What Hope Means to Me | Founder's Message #2

In my first Founder’s Message, I asked what hope means to you. Today, I want to share a little about what it means to me, and how much that has changed over the years. I have lived a long, interesting, colorful life. I have quite a past. Some difficult family experiences early in my life helped set me on a path that brought a lot of pain. Through my teens and twenties, I struggled with drug and alcohol addiction and extreme domestic violence.

On December 19, 1994, I got sober. By then, I had already been married and divorced. I had given birth to three children, and one of them had died. I had lived through a great deal, and for a long time, hope felt almost nonexistent. That does not mean I never wished for anything. I had always hoped my life would be different. I wanted the life I saw in the movies. I wanted to be wealthy and thin, to travel wherever I pleased. In the life I imagined, I was single and had no children. That is an honest picture of what hope looked like to me in those years. I wanted a different life, but I did not know how to build one.

December 19, 1994, was a turning point. These days, though, I do not usually describe it simply as the day I got sober. I think of it as the day I stepped onto my path toward awareness, consciousness, and enlightenment. It has been a long, long road. I do not believe we ever finish that work. I am still learning about myself, still growing, still working to become more aware of how I live and how I show up for other people.

But once I took that first step, hope began to change.

I saw light at the end of the tunnel—and for once, it was not an oncoming train.

I began to believe that my life could be different. My day-to-day life could look different. I could make different choices. I didn't know what would come next, but I could see the possibility of something beyond the darkness I had lived in for so long. As I began to find my way, something else became deeply important to me: turning around and helping other people find hope, too.

I wanted others to see that light at the end of the tunnel and discover it didn't have to be another train coming toward them. That desire has become my purpose. As I grow and learn, I keep finding different ways to help others grow and learn, too. The work takes different forms, but the reason I do it remains deeply personal. I know what it feels like to struggle to imagine that life could ever be different.

Today, I am grateful to be here. Period.

I am grateful that I have a purpose. I am grateful for the chance to turn around and walk alongside people facing circumstances that may feel familiar to me. I cannot know every part of someone else’s experience, but I can listen, care, and help them look for a way forward. That is a big part of what hope means to me now. And I would love to hear what it means to you.

What did you once hope for? Has that changed? What does hope look like in your life today?

If you are willing and comfortable, I would love to hear your story. You can share without including your name. We will not publish or otherwise use your story without your permission. Please share only what feels right for you. My hope for these Friday blog posts is that we get to know one another and have real conversations. I will share some of my story, and I would be grateful to hear some of yours. I appreciate y’all so much. Thank you for being here.

This is an open discussion. Please share your answers in the comments below or directly to my email: cheryl.bushman@thehopecenter.life

With hope,