Upbeat: adjective, to maintain good cheer—despite circumstances.
How to stay upbeat when life implodes?
Start by looking back.
Since 1950, upbeat has been used as an adjective, meaning lighthearted. Buoyant. Exuberant.
First used in 1869, however, the word upbeat was a noun, a synonym for anacrucis.
Originally, anacrucis—or upbeat—signified a musical pickup, or lead-in: the note(s) preceding a song’s downbeat. This definition still applies. Think of the happy in “Happy Birthday ” or the I in my song “I Love You, Lord.”
Anacrucis also refers to the initial, unstressed syllables before a poem’s meter kicks in.
Unstressed? Now that gets my attention.