Fan Works / Living Is More Than Surviving

Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls: Thorax believes in this, and a big part of his motivation is to somehow change Hueco Mundo into something more than a barren Death World operating on "kill or be killed" logic, where Hollows have to fight against everyone, including each other, just to eke out another day of existence.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Case 5: Turnabout Substitution: The philosophy of the Mysterious Bust Killer, also known as Rhea Wits is a twisted take on this trope. They killed twelve people for the crime of not "living life to its fullest." Because their victims showed fear when confronted with imminent death, the killer saw them as "not really living." According to them, the only ones who experienced life to its fullest potential were people like thrill-seekers and terrorists who lived without fear of dying. Apollo counters, however, that it's the connections formed with other people that give meaning to our lives, rather than just not being scared of death.

It's All About Respect: In Sandi's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Daria, she points out that even though Daria is smarter than the rest of the student body, all she does is hole herself up with books, make fun of people she thinks are stupid (i.e. practically everybody), and use her cynicism as an excuse to be a miserable, apathetic killjoy while everyone else is out having fun and living their lives.

Discussed in World of the Dead. As Saya points out, they need a long-term goal beyond just wandering aimlessly, or the group will eventually implode and fall apart.

Pony POV Series: When Twilight meets Fauna Luster, the source of all mortal souls, she is given the opportunity to ask questions about the nature of life. She asks why Fauna Luster lets them out of her to experience life, when being alive comes with the inevitability of suffering. Fauna Luster asks if ponies would be happy with being kept alive by IV drips and having live wires hooked into their brains' pleasure centers. Twilight answers that they wouldn't, because that's life, but not living.

OrangeLemon's Sannin Swap: After Chouji asserts the importance of making the world a better place, pushing back against the flaws that drove Naruto and Sasuke away from Konoha because it's important to help people grow and be healthy, Shino agrees with him, citing this:
Shino: We can make "shinobi" mean something more than "endure".
What You Knead: Kakashi spent most of his life striving to be the 'model shinobi', throwing himself into that after his father's death, and doubling down further as the losses piled up. After discovering an unexpected love of baking, however, he develops a new perspective, and decides to retire from active service. When the Sandaime questions this decision, Kakashi explains that he'd like to learn how to be a person before it's too late.

Evangelion 303: A while after meeting Shinji, Asuka finds out that he thinks his life is empty and he's satisfied with merely existing. Quickly she tells him that mindset is stupid, and the minute you stop trying to live -as opposite to survive- you're no longer human.

Both Mami and Homura had fallen into the pit of 'not living but surviving' before the start of The Soulmate Timeline, with Mami having lost her connections to other people, many of her hobbies and interests, and her connection to her maternal family in Italy and Homura having basically shed everything about herself unrelated to trying to save Madoka from dying and kill Walpurgisnacht. Gaining Soulmates in the form of each other and Madoka led to the revival of the two of them legitimately living again by giving them not only more people to care for, but people who care about them.

Aurora Falls: This is Selkirk's philosophy of life. Having expended much effort to secure the physical necessities of food and shelter, he immediately starts working on building newer and more comfortable quarters and acquiring the resources for some luxury items until his living arrangements resemble an upscale vacation home. And why not?

In Nukume Dori Consequences, it's a recurring theme. Surviving means going through life avoiding dangerous things that can actually improve life, out of fear of being hurt in the process. Subaru is kept safe from the Sakurazukamori by his grandmother, but he's completely isolated and detached from the world and has become a mere shadow that just exist. Seishirou on the other hand was so terrified of the idea of falling in love to then being killed that he stubbornly denied his feelings for a long time, and was only able to turn around thanks to the memories of a past life where he admitted to himself he loved Subaru at the last moment before the end of the world, when he had nothing left to lose.

Living Is More Than Surviving / Fan Works