Best Mantras To Keep You Hanging On When Things Are Shit

[PacificDogwood]

I am supporting a RL friend through some shitty times - no real end in sight

She said the exact same thing I recently saw posted by a battle-experienced, wise MNer :
"Keep putting one foot in front of the other, and keep breathing in and out."

Pace yourself.
Be kind to yourself and look after yourself.
This too shall pass I may have used that one rather a lot in my own head
Que sera, sera.
Let it go.
You cannot change somebody else's behaviour; you can only change your response to it.

I am sure there are many more.

They are all quite trite truisms, but not any less true for all that.

Please add your own - anything at all that kept you hanging on when times were tough and no light at the end of the tunnel was forthcoming.

And I do hope you did come out the other side and don't need your own mantras anymore.

"you did the best that you could with the information that you had at the time."

Oh, god, yes!! Very very true in my life. It kind of leads on to Start from here, which often isn't as obvious as it sounds!

A bit of an obscure one, this, but Sir Ernest Shackleton writing, 'A man must adapt himself to the new mark directly the old one has gone to ground.' This when he was in the Antarctic with 28 men reliant on him and the Endurance had been crushed by ice. What a guy.

I used to think of that comment a lot when my XH decided to divorce me and my old life was disappearing.

Good enough is good enough.

Sometimes, when you fall, you fly

The best revenge is happiness.

While waiting for the storm to pass, learn to dance in the rain.

When you're going through hell, keep going.

"Bad things fall apart so better things can come together."

'It never rains in the pub'

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference
Grant me patience with the changes that take time
Appreciation of all that I have
Tolerance of those with different struggles
And the strength to get up and try again
One day at a time

serenity isn't freedom from the storm, it is the peace within the storm

They can only shout at you, they can't get you pregnant.

Rule 1: Don't sweat the small stuff.
Rule 2: It's all small stuff.

Lesser women than me have done it.

Don't window shop for trouble. (The wisest thing my dad never said. Apparently he said "Let's not buy trouble till we know it's for sale." Clearly I converted it in my head to something more pithy.)

Loving the other contributions. Have noted several down for future reference. :)

In every garden some rain must fall.

I love this one as it reminds me that life can't be beautiful if we haven't experienced difficult times.

Also, everything I've ever been through has helped shape me into a more empathetic person and a better friend.

This is all great :
there's funny ones, serious ones, historical ones from Important People and ones from people's nans and dads - thank you, all

This really has been an inspiration - I'm glad I started it.

"No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should" from my eternal favourite Desiderata

Oh, just remembered one from another MNer who'd had to go through the worst of times as a parent : "Don't borrow trouble from tomorrow" - I had never thought of worrying about things that have not yet happened as 'borrowing from tomorrow'.

Courage for the big troubles. Patience for the small. Be of good cheer. God is awake.

Thank you everyone for all these. I'm in a horrible place right now and this is exactly the sort of thing I need to keep reading. Might even have to print out the whole thread.

Keep repeating "this too, will pass"

Also:

"At the end of the day we are all just a bunch of atoms held together by empty space."

Keep passing the open windows

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

'The Road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions' - when I get things wrong. Probably, because I have a black sense of humour, it cheers me up

Otherwise - Onwards and Upwards..

DH grandma was Austrian from a very poor farming family and had a really tough early life, they were then occupied by the Russians, which sounds like it was terrible and she then ended up coming to rural Bradford pregnant, Unmarried and speaking very little English just after WW2.
She was a lovely lady but took no prisoners - if anyone complained her response would be "nobody died" I suppose it's a version of " where there's life there hope"
If we get down about a situation now we usually say " nobody died" in an over the top Austrian accent, which seems to do the trick.

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.
The second best time is now!

Love this (notorious procrastinator).

The darkest hour is just before the dawn

& Similar to garlic's ..... "Right here is a good place to start"
(so easy to wish we could start somewhere else when times are hard)

A journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step (journey images really help with that "just keep going" thing I think!)

"Oh God our help in ages past, our hope for year's to come, our shelter from the stormy blast and our eternal home"
(even if you're not that religious sometimes religious language cuts it better than more everyday words)

And thankfulness, especially for simple and fundamental things - as on the daily gratitudes thread - has really helped me through difficult times

For example I have a new appreciation for the beauty of wildflowers though I've always been fond of them - might even try and find a weekend course or short holiday to find out more (hope this isn't too much of a thread tangent )

Supporting others such as through supporting a charity also feels helpful

'Its time to whistle for the elephants'

They are of course the wisest of us all in folklore .

My mantra when I know I need support and can't do it alone anymore .

That's a lovely romantic one Bassetfeet - beautiful imagery

Thanks Juggling
I found it in a Sandi Toksvig book of same name .

Ah, Sandi seems a very wise and grounded sort of person, warm and friendly too, and an appriciater of a good story (not of my spelling though I dare say!)

In fact I think she'd might be my anyone in history dinner party guest IYKWIM - but then that's another thread again

Life is a rollercoaster, you just gotta ride it....

"Grief is the price we pay for love"
So very, very true.

"Grief is the price we pay for love"

It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.

Wish I had someone telling me all this a year ago. Now that I am on the otherside, here is one that kept me going-
It is better to have tried and failed than failed to have tried.

You might never get over it, but you can damn well get on with it!