[lovejoy91]

How do you feel about this quote? What motivates you to keep fighting for your life everyday? I truly believe that this quote is so true. No matter what life throws at you, you make things work out for the best. Having a positive attitude keeps me afloat.

[Moogieotter]

Hi,

I think we have more control than we like to think. I am very sympathetic to my friends and others here who suffer with similar challenges. I have my children and family as motivation to stay stable and high functioning. I did have to muscle up and decide to take control of this disorder a few years ago. So far so good.

Thanks for this thread,

moogs

[BrandonAK]

I've found that being confident in myself gets me so much farther than I otherwise would be. I try to keep a confident attitude about everything now. It works . The hard part is getting back into confidence after depression sets in.

[venusss]

I do believe in myself. Nobody is really powerless. People overcame much worse challenges than having some mind quirk while living in the western world.

[~Christina]

Yes. My Motivation? My family and friends certainly, but it's also just about me.. I want more.. so I fight for it.

[raspberrytorte]

I try to stay positive. Sometimes it doesn't work out all that well though. I can be somewhat pessimistic at times, little on the negative attitude side. It's something I'm working on improving.

[BlackSheep79]

Originally Posted by lovejoy91

How do you feel about this quote? What motivates you to keep fighting for your life everyday? I truly believe that this quote is so true. No matter what life throws at you, you make things work out for the best. Having a positive attitude keeps me afloat.

I do believe in that quote. I keep fighting not only for me, but I know I will lose everything I have worked so hard for if I do, my husband, my job, etc. I've had no confidence in myself over the past eight years when I was diagnosed, and let this disease take over my life on and off. The fear of instability has held me back from pursuing my career. I have been stable for a year now, the first time ever. I am beginning to realize I can do it, and I'm finally moving forward slowly into beginning to look for jobs in my field.

[Hopeful Camel]

I think that is a good quote. But I think it is easy to be too harsh on folks who are very ill and lay a blame game on them. Bipolar is a serious condition. Sure, life is what you make it, but it is also what you have been given. The balance is in making the best out of what you have been given.

I like the book "The Four Agreements." In that book he talks about always doing your best. But your best is different on different days. Some days you may be sick. Some days you may be at the top of your game. But each day, always try to do your best. I try to live by that.

[*Laurie*]

I can't stand those 'pat' quotes. To a great degree life is what we make of it, buuut.....there are too many exceptions for me to say 'I agree' with the quote. I don't like the guilt such quotes imply.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

I think this is true to an extent and very wrong to an extent.

If life were what I made it I wouldn't be on disability, I'd be doing the job I loved more than almost anything else in the world. If it were what I made it I'd be living in the house I owned and loved owning but can't afford now. Etc.

I don't want to sound negative because I have fought very, very hard for what I do have and even for life itself and I have good things in my life because I fought. I don't often admit to myself how hard I have and do fight because I tend to blame everything on myself.

But if this were true without huge exceptions life would look a lot different for a lot of people. If someone is starving in a 3rd world country it doesn't matter what they do, there isn't always food. Etc.

[CopperStar]

I don't much care for the quote based on my experiences. Like when I was homeless, it was due to a mental illness episode, and once the episode started winding down, I had resources available to get me off the streets. I met many people while homeless who did not have such resources, they were trapped. It wasn't a case where I was making my life better and they were not. It was a case where I was more fortunate than them, and it wasn't their fault. Because of experiences like that, though, I find quotes like that to be empty. I do agree with the sentiment of doing your best with that you have, though.

[LettinG0]

Yeah.....I tend to not like these types of pat quotes either. I get the sentiment....and we should all try our best to do and be the things that make us happy....

BUT.....it just sounds so trite...and simple

Unfortunately, life is literally like being a toilet. You never know what or who is going to take a dump on you next.

[A Red Panda]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow

I think this is true to an extent and very wrong to an extent.

I agree! We can make the most of what we have in life... but when those depressions hit, we can't always make the best of things then.

The things that keep me going:
- the desire to win the war against my brain
- I decided that I wanted to see the world. Not allowed to give up until I've been everywhere, or at least every country.
- hope
- my students