Most of us will hit our own rock bottom at some point. Whether it is an illness, death of a loved one, becoming unemployed with zero savings, a divorce, losing your house, a horrible accident that changes your daily life – the possibilities are endless. And what we learn about who we are and all that we are made of begins in our black pit of despair.
These times when we have lost hope or lost everything that brought us a sense security or happiness are not only when we learn the most, we can actually become so much more than who we were before. These experiences help us gain experience and wisdom like nothing else ever could. J.K Rowling has been quoted saying, “Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” These are the definable moments that can change your life for the better.
What can you learn in these moments? Here I will share some of what I have learned through my own descent to rock bottom.
1.) I realized how grateful I felt for everything in my life – even the small innocuous things. Hitting rock bottom changed my perception of everything and everyone around me. I became more compassionate and accepting of people and where they were on their journey.
2.) When you have nothing, you have nothing to lose. So why not embrace the madness of your creativity? Because if not now, when? Rock bottom pushes us out of our comfort zone, so we become more open to all the things we were afraid of doing before.
3.) You discover who your real friends are. When you have nothing to give or you’ve been beaten down and battered, the people who show up for you are your real friends. You will find that people that you expected to be there, weren’t and people who you never thought would be there for you, were, and in a genuine way.
4.) You learn how to really love yourself and that you are here for a reason. You learn your value and appreciate all that you have overcome. And you refuse to lose sight of your self-worth.
5.) You are forced to look at everything that led up to your rock bottom and where you may have contributed to where you are. You develop radical accountability and responsibility for yourself and take complete ownership of your role in what happened, and in your life moving forward.
6.) You realize just how resourceful you are. When things become crazy and your life is in shambles, you literally dig deeper into your soul and are willing to give things everything you’ve got. You think outside the box. And you refuse to give up.
7.) How you respond to what is happening is so much more important than what is actually happening. There are so many things that happen outside of our control. What defines our character is how we deal with it and what we do with the hand we have been given.
8.) Sometimes we have to completely fall apart, so that we can rebuild ourselves into something better. I often think if a butterfly emerging from her little cocoon. Just when she thought her world as she knew it was ending, she became a butterfly. What if everything that is happening right now is what needs to happen to catapult you into a better place?
So now I turn this to you. What have you learned at your rock bottom?
