You just get by, the reason many people buy into religion is because it sells them hope..but that doesn't make it any more true

I don't believe in any organized religion, I'm not sure what I believe in. I guess I believe in people and kindness and how great life can be and this along with the people I love in my life gets me through hard times

I rely on myself.

Accept that I can't stop the hard times from happening and keep moving forward with my chin up.I believe in myself.

I personally just wait it out. I believe in the healing abilities of time. When I "wish" for better things to happen in my life (meaning that I hope), I rationally take steps to accomplish my specific goal (whether it's six pack abs, a girl I had my eye on for some time, or a fancy car), I view at my possibilities and move towards my "wish" lol. Your question really helped out the theory that some people believe that religion is a crutch for life. It implies that religion is there to get you through "hard times" or when you "wish for better things to happen in your life". I personally think that there may be some truth in there, but to me, religion is mostly tradition and history more than belief in some kind of a diety itself. Just my 2 cents

You can still wish for better times but you just realize that for better times to happen you may need to do something to make it happen. I don't need a God to make things better for me. My friends and family do things to make my life better. I do things to make my life better. I do things to make others lives better. I help other people (including strangeres) because it is a good thing to do and it makes me feel good. I think it takes good people to make things good. I could reverse the question and ask how you can believe in religion when times are hard? If there really was an all powerful God how could he let things get so hard?

Are you saying hoping for good things is bad? I bet some of you say please I hope this goes good.

I accept that I have to get off my backside and make it happen!

I don't know...I must be lucky!

Things are hard so God can see how we overcome these obsticles and then we can live in paradise. If we know he is real then everyone would believe but what good is that to see to believe. Knowone knows where we go when we die or how anything came about but it is nice to believe in a religion where it teaches values and morals and how to be a good person. What is wrong with that?

i dont know you just have to get through everything on your own accord i just try to remember things i enjoy like science, knowledge, books, tv/game consoles and porn and if i am alone i would do anyone of those things

I just go by instinct and go with the flow and live my life in happiness.

well I batten down the finacial hatches, and when it's tough and save and plan for better things to come my way by planning for them working towards that goal .. ~Nemo~

On myself and those who have been proven to be reliable- my wife. I don't wish for better things, I work on making them happen.

Beer!

That's why God invented alcohol.

I get through hard times by accepting that hard times come and hard times go. I wish for better things by throwing a penny in a wishing well.

Non-religious people get through hard times by strength of will. They don't need special beliefs to lift them up and push them forward, because they can do it themselves.

(Cut and pasted from http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/6558914, without a shred of guilt!) I think it's useful to consider the unspoken assumptions in such a question: in particular, the vague general presumption that one requires "sustaining"... that life is such a difficult ordeal by default that only a savior or deity could possibly provide sufficient support to assist us poor struggling victims in our journey to the end of it. Isn't that really the church's primary product? The belief that you are in bad shape and need help? That poor little you cannot hope to cope without the church's solution? It's never a surprise to me to listen to preachers go on and on about how terrible and painful life is -- that's their job. Just as in any sales organization, one must "sell the problem, then sell the solution". You have to get the "customer" to believe they need your thing before you can get them to reach for the Mastercard. It's a technique as old as the hills. But, is it true? Do I indeed need the product the church is selling? Well, certainly there have been hard times in my life, no question about that. But when I look back, what I see is that those were also the times when I learned most of what I really needed to understand: compassion for others, knowing where my boundaries are, the importance of perseverance, how to function well in the face of pain and suffering, and when to recognize that a problem isn't really mine to solve. And here I am. Stronger by far than I was when I was 20, much wiser and more capable. Will my life ever be free of problems? No, I'm not counting on that at all. Will I suffer more in the future? Almost surely. But, overall, do I trust myself to take a look at each situation, dust off my hands, and take it on as needed? Yes, I do. And the confidence that comes from having done that sort of thing many times is something I would not trade for a hundred "saviors". But to return to this bit about the underlying presumption the preacher is selling -- that I am broken, that life is broken, that without salvation by an external agent, wholeness cannot be achieved... what about that? To me, it's simply a lie. I am not broken, life is not broken. All problems and troubles are specific and limited, they do not reach out and soak all of humanity and the whole universe. The universe and life as a whole are complete and whole as they are, and do not require repair. People come and go, problems come and go, but life keeps on growing and changing and sprouting ever-more-vibrant forms, with no sign of needing salvation.

I don't need to believe in myths to struggle through. I find strength and purpose in my mere existence and find enough value in the miracle of my own life as well as all of nature and find comfort in the rhythms and small wonders of our world. This life with all its splendor and squalor is enough for me to lead a happy, full, reality based life.

http://www.everypoet.com/archive/poetry/Rudyard_Kipling/kipling_if.htm Try reading this. It's not so hard. And BTW Hasn'tBeen's answer is excellent and very true.

It begins with the practice of non-attachment according to the Zen way (or Vairagya in the Natha tradition). This leads to a mental state of serenity, where hard times are few, and the need to wish for better things even fewer. You simply accept what you can live with, and change what you cannot, yet waste no effort or striving on inconsequentials. There is no need to pray or beg some god/goddess to grant wishes. All that really needs to be changed is within your power to change...the rest must be endured, for very rarely do gods/goddesses grant wishes.

Faithless people lean on their own understanding. They are trapped by their successes or failures.