High Hopes 🌻
Believing feels like a risk worth taking
📖 Behind the Story
There’s something about that moment—standing across a crowded room, heart hammering, wondering if this time will be different.
I wrote this after listening to “Let Down” by Michigander on repeat, chasing that feeling of hope that refuses to stay buried, no matter how many times it’s been bruised.
The song came on during an autumn drive, and the scene arrived fully formed: golden light, a crowded room, a man gathering courage to cross toward someone who felt like home before he even knew her name.
The lyrics got me—I got high hopes, but they let me down, they usually let me down. That’s not cynicism. That’s history. And still, there’s Charlie, standing up anyway. Trembling hands and all.
I know that feeling.
I’ve been the one sitting in the corner, talking myself out of walking over. Replaying every time I got my hopes up and watched them collapse. Building a case for staying put.
And I’ve also been the one who stood up anyway.
Turned back around. Went for it.
That one choice shaped so many parts of me—set my life on a track I never could have pictured from where I was standing.
That day is etched in my memory.
The one time it didn’t fail. The one-time hope actually held.
And somehow, that single memory quiets all the times it didn’t.
I think we all carry our disappointments like invisible weight. Every time we’ve been let down becomes another reason to stay put, to protect what’s left.
And yet.
Something in us keeps standing up. Keeps asking, Can I have this dance?
I wanted the imagery to feel warm but fragile—sunshine and flowers against the awareness that this could all fall apart. The sunflower felt right. Something that turns toward light instinctively. Something bold enough to grow tall, knowing storms will come.
The ending—hoping he wouldn’t mess it up—that’s hope wearing its most honest face. Not confidence. Not certainty. Just... trying.
💭 A Question for You
When’s the last time you let yourself hope for something, even when past experiences suggested you shouldn’t?
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