Get your hopes up. You are not naive for believing in possibility. You do not need to restrain your joy pre-emptively. Hope is not a trap. Let yourself feel it fully. Even if it breaks your heart later. Especially if it fills your heart now. Trust that, even if something ends or doesn't turn out the way you planned, the waiting, the longing, the Loving, wasn't wasted. There is a deep grief in not getting your hopes up. It may protect you from disappointment, but it also dulls wonder, delight and aliveness. Notice the quiet desires you've been dismissing as 'silly" or 'unrealistic. Allow your dreams to matter. Allow the warmth of anticipation to linger. Allow yourself to be touched by life.