Up, or uphill?

In a quick text, “nowhere to go but up,” auto-completed to, “nowhere to go but uphill.” It’s a funny shift in meaning.

We often talk about “up” as being a positive condition. Things are looking up. The market is up.

But uphill? That points to struggle. Hardship.

Easy to forget that when things aren’t moving upwards on their own ... we can begin to climb. That uphill is a journey worth taking. That “up” is a condition we can make happen.