

While we all do it sometimes, it’s important that we don’t make a habit of it because like I said, its unhealthy for the soul. Wishful thinking can be fundamentally wrong for two main reasons:

The first is that we can’t wish for what we can’t change. Especially if it’s something negative. There is no point in wishing that we could go back in time and change something, because we all know time travel has not been invented…. yet. Wishing to change something such as a personal characteristic or our looks is also a cruel thing to do to ourselves. If it is something we can’t physically do anything about, then the thought process just makes us feel miserable about ourselves all the time and that’s no way to live.

The second thing wrong with wishing, is that it actually stops us from doing. If we stop and wish, it means we’ve already decided for ourselves there’s nothing we can do about it. Even when it comes to our looks, sometimes we can do something about it. if you wish you were thinner, go to the gym. If you wish you had better grades, study harder. If you wish you could have a lot of money, work hard, get an education and a good job that you will enjoy being at. Or hell, go buy a lottery ticket. It’s your life, you take control of it!

(P.S. gamble responsibly)

If we spend our life wishing for things, we end up being miserable or staying exactly where we are. There really is no point.

I used to wish a lot. I still do on occasion. I wished that my eyes would open and close like a regular person’s. I wished that my mouth didn’t gape open. I wished that I could walk and run and for goodness sake dance! And yeah, these all seem like reasonable things for anyone to want. But the thing is, I was born like this. It’s a physical disability that will never be cured and never get better or change in any way. Sure, improvements can be made here and there, but otherwise this is me. And I choose to accept it and be happy.

As for being ‘normal’, well I also choose to everything else a ‘normal’ person does. I go to school and work hard. I treat other the way I would like to be treated. And above all I try to live my best life, because I can.

I don’t wish… and you shouldn’t either.

Have a lovely day! Xx