What keeps you going?

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Am curious, trying to find these things in my own life. What keeps you going day to day? What motivates you? And I'm sorry, but please no "it beats the alternative" answers. Pretty please?? It sounds good, and if it's what works for you right now that's great, but someday you have to come up with something or it's just an empty cliche. Seriously, I'm having trouble finding this in my own life right now and am wondering what kind of answers other people have come up with.

atp

for me, it's revenge. If i didnt know how much my greedy, selfish family would regret neglecting me if i had more money than them, i honestly dont think i would have any hesitation to blow my brains out. It would practically happen on its own.

Sometimes I'm a human doing and other times I'm a human being.
Life is interesting. I don't know how long it would take me to know
everything if I live forever... maybe it would take forever but that
is so long it doesn't matter how quickly I learn it. Life is colorful
and musical and full of stuff to do and play with and see and make.
Every day I eventually get tired and have dreams. When I get bored
I try to find more interesting things. Things don't have to cost
a lot of money to be interesting.

If you don't like life anymore its called being depressed and
the doctor gives you medicines for that (but it seems that
not every one works on someone so it might take a few tries).
There's a depression forum on the web somewhere. I don't
know what its called but someone mentioned it recently.

Interests, amusements, possibilities. A kind of morbid curiosity about the future.

My main long-term motivation is this compulsion of mine to acquire, categorize, analyze, and disseminate knowledge on a variety of subjects. So, whatever job I get is going to involve either gathering, analyzing/interpreting, or imparting information to others - so probably a job in education or research.

In the short-term, on a day-to-day basis, what motivates me most is the pleasure of learning. I just enjoy it more than anything else, and that's why I get up in the morning.

Interpersonally, on a moment-to-moment basis, what motivates me is laughter - the good-natured sort, not the kind that's gotten at someone else's expense - and getting people to smile. I've found that I'm particularly good at this, owing to the fact that I have such a different perspective on things than do most of the people I know. I tend to be a little childlike in many respects - which is often an annoyance - so I'm guessing that is partially why it's easier for me to get people to enjoy themselves.

Mainly, I just do what makes me happy, and avoid what makes me unhappy. Logic does enter in at some point, telling me that some things that make me unhappy still have to be done, and that I can't do pursue everything that makes me happy, but on a most fundamental, instinctual level, that's my motivation.

Hope that helps in some way.

curiosity
simple pleasures

I had to learn a few things about changing my perspective

^ Yeah what she (Aimless, in case I've typed too slowly) said.

My circumstances are pretty lucky. I don't have much money, and never will, but I'm housed, fed, clothed, and have internet access. I don't need much, and even anticipating the next good SciFi movie next year is enough reason to stick around a while longer. Researching my various "projects," and other simple things. But I had to let go of certain visions of the future, and accept than I'm not going to have a "normal" life.

In all honesty I must admit to not being overly motivated lately, so this is a bit hypocritical. But it does seem that the more I accept the reality I have (as opposed to the one I'm supposed to want) the less despairing I feel about life.

My friends, my dog, my family, going to work, children's movies - such as Mary Poppins and Flushed Away, YouTube, WrongPlanet and saving the best for last, The Kinks.

That tomorrow is another day, so that if today doesn't go well, I get another shot at things tomorrow. That the ability to preservere (sp,sorry!) is an innate talent of mine. That I bounce - I learn from my mistakes (which are only truly mistakes if I haven't thought them through and if I do NOT learn from them). That there are things I want to see and do at some point in my life, and that as time goes on I've been able to see and do some of them. That I can set a goal - be it to, say, see Yellowstone National Park in winter as is my next big "I want" - and then figure out how to do that, and to finally get there.

When one is younger there is SO much to choose from that it's easy to end up sort of just stuck in neutral, with no direction and no idea what to do, where to go. Hard as it is, you just have to strike out and pick something to reach for - even if it's just something others might thing silly - and then just go for it. The more you reach and attain, the more comfortable you will be with doing it and you'll find that things will present themselves to you to go for.

Best of luck!

Music & chemicals mostly

Daniel, I suggest you get a pet. You can not begin to imagine how rats brighten my day.
May you find your motivation

Exercise and hobbies.

Day by day, I struggle to stay awake
Life is demanding and condescending
Sometimes it gets too much to handle
But at the end it all pays off
The sun comes out and shines my way
Things can get hard, but it's all solved by the end of the day

You have to push through and not give up. That's how you truly become stronger.
The feeling of improvement, not momentary pleasure, is one of the biggest joys of life.

Waiting for the day I will fall in love.

I think I'm sustained somewhat by my interest in the world I live in. There were a few years in my life when I was very close to giving up, but these days my horizons are much broader, and I can't imagine throwing away all the things there are to see and experience in the world. There are too many places to visit and things to learn.

Although I can't take credit for getting this far on my own, I'm currently living independently 4000 miles away from the country I grew up in. Moving that far kind of puts into perspective how tiny the city that currently contains my life and its burdens is, and I think that perspective helps me realise that my problems aren't as all-consuming as they felt when I was younger. Life is nowhere near ideal, but I never thought I had it in me to get this far. Maybe I'll exceed expectations again in the future.

Like the previous poster, I also live in hope of finding love, although I try not to let myself become too dependent on that hope.