Several years ago I began teaching children with disabilities. I entered an uncharted territory and had no idea what to expect. It was an adventure from the start. I learned a lot about human behavior during those years.

“I want something else!”

That was the cry of one of my students. She repeated this words until she was screaming her heart out. Nothing could calm her down. Until her attention was diverted she would continue claiming she wanted something else but she would never say what she wanted. In multiple occasions I took walks with her trying to calm her down. During our walks she asked the same set of questions in the same sequence several times, “What are we doing after that?” She wanted to know what she was doing next after the walk and five or six events after that until the agenda of the day was completed.

Wind by Ivan Tirado

I don’t think we are so different from her. We often want something else. You heard this before, “The grass is always greener on the other side”. We are always searching for something different from what we have, but we can’t tell what it is. We often want to know details of the future ahead of us. We want to be certain we covered all the bases. We want to make sure we are in control. The truth is we never are. We may claim we are but we are not even knowing what the future holds or knowing what we want, we are not. Honestly, that is a good thing.

Wanting something else provides an opportunity for hope. It allow us to consider the difference between need and want. Not being in control allow us to be thankful of the now. The past teaches us how we got here, how to live today, and to work hard for a better future. We can’t be idle but constantly moving towards our goals with the compass of hope.