Don't Get Your Hopes Up

There's a common saying around my house in the last two plus years.  "Don't Get Your Hopes Up." 

When you are trying to do something that proves quite difficult and unlikely, it's something that we will likely all here from someone.  Well, I'm tired of not getting my hopes up.  There, I said it.  I'll get my hopes up if I want to.  This scenario can go one of two ways:

First way:
Take every action to achieve goal, believing that this time it just might work.
If it doesn't work, a period of feeling crushed may ensue.

Second way: 
Take actions to achieve goal while not really believing it could work.  Feel defeated and like actions are pointless.  Be crushed when it doesn't work, even though you didn't think it would.

There may be other options for different scenarios, but these are the two I'm choosing between right now.  And I think I'll take the first way.  I'd rather have days of hope, because hope makes me feel good.  It improves my overall attitude and is a bright spot in an otherwise murky experience.  I tried a few rounds of the second, and it was almost scary how dark the place I got to was.  Well, that's not for me.

Sorry Captain, I'm gonna get my hopes up, and if it doesn't work, I'm probably gonna cry.  Because I feel, and believe it or not, feelings are good.  But then I'll pick myself up and find new hope for next time.  And I'll be a much happier person for it.

As my mother's favorite song says:
Gotta Do It My Way.