The Why of Keep Going

Beatrix reflects on feeling unmoored as she gets older without a spouse, children, or living parents, and asks what her “why" is for making decisions and simply getting by. She revisits Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, quoting “he who has a why to live can bear almost any how,” and considers Frankl's shifting sources of purpose in Auschwitz—his manuscript, hope of seeing his wife, professional responsibility, and the idea of meaning in suffering—while acknowledging everyday forms of loss and stress. She connects this to her struggle to consistently record her biweekly podcast, framing it as her own “manuscript” and a potential path toward transformation and purpose. She also discusses Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own (1929) and women's historical lack of property and independence, expressing gratitude for her freedom and ending with a list of simple things she appreciates.