Most people in life are going through the motions to "Survive" when they can make the choice to "Thrive".
Survive
To survive is "to remain or continue in existence or use".
When you survive, you are doing the bare minimum needed to continue.
Here is how I look at surviving:
It is like when you are in deep water and all you can do is keep your head above water but can not swim to shore and get out of the deep water. So you exist but it is not in a comfortable state of being and always struggling to stay a float.
When we are surviving, we do what we can just to get by.
Thrive
To thrive is "to prosper" or "to grow or develop vigorously".
When we are thriving, we do more than we can just to get by and it takes us a bit further than we had been previously.
Proactive vs Reactive
One of the big differences I see between Thrivers and Survivors is that the Thrivers do not take just getting by as their final destination. They are proactive while survivors are reactive to the things that come their way. The thrivers have a hidden drive that makes them want to do more than just get by so they start taking actions and create plans to help them grow and develop more vigorously.
Thrivers do not blame others when things do not go their way. They look at the situation and consider all of the options and try something different the next time so that they get a better result than "just getting by". They want to grow and be better than they were before.
Present Focused vs Future Focused
There is also a big difference in where Thrivers and Survivors expend most of their energy. the Thrivers are more future focused than the survivors which are just focused on the present.
Survivors spend most of their thoughts on what is happening to them at that moment or today with not much thought about what will happen tomorrow.
Thrivers on the otherhand deal with the today but spend a lot of their energy to create a better tomorrow for themselves and those around them.
Which are you?
A Surviver?
Or...
A Thriver?