wheelhomies

What is it that keeps you going, especially in times of adversity?

I realize this could be a very "deep" question for some people, but don't be shy...

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Plan9

Even after I felt the value of my life was nil, this symbol was why I kept going: Duty, discipline, fear, responsibility, honor.


After I took it off, hung it up, didn't look at it anymore... the feeling remained.

Like the man says,

"I am a man with a nuclear reactor in his chest. Instructions: Remain calm. Prepare to go."

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Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

The_Jazz

"In times of adversity"? My experience with the real world, especially the real world professionally, is that all times are full of adversity. If they aren't, I'm not doing things right.

What keeps me going? The knowledge that somewhere out there one of my competitors is taking a shortcut and as soon as it pops up in front of me, I'll give him a haircut. Work is a constant grind. Again, if it's not, you're not doing it right. The Secret is to accept the grind as a part of yourself and to get off on it. I love the fact that I work harder and longer than any of my competitors and that they run in fear when they see me on the other end of something.

On the home front, it's family. In good times or bad, there's always something good going on somewhere, whether its going to a nephew's soccer game or listening to my son babble something incomprehensible. There are some very bad things going on in parts of my family, but there's lots of good to balance that out.

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

pig

is there really a choice?

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You don't love me, you just love my piggy style

tecoyah

A deeper understanding of the bigger picture, and acceptance that this life was not meant to be easy. A belief that the perceived negatives I deal with are the norm, and an ability to see beyond them to the upcoming beauty they lead to. My own decision to pay close attention to diversity and try to learn from it, instead of trying to ignore what is happening in hopes it goes away. Embracing hardship as a path to becoming more than I am right now...and trying to enjoy the bumpy ride.

Knowing deep down, that this life is only as full as I make it...regardless of how hard it is at times.

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Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

maleficent

quoted for truth - what's the alternative? giving in?

my stubbornness and ego are what keep me going..

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wheelhomies

of course there is.

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albania

The possibility of finding answers to some of my questions; or put another way basically the fact that there will be a tomorrow.

abaya

There's always tomorrow.

I've survived a lot of shit already, so why stop now? I know I can handle it, I just have to kick my own ass into gear and drive the hell over the mountain.

The majority of the average people in the world have survived far worse shit than I will EVER have to face, and they still manage to get out of bed every morning. In comparison, I have so many privileges... which would make me even more of a wuss-ass if I gave up early.

Basically, suck it up and deal. Things could be worse, and they'll probably get better over time.

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And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran

Plan9

The Choice is that Nietzsche thing... the thing about staring into the abyss. How it stares back.

I'd say one the best examples of the freedoms we have in life is the ability to choose if we don't want to live it anymore.

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Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

ironpham

In times when I feel like I mean nothing, I realize that there are those who think so much of me. I can't let them down...Go IronPham!

Ustwo

I have a different take.

Most adversity can be planned for, even the unexpected. This leaves you only open to the catastrophic types of problems and in those cases you won't know until you have them.

Most peoples issues are self inflicted, and therefore can be avoided.

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Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

Willravel

Nothing. Absolutely nothing can keep me going. I just go.

Ourcrazymodern?

This might sound trite:
As far as we know, living beats the alternative.

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BE JUST AND FEAR NOT

squeeeb

i'm too much of a coward to end it myself, directly...it's not that i keep going for any reason, i am just here until i get a chance to leave...

in times of adversity, and in times of joy, i see it this way: life is temporary. you either believe in an afterlife or you don't.

if A: there is an afterlife, then whatever you do on this spinning ball of dirt wont make too much difference. no one will care if you were the CEO or the janitor. no one will care if you were fat or mr olympia.

if B: there is nothing after this, then, whatever you do won't matter at all. no one will care etc etc....

what makes adversity? when shit don't go like you want it to. well, when you are miserable, when everyone is against you, when you are facing seroius adversity, remember....in about 50 years (could be 50 minutes, you don't know, do you?) it won't matter. you fuck up at work. so what. is anyone gonna care 6 months from now? anyone gonna care 1 year from now? is it gonna matter when you die?

NOPE.

so, whatever has you down, if you look at it in the long range scheme of things, so fuckin what? some things will haunt you until you die (why did she leave me? why am i not attractive? why do i suck at everything i do?) but really, does the guy who she is with, the good looking guy, the guy who is good at everything, are his accomplishments gonna mean anything in 80 years?

NOPE.

don't be nihilistic about it, but put it into the long range perspective...enjoy what you have, what you can now...

sorry for the rambling...i could go on and on about this...i've thought about it for many years....

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onward to mayhem!

intellijence

The chance to be alive and breathing

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ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space

ratbastid

We're funny creatures, us human beings. We want what we don't have, and we don't want what we have. We spend all our time either grasping for what we don't have, or rejecting what we have. That grasping and rejecting is also known as "adversity".

When I can embrace what I have and embrace what I don't have, there IS no adversity.

QuasiMondo

I always figure that, "sooner or later, this shit has to stop." And then sooner or later, the shit does stop. It always does, sooner or later.

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Cameron originally envisioned the Terminator as a small, unremarkable man, giving it the ability to blend in more easily. As a result, his first choice for the part was Lance Henriksen. O. J. Simpson was on the shortlist but Cameron did not think that such a nice guy could be a ruthless killer.

-From the Collector's Edition DVD of The Terminator

wheelhomies

and then the cycle repeats.

i definitely agree that most people seem to look for reasons to be unhappy, or make mountains out of molehills, but all adversity isn't simply mental.

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Jetée

Everything and nothing.


It would take much too long to explain my philosophy, since it is nothing but uncanny contradictions and ironic truths that beg to be unbelieved by naysayers.


I'll try in a later state to not by a mystery wrapped in a conundrum inside an enigma, but that is all I can ever hope to be. I take it all in, mix and serve you absolutely nothing.

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As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves.

—Mohandas K. Gandhi

ratbastid

So... who is it, then, that points their finger at a situation and declares it "adversity"? You really think "adversity" exists out there in the abstract, in the absence of someone interpreting it as such?

What if instead of "adversity" I use the word "challenge" or "opportunity"?

Plan9

You can do that. I encourage it. What I don't encourage is everybody doing that. And why not? Well, I say this:

SELF HELP WORDING RANT:

"Challenge" and "opportunity" versus "adversity" are awesome Tony Robbins posi-go-words. Why isn't adversity a positive word, again? Huh. Nope, I'm lost.

If I take a crap on two slices of white bre... okay, nevermind. Bad saying.

As Jesus, Prince, and Cher always declare: "You are what you do..." I.E. not how society spins the thesaurus to justify their complacency with sweater-wearing-latte-drinking nomenclature.

Sometimes life has adversity. Like a car wreck that kills your wife and kid. Like getting shot at in the desert by a 14 year old with an AKM. Like getting AIDS from your girlfriend. We don't refer to these things as challenges or opportunities because they insult common sense... they insult the lucky sucker that inherits their fruits.

Sure, sure... maybe you write a best-seller on emotional survival from the personal growth lessons you received from your hard times (positive). Maybe you say, "Fuck it!" and suck-start a Mossberg in your basement (negative). Maybe you just get a little bitter and consult the bourbon bottle (neutral).

(goes to tear band-aids off unsuspecting people)

Elvis: "Political correctness and excessive positive word reinforcement lower IQ points."

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Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

wheelhomies

then you are just being politically correct. i suppose adversity has negative attached to it, but you can embrace it and learn from it just as much as any "opportunity".

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ratbastid

Funny, I was under the impression that this thread was about MY life perspective. I'm sad to find out that my personal life perspective is so wrong, but thank you from the bottom of my heart for educating me.

I find human beings very strange. Why should a philosophy that includes accepting what's so and giving up one's resistance to life encounter so much resistance?

wheelhomies

this thread is about sharing life perspectives. i thought people could discuss their beliefs. but yeah, guess i shouldn't have said anything since it is your perspective and not mine that i asked for.

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Nimetic

Sure. Planned for is different to prevention though.

I know that I could be diagnosed with a painful and chronic disease tomorrow, this doesn't mean that I can do much about it. Likewise I could be in a car accident and have permanent damage from it.

Don't fool yourself. Most of us are lucky. The reality of life for many people is hardship. Many people have poor health or dependents who have poor health.

If you question this... look at MS, look at Huntington's disease, look at cancer. Sick people and their carers are hidden in hospitals, in nursing homes and in family houses. We don't see them at work, restaurants or such - they cannot attend.

Plan9

I think an interesting aspect of generalized life perspective is how everyday feelings are labeled in Europe versus the US. Less PC boolsheet, less games. Ya might casually ask somebody how they're doing and they might just drop some like like: "Man, I've got explosive diarrhea and my wife was a real crab last night, whew!" on ya.

I know that in... oh, let's say France... a lot more people will tell you that they're just having a normal day. So-so, even. Not necessarily good, or awesome, or great-thanks-for-asking. Or maybe they're having a bad day and it is perfectly acceptable. I think that it is noteworthy that having a bad day in the US is actually a negative thing. I wanna embrace the philosophy that bad days are okay and they're okay because they make good days good.

I mean, they can't all be good. Why do we act as if they should be all good?

If ya plotted life on a line graph... perhaps it would be like the tides as it progressed along time. Gentle rolls in and out, up and down... with the high points and low points marking particularly deep but narrow spikes in emotion or fate or whatever.

...

(waits for the former Jetstream to drop the philosophy bomb after so much build-up)

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Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

Clare

the thought of what if i'm wrong about the world. what if i could make a real difference in the future it's the what ifs that keep me going

Ourcrazymodern?

One is making a difference just by being, aren't they?

Well, one can hope.

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BE JUST AND FEAR NOT

Mantra.

What is it that keeps you going, especially in times of adversity?

I honestly don't know... I just want to

oddtrend

I've been lucky, I've had a awesome click of friends who have been a great motivational point for me. One gave me this peice of advice " Life is a gaint moutain of people climbing over one another reaching higher and higher, You've got to claw, climb and fight to get to the top and sometime along the way you'll find a few people who will help and climb with you and they be there if you ever falter or slip" I'm sure this doesn't make sence to everyone but it always kept me going

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I've got mood posioning, It must have been something that I hate

Elegia

^^ That really is some great advice and a very nice view on life.

Personally, I keep going because I want to learn more about this world and about life. There are simply too many things I don't have a clue about or that I haven't experienced yet. Love is a good example.

And, generally, I like life and I don't like quitting on something, even when it goes bad.

Cynthetiq

Hope.

Hope that tomorrow is a better day that today.

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

RenaissanceII

You have to have hope....It's what makes life possible...

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And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
Anais Nin


I Wish You Well.

ChefDylan

I beleive we are all a conglomeration of the choices and paths we either chose or were lead down during our lives. even our bad decisions helped us learn and grow to be who we are now.

when i was young my mother was a single parent and providing for us took up a great deal of her time. I had my sister, who was a year older, and my brother, who is 8 years younger, to provide me with entertainment and drama. I was a loner even then and tended to stick to books. I read a great deal of Arthurian legend and world mythology from American Indian to Celtic to Chinese and Japanese. I took that time in my life to make several rules for my behavior and most of them I have adhered to throughout the years no matter how much it hurt. I have only one regret, sara. I wish I had been able to handle being happy then.

I keep going because I hope one day to fulfill my promise to myself to be a better man than my father is. He abandoned us when I was a kid and I want my children, if I ever have any, to know their father loves them very much.

I keep going because I feel that the only one I ever have to prove anything to is myself. I make a few friends and a lot of enemies doing this and even though I try to see things thru other peoples eyes I prefer for them to explain to me what they are thinking rather than attribute intelligence by assumption.

I have thought several times in my life that I was ready to die. I have a few conditions I like to have before I go. I want to owe noone...no bills at all. I want to go on my own terms, basically.

when things get difficult for me to handle I tend to recede into my own world inside my head. I have shaped a world with characters from books I have read and places I still wish to see. I am comfortable there and feel relaxed. I like to think it helps me look at the world with new eyes when I return.

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Duct Tape is like The Force...... There is a Dark Side, a Light Side and it holds the Universe together!

Im_not_bitter

I was just wondering, how that is possible ? even cyborgs , androits or just a mere conscienceless mechanical device have a purpose for them to strive forward or just keep striving. Even a table has a function that it serves for. Maybe I'm totally derailing and not see the purpose within those words of yours.

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Just because it's called common sense, doesn't mean it's a common trait

Plan9

So... the appeal of life is greater than the appeal of not being alive.

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Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

Meditrina

At this point in my life, my answer is simple.

My children.

This is subject to change as life goes on.

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"Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles." ~Alex Karras

Plan9

Wait, wait-wait... you know cyborgs and androids?

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Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

ngdawg

"There is always a Plan B"...