Do you have a mantra that keeps you going through tough times?

Me: This too shall pass
My circumstances: YOU SHALL NOT PASS
IRS agent: You have thousands of dollars of overdue taxes
Me: This too shall pass
- With enough time it will.
  Source: my wife works for a tax authority
Like a kidney stone
This has been my motto for years but now I have incurable cancer in the brain so I'm looking for a new one...
- Will happen. Happening. Happened.

Just the fuckin way she goes boys

Trailer park boys, full of insight
Sometimes she goes, sometimes she doesn't... Fuckin way she goes...
Fuck you mean it's just the fuckin way she goes?

Don't know if it counts, but I often think about

when I face difficult situations.

"You’ll feel better in the morning."

I get a lot of intrusive, negative, catastrophising thoughts late at night. Worrying about things I would never worry about during daylight.

I always try to tell myself: don't think about this stuff right now, it's not helpful. Put it aside and if it still feels important in the morning then you can do something about it. Fixating on it right now serves no useful purpose.

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

This resonated a lot with me during the pandemic shutdown.

That didn't work... Next!

And when it's a real big mess: In 100 years, nobody will know or care.

Yup, a big factor is realising that none of this actually matters.
Just imagine that one person in Europe about 30,000 years ago who found himself stuck in some hole in the ground, alone and broken, finally dying of thirst and infection, who left behind four kids and his bonded life partner. They didn’t know where he went, and in only a season she had paired with another mate in the clan. Within four years anything said about this man had wilted to almost never, and forget about anything having been written down or logged in any way.
Forgotten to time.
It didn’t take long then. Might take longer now. But time will still forget us all. Make your mark while you’re around, because after that no one will give a shit.

"This too will pass"

True for both good and bad times. Good time? Enjoy it, since it will pass. Bad time? Endure it, it will pass.

"Slow down for a moment, tackle one thing at a time" helps a lot when I'm anxious and overwhelmed.

This is really close to what I do as well. If I’m overwhelmed, I think to myself, “Just start with one small thing. Then do another small thing. Eventually, lots of small things add up to a large thing. Won’t get anywhere doing nothing and worrying about how much I have to do.”

"One day at a time. One hour at a time. Let's just get through this one little task."

It's what it's. My butchering of it is what it is

It's'wh't's
- Would that't'were so simple.
- It''''s

"I am here, I move forward." Might do for you. Say it, take the time to see where you are and what you can do next. Even a small improvement is valid, just make sure you move and don't dwell on things you can't control.

Best of luck.

The way out is through.

Days of thunder?
- I've actually never seen it, but I might just watch it this weekend.

”I can kill myself tomorrow."

Sometimes it means one thing, sometimes another.

It’ll sound cheesy, but “Don’t Go Hollow” is that phrase for me.

In 2019, I was hospitalized for suicidal ideation. When at in-patient, we didn’t get much to express ourselves. Every meal, we ate with plastic utensils and foam plates and cups for safety. I would carve that phrase into the cups, along with a bonfire.

“Don’t Go Hollow” goes back to Dark Souls. It’s a phrase that means something in the game world, but it’s also metaphorical. What’s an avatar without the player? It’s like a body without spirit. You’re not progressing in the game because you checked out. If you want to keep going, you need to be present, to keep trying.

Other ones that come to mind are “This is a moment. It will pass.” which I said in the showers that scared the fuck out of me, and “Fall down 7 times, get up 8.” “Let it rip,” from the Bear is another one I like.

I gatekeep my own misery with perspective.

Knowing that there's billions of people having a far worse moment/day/life keeps me intact. I have nothing to complain about.

This one has never helped me. It just has me wanting to give up so much more, overwhelmed by the pain and suffering of others along with my own.
- This divergent response may have something to do with personality types.

My personal favorite is from Wheel of Time

"Almost dead yesterday, maybe dead tomorrow, but alive gloriously alive today"

Another good one from the same series is "We are always more afraid than we wish to be, but we can always be braver than we expect."

The whole book of Ecclesiastes

"Whatever happens, happens."

Spike Spiegel, Cowboy Bebop.

It is a space anime with characters living quick and dangerous, but due to the way it is written, hand-animated, detailed, and grounded to a heavy extent, this one anime hits different as I age. It is itself targeting an older audience compared other blockbuster animes, but nevertheless it is one that keeps some aspects with you through the rewatches, but can also have substantial new feelings as you gain different life experiences. All of the main characters themselves have some kind of a past that is weighing them down through their current affairs, but their power to go on can be mostly summarized to living a life in limbo all the while trying to cope with it via simple tough-guy acts of trying to be indifferent to it.

It is not a good mantra that can be maintained for long. It is rather something that helps delaying the immediate feelings before the acceptance comes.

This is probably a toxic one I learned from my teachers that time I tried learning Korean:

If it feels like you're drowning it's cause you haven't died yet.

"it's okay, just keep swimming". That's really what i always tell myself.

🎵Just keep swimming, just keep swimming🎶

There is neither happiness nor unhappiness in this world; there is only the comparison of one state with another. Only a man who has felt ultimate despair is capable of feeling ultimate bliss. It is necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.....the sum of all human wisdom will be contained in these two words: Wait and Hope.

Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

Not really a mantra, but I try to remind myself that the only thing that seems to be certain in life is change. If you're in a shitty spot, just wait for the change. Will it be a change for the good or a change for the bad? You can't always predict it, but it WILL change. Often, that means when I'm in a shitty mood or scenario, I wait for the change to happen in a more positive direction.

My dad always said "Always do the right thing", and "the world is what you make of it"

I say "fuck this" or "fuck that" or "fuck it all" or "fuck everything" pretty often. I guess that?

In the future this will be a period of time I'll remember clearly, which makes it valuable. Easy times lead to no substantial memories which is effectively the loss of that time.

Easy times lead to no substantial memories
This seems wrong
- I'm open to discussion, but now that I've existed for a substantial period of time, I've found that my most prevailing memories are the ones hard won (e.g. when I almost had to sleep on the streets or ran out of money in a foreign country or got evicted from my flat). Whereas days sat on my couch watching telly, or in the pub having fun with friends, or another routine day in the gym are all blurred memories with no definition and no real sense of elapsed time.

My mantra is just rama rama rama. Meditation with a mantra helps a lot of you put in the work beforehand.

It sounds like you're talking more about a motivational slogan, though. Mine is, "You don't have to want it, you just have to do it." It helps because it frees me from the tyranny of desire. I don't need to figure out if I'm in the mood. I don't need to trick myself into enjoying it. I can just do the thing and be done with it.

Relatedly, there's a line from a favorite book, "Somebody has to and no one else will" with a similar vibe.

Hakuna matata!

What a wonderful phrase!

"If you're going through hell, keep going" -Winston Churchill

Fate is inescapable to both protagonists as antagonists. Death remains the great equalizer across all layers of society.

I'm not sure how "Your choices don't matter and you'll all die anyway." is supposed to keep people going, but okay.
- YMMV but to me it's a comforting thought that, in the very end, nothing you do actually matters. From the most insignificant pauper to Musk, eventually we all die, rot, fade away and are forgotten.
  That may be sad, but it liberates you in this moment. It does for me somewhat, anyway.
- A lot of us are more worried about making wrong choices than we should be.

"Nothing changes if nothing changes"

Fall down seven times, stand up eight times.

I don't have one, but these replies remind me of some lines from Inglourious Basterds:

"You'll be hanged for this!"

"No, I'll get chewed out. I've been chewed out before."

"Tough times never last, only tough people last. alien translation" youtube

"I'm working on it." when I feel like things are where I want them to be, but they're gradually getting there, it makes it seem okay, since I'm actively working towards a goal. This could be my weightloss, managing my depression, cleaning the house, or going through endless emails. It helps to know that it's fine that it's not perfect or great yet, but I'm working on it.

I made it through 100% of all the bad days, weeks and months in my life so far. I will also make it through the ones that have yet to come.

...and on my more cynical days, this follow-up:

And if, one day, I won't survive a bad day, then it is not my f[%$]ng problem anymore.

I tried to have a more positive mantra, but eventually realized that sheer spite can be a powerful motivator in bad times, even more so than trying to stay "nice" to the rest of the world.

Kant approves.
Anger is a really powerful motivator. I spent years of my life trying to shut down my anger from childhood. I had such a violent temper up to my mid-20s. Now I'm 40 and in a complete "dead-zone". No motivation, no drive.
I've found I get most motivated when one of two things happen - I forget to take my anti-depressant for the day or I try to quit vaping. Both these things cause me to get irritable and both cause me to shift and do something.
P.S. Meth also motivates me but that's not a long-term strategy worth pursuing as I'm trying to remain sober.

From Lord of the Rings: "Not all who wander are lost."

From the Old Kingdom Series: "Does the walker choose the path, or does the path choose the walker?"

I like the idea and message of the first one except that I used to have an absolute asshole of a neighbor who drove a heep-ed out Wrangler with a spare tire cover which had the phrase on it. I can't separate any longer.

When I was young life was pure chaos. It was a constant battle and I often looked for things that would ground me and let my mind rest for a bit. I discovered the Peter Gabriel song Washing of the Water. I really liked how he sang it and so I memorized the words. They are good and when its a very dark time for me, the words are a great way for me to gain a little mental peace.

The whole song is beautiful. The perfect balance of wanting calm in hard times and finding peace in the nature of things https://piped.video/watch?v=Ic4N6rT6Qks

Worse things have happened to better people.

Go through the pain, as it is the way

Once you went through it and the pain is no more, you'll have a whole new range of possible that were masked by the pain beforehand.

Don't die tho

"Fear is the mind-killer" comes to mind here.
- Yes but it's more about letting go through it than fighting it

If you are going through some shit, keep going.

The closest I come is "Calgon, take me away."

Ancient Chinese secret, eh? ;)
- What do you mean?

Don't worry about things you can't change.

Hasa Diga Eebowai

So, does that mean like ‘no worries, forever’?

Ah well, nothing to be done about it, might as well carry on

Seems a little weird to make your life mantra a meme phrase anyways.

Mine is the motto from my high school lacrosse team, of all things. I was 15, an angsty teenager, the team sucked and lost most our games. But our coach was relentlessly positive. The motto was a Latin phrase that roughly translates to "if you're going to do something, commit to it". Basically, no half ass efforts. That stuck with me all the way through until 11 years later when I had it incorporated into a tattoo design.

Whatever intrinsic motivation you pick, it's gotta have a little more meaning to you than being the flavor of the month on the internet, or it will always lose its magic.

I can't go on. I'll go on.

(Samuel Beckett)

swearing like an injured sailor under my breath

Generally just "it'll be over soon"

But not in a super depressivt way, just when I'm super bored or waiting for something or in a tight spot working on an issue I just kinda zone out and imagine myself looking back on this while relaxing.

Hard times are never permanent.

Tomorrow will be better; even if it's just not today.

"If you are going through hell, keep going". Churchill

"It's only a gameshow". Big Brother contestants sang it to themselves on one of the seasons back in the 00s. My colleagues and I did the same during a rough patch at a former company I worked for.

I like it because it's a reminder that things can seem immovably important until you remove yourself from the context of that situation and assess it from the outside.

Amor fati.

Despite all my rage I'm still just a rat in a cage.

shrug shoulders
Eh…

I don’t have the vocabulary for a good mantra like most of you. But a shoulder shrug and a “what are you gonna do about it” kind of noise is enough for me.

I have two:
Way back when I was 16, I worked as a host at a busy restaurant, I would get really stressed when we had a long line at the door (the wait would easily get up to 1 hour on weekends), and I just started repeating, "you can only do what you can do, you can't do any more". As someone who has always really struggled with the need to please everyone all the time, it's really helpful when I'm running busy events (I work as an events manager now) or when anything is approaching FUBAR because of things beyond my control.

On a broader, life-changes perspective, I always loved a quote from The Riches (said by the actor now known as Suzy Eddie Izzard),
"Life's a river kid, you gotta go where it takes you."
Its helped a very risk-adverse me take some huge leaps and I've not regretted any of them.

"I have to get past this, why not now"

Thæs ofereode Thisses swa mæg

That was overcome So may this be.

From Deors lament. A Middle English poem.

Yes Exists. (to the tune of The Chemical Brothers - The Test)

I heard my partner's dad working on some IKEA patio furniture or something in his backyard when he messed something up and yelled, "Nothing's ever easy!" In the moment, it was hilarious. Then it was kind of sad. Then it was true. Many years later that shit still sticks with me. Nothing ever is fucking easy. And any time you feel like you're getting a bit too sure of yourself or when you need to keep in mind everything you've gotten through so far, it's good to remind yourself of that.

May I suggest a reading of the Voltaire book Candide? Phrases like "Everything will be ok" or as the book often suggests "all is for the best" in the "best of all possible worlds" will take on a whole new meaning.
The book is funny most of the time but it has a very sharp cynical edge about life and positive thinking and how it doesn't mean much in the face of most life changing events.

Just keep swimming
Pain is life - trevor cadieu
Be your best you as long as you can; then be a right bastard.

"It's only temporary"

Everything is temporary in the long term

Living in the "self esteem" part of Maslow's pirimid when you are battling basic needs aka allergies, sleep, dehydration, dimentia, etc is a good way to be depressed. Focus on preservation of assets and restoring basic functions.

One I like from Malazan Book of the Fallen: "I am not yet done." The mantra of a man who's duty it was to bear the souls of the fallen for his faith as it crushed him.

Tough titties.

Get back up.

Above all, no matter how many times you get hit, can you get back up? --Gwen Stacy, Into the Spider-Verse

Do what you can.

There's so many problems, so much uncertainty about the future, it can sometimes feel overwhelming and you just shut down. If you have a counter full of dishes, even if you wash one dish you've technically made the situation better. Marginally sure, but still in the right direction. And if that's where you can focus your attention it might provide some momentum to finish all of them. But if not, that's fine too, you still made the situation a little better and sometimes that's the best we can hope for.

Hope you find what you're looking for.

"Right now" is forever. It's always "right now". So, don't let the past weigh you down and don't let the future trip you up. Live in the moment.

From one of Patton Oswald's stand up specials, he shares his late wife's mantra, as a devout atheist: "It's chaos. Be kind." Nothing means anything, nothing happens for a reason, things just happen, they only have the meaning we bring to them, be kind.

"it's not supposed to be easy all the time"

- As much as I hate the rich, I don't think they don't have problems or stress, it's just a different selection of problems and stress.
  They can still have relationship issues, family members die, diarrhea.

Can't stop won't stop.

YOLO

All the roads lead to Rome

Just went to Rome, someone tried to pickpocket me.

"it doesn't really matter" keeps me going

That's a great platinum blonde single.

"Every task before you is a challenge to succeed." It's from "Moment to Moment" by a band called Children 18:3. Great song.

Also from them "All my balloons are popping!"

"it's not the worst thing that's ever happened to me."

And even if it turns out to be, we'll only really know in hindsight.

“The wheel of Fortune turns and turns”

be far-sighted