Keep Living

The place between positivity and acceptance

Keep Living.

It popped into my head while I was having my cancer treatment back in 2021, and over the years it’s become the mantra I fall back on. Not just when things are bad, but when things are great, when I’m making decisions about whether to DO THE THING, or stay home and sleep.

Keep Living.

It’s no “Live every day like it’s your last” or “Live, Laugh, Love” or “Live your best Life”, but that’s why I like it.

Keep Living reminds me that when things seem dark and bleak, I only have to stay alive. Keep living means it’s ok to just exist today. I don’t have to change the world, book a holiday, or even wash my hair; I just have to keep living.

When I’m looking for courage, I want to book the trip, wear the shorts or try something new. Then Keep Living reminds me that there’s more out there if I look for it. To step outside my comfort zone and keep living.

When I’m doing something totally awesome, having a great time and living my best life, then I remember how lucky I am that I get to keep living, and how it could have been very, very different.

Keep Living is not toxic positivity. It’s not an affirmation that demands you look for a better life; it reminds you of the one that you already have, if only you keep living it. We don’t need another slogan to remind ourselves that if only we tried harder, were more positive, more grateful, our lives would be better. It’s exhausting.

Sometimes LIFE is exhausting.

Keep Living doesn’t ask anything of you, apart from what you’re ready to give. It doesn’t tell you that whatever you’re feeling is your fault and can be fixed by just being better. It simply reminds you to be. To rest in this moment. That not everything can be fixed, or hustled out of; sometimes just existing is enough.

It knows you’re already doing your best, while also reminding you that your best can change. That this isn’t forever.

Maybe that's why I've held onto it for five years. It doesn’t make me feel like I’m failing to make the most of life. It's just there to remind me that whatever today looks like, tomorrow only exists if I keep living.

The good days only have a chance to come along if you keep living.

Maybe it’s lazy as affirmations go. Maybe we should all be grabbing life by the balls, or maxxing our experiences.

But if you’ve ever felt excluded, or exhausted by the kind of person that inspirational posters ask you to be, then Keep Living is here for you. Quietly working behind the scenes to remind you that sometimes standing still is just as good as moving forward, and how lucky we are to have this boring Tuesday afternoon. When you’re ready to move again.

Keep Living.