k: fighting spirit 
k: giving in, giving up
Etymology: The origin of this symbol and spectrum
K was originally always up, a letter that encouraged me to keep on struggling, to keep on doing my best. To never give up. But… you get tired. You discover that you can not fight every battle—that sometimes the best thing to do is to surrender, to just give up. This can be a temporary retreat and retrenchment, or it can be closing off one area to provide the energy and resources you need to pursue something that you see as more worthwhile.
Orthography: How to remember these symbols
When you want to be up and encourage people to keep on going for it, draw this arrow pointing up.
When you want to retreat or take your forces elsewhere, draw this arrow pointing down.
Philosophy: How I use these symbols to embrace life
Sometimes I combine these two to show both the struggle and the desire to just surrender. For life is a series of compromises, of deciding where to work on things and when to let things slide.
If I want to work on a problem, I will just retrace the up arrows while asking myself: ok, what do I want to do here? How do I want to keep on fighting this good fight.
If I want to give up, I trace the down arrows while thinking about why I want to give up and making sure (or as sure as I can) that I have good reasons for surrendering the fight.