They say we grow the most when we are faced with change.
Well, very few things change you as much as hitting rock bottom. At some point in life, this planet will hand you some very tough circumstances that will leave you in the deepest trenches for some amount of time, wondering how you will dig yourself out and when you will see the light of day again.
There is nothing left to be desired about hitting rock bottom. Rock bottom usually comes with the feeling of depression.
And when you are depressed everything you try to do carries so much resistance, especially if it is the first time being depressed in your life time.
Everything you do becomes so difficult. It takes so much effort. Making every moment of every single day an absolute nightmare.
No one wants to hit rock bottom but yet it is essential that we all go there from time to time, that is the bottom line. There are lessons that you learn while you are at the bottom that no one else can teach you.
What you do when you arrive there is very important to your future.
You don’t have to remain in the trenches, you always have a choice in how you choose to respond to a rock bottom scenario. You can choose to focus on what you can change. Or what you can’t. What you are grateful for and what you can work towards. Or what you won’t.
The worst thing you can do, though, is decide to stay down there forever. But don’t worry about doing that because I believe no one stays in a dark hole forever.
It took a while for me to piece this together but I found six things that help me each single time I hit rock bottom and maybe they can help you too.
Feel the pain and then Use it
Pain will make you take action.
It is uncomfortable and foreign to our bodies, most people don’t want it in them and they will be moved to act. Pain may just be the motivation that you have always needed to make the necessary changes in your life. So do not ignore it.
Use it, to not let yourself settle for nothing less than what you deserve.
Use your pain to ignite your inner strength and bravery. You can do anything if you want it badly enough. Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, take the negative stuff that’s weighing you down and turn it into motivation.
To leave the depths of rock bottom feel the pain but use it as a source of motivation that will propel you upwards.
Reach out
“You don’t have to be down there alone.”
That stamen doesn’t mean dragging others to the bottom with you but reaching out to them instead. Sometimes, the weight of our problems seems too much to bear alone, so don’t hesitate to reach out to the people who love and care about you.
If you can find even one person that cares for you and can help you out, it will do wonders for you.
Reach out to your close ones and let them help you out. Any push that they can give you will go a long way for you, trust me on this one.
The ones that love and care for you will happily lend you a helping hand a shoulder to cry on if you need it, because they want to see you thriving once again.
Hit Reset
Rock bottom offers you the chance to start all over again without any of the pressure that comes from the expectations of yourself and of other people.
Think of this moment as the perfect time for you to get rid of negative people and start all over again.
It’s a chance for you to come up with a new vision for your life and find a new network of people to tap into. You can create new beliefs, values and principles for which you want to base your life on. You can have a new work ethic if you want to.
Hitting reset every once in a while is actually good for you, so do it every time you hit the bottom and build a strong foundation for your future.
J.K Rowling, author of the Harry Porter sequel, actually once said that:
“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”
You can do the same. Rebuild.
Start learning again
I bet when you were at the top or thought you were at the top, you assumed you knew it all. Chances are that is one of the reasons why you are down there.
Well, welcome to the land where you need some humility in order to leave it. Nothing teaches you that you still have a lot to learn in life than hitting rock bottom.
So take the lessons and be a good student.
Learn from what went wrong. Learn about who you are as a person. Learn about what you want to do. Learn about the people in your life, watch their reactions to your fall. Learn, Learn, Learn.
Learn everything you can and use it to move forward and make progress.
With each hardship you gain a new sense of clarity, and you develop the vision to see your life better than it is right now.
Realize that you have nothing to lose
The realization that you have nothing else to lose should push you to take action on some, if not all, the ideas that you have wanted to bring to life.
“The good thing about being at the bottom is that the only way to go…is up.”
Well that is true. You are at the lowest of the low, you can’t get any further. Rock bottom is as far as it gets which means the only way is up.
Any action you take will either fail or succeed. When you have failed hard and are at your last wits you really don’t have much to lose and any failure that you experience now will just be a learning experience for you, and any win will serve the purpose of lifting you off the ground.
Either way it is now a Win-Win situation for you.
You cannot change past mistakes or regrets; you cannot predict or alter what’s going to happen next. You can only make the most out of this moment, so make it a good one.
Appreciate the good you still have
Maybe what you need to get out of rock bottomville is some gratitude.
This is the best time for you to be grateful for what you still have… That is if you still have anything. Take a look at the people still standing next to you during your failures and realize their true priceless value.
The small things that you still have are things that you can still be grateful for. Your sense of humor that is lifting up your spirits. A roof over your head. An education and the savings that you may still have. The opportunities that are being given to you now.
It could be much worse.
There is always something to be grateful. Find it.
Final thoughts…
Remember that you are ten times stronger than you think you are.
And that there are a lot of creative ways that you can get yourself back to the top of the mountain. The given ways provided above are just a few of them which are meant to help you take that one step that will get you closer to achieving that goal.
Even if you feel buried beneath life’s circumstances and don’t see any way out of the hole you’re in, don’t worry. The universe will always seek to guide you in a direction that will benefit you the most and come out on top.
Thanks for Reading 🙂
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