17 positive people share what they do every day to stay inspired and optimistic.

Keeping a positive attitude in tough situations is a true test of strength and patience, and while always seeing the glass half full is often impossible, it's definitely worth practicing...

So, when a Reddit user asked, 'How do you inspire yourself to get up, do your best, and stay positive every day?' people who maintain a sunny outlook on life were ready to share their secrets.

1.

Start each day with an easy and attainable little victory....like 10 pushups, making the bed or reading 5 pages in a book.

Then just take it from there without any self judgements along the way. That and success is spending the day how you want it...not how others want you to. - ADrunkMonk

2.

The trick that has worked for me is taking things a day at a time. This may seem like incredibly obvious advice, but I think actually living this mindset makes a huge difference.

When I wake up on a Monday, it can be tempting to grouch about all that I have to get accomplished during that week, and the entire list can seem quite daunting. However, I realized that all I had to focus on, all I could focus on, was what I had to get finished THAT day.

Whether it was sending that month-overdue email or finally going for a run, all I had to worry about were the things I was doing that day. Rinse, wash, repeat for each day.

By the end of the week, you've accomplished so much more than you would have otherwise, and have largely avoided the mounds of stress that accompany a week full of sh$t to get done. All because you took it in small, digestible steps. - corneliusthedog

3.

I try my hardest every day because at the end of it all I can at least say that I tried. - srushmore

4.

Get up? Money. Do my best? Do well enough not to get fired. Stay positive? 7 hours left until I'm back at home with my love. - NinjaWolfess

5.

I have a purpose. My life has meaning. Each day is a chance to help someone else - SilentlyCrying

6.

'Do it for them.' I have a wife, two dogs (one of which is a puppy), and a baby on the way that depend on me. It directly affects them should I decide not to get up and kill it every day. Knowing this is my motivation. 'Do it for them.' - Ghstfce

7.

I don't stay positive, I stay realistic. I realize that I'm fighting a losing battle with life (serious health problems), but I'll be damned before I stop trying to make a difference in the world. I have memory problems and I forget pretty much everything; I want the world to remember me - even if it's just the people who's lives I directly impacted. - Mr_Forgetful

8.

I don't. I allow myself to be sad and frustrated when I need to. If I am having a good week I make sure not to put too much pressure on myself even though I am full of energy. - mer_gjukhe

9.

After teaching for 14 years, you realize the difference you create on your students. Though I Coach and teach PE (har har yes I teach PE), I still have more students come back to talk and see me than any other teacher in the school. They come to tell me what an impact I created in their life and how they are doing and how college is going.

After seeing how our world is changing, I can see we really need better educated leaders with stronger integrity and a real sense of ethics.

Every day is a challenge to impact a student and hopefully set them on the right path of trying to create a better world. We don't need people that just mindlessly drift along.

We need people who really want to make a difference and change things for the better. I feel if I can do that every day, and inspire those students to really better themselves, I've done my part.

Far too many teachers don't care about how their students are doing or what those kids are going to create when they grow up. Even as a PE coach, I talk to my students about how they need to apply good sportsmanship and getting over obstacles in life, just like playing on a team.

I talk to my players one on one every day about how their life is going, I take pride that they are willing to open up to me with their troubles and they know that I would do anything to help them out and show them a better path to take.

Anyways, enough rambling. Honestly, I'm just trying to make the world better one kid at a time. So hopefully, when my son is my age, he isn't living in a horrible place. - Maavrick

10.

“Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I'm not going to make it, but you laugh inside — remembering all the times you've felt that way.” - Charles Bukowski - Volcanogurl

11.

It's usually during my commute to work, which is about 45 minutes, and I play real upbeat music and just wake myself up through that. If that doesn't work, I listen to funny podcasts. - [deleted]

12.

I have students whose parents are going through a miserable divorce. They tell me what daily life is like for them, and ask for advice and inspiration on how to live through it. As I work with them on this - accenting what's good in life - it also helps me to stay positive and to look at flowers instead of staring at weeds. - Back2Bach

13.

What inspires me to get up, do my best, and stay positive every day is my unwavering desire to break the chain of dysfunctional patterns, negative behaviors, and lack of personal growth passed through generations of my family.

I came from a stressful, destructive, and dysfunctional home, but I am able to end the chain of detrimental family influences in my own life, as well as the lives of my future children.

Statistically speaking, I should be living a life of addiction, abuse, violence, mental illness, unstable relationships, poverty, and crime. I refuse to be a statistic. - Sidow

14.

It doesn't always work, but it gets me through tough days: I personify my negative / depressing feelings and spend the day making decisions to spite him.

Despite consistent efforts to ruin my moods or make me feel small & lousy, I feel like he's slowly realizing that I'm a persistent sunnovab%tch, and he's not going to keep me down. Little weird but it works for me. -jeo77

15.

Good food and drink always tastes better after a hard day's work. - unhealthypickle

16.

Music. It gets me going in the morning and keeps me going throughout the day. Feeling bored with things or lethargic in general? Discover some new music! It keeps me inspired and pushing forward. - Berry_McCockiner

17.

I try to have something every day that I can look forward to. If nothing is happening that day, I make something. I'll rewatch a favorite movie. I'll get a donut on the way to work. People aren't going to make my day happy, I have to do it myself. - SwordOfTheLlama