What is rock bottom exactly? Is it when you have lost a few friends along the way? Is it when you have lost a super important game? Or is it when you have completely let yourself go from being the person you were building yourself up to be?
Everyone has their own rock bottom feeling. It comes and goes in waves for however long you allow it. Some have stated they have been at rock bottom when they have lost everything — home, car, job, friends, family, etc. Others have stated they have been at rock bottom when they realized that their life was not the way they intended it to be.
While some have been able to escape out of the hole they happened to dig themselves into, others have not been able to quite just yet or not at all. In every case, there is always a self-blame to hitting rock bottom. There are all these "what ifs...I could've done this instead of this...why did I let myself get this way?" and questions that simply just can't be explained.
Life throws plenty of curve balls that can either be avoided, directed or struck at any given moment. In many cases of rock bottom, there is an event that gets triggered in some type of loss whether it's losing a job, losing someone you considered family, losing a loved one, or even losing faith.
My point is, everyone hits rock bottom at some point of their life even if they don't realize it. I most certainly have this past year. I've lost many friends, I've lost an opportunity to doing something worthwhile by being completely stupid thinking that things would go my way. And I have lost faith in myself, others and what I used to believe in. I've also experienced feeling at rock bottom losing my brother, who I will never admit or accept that he is gone.
So what's next you say? There is one simple answer: KEEP GOING.
Most of us realize the phrase "things happen for a reason" can be skeptical. In everything that happens in a loss, that phrase seems to be overplayed. No matter how hard we try to deny it, the truth is that things do happen for a reason even when we have lost all reason to have faith and hope. It may not be great at first because of the pain we are dealing with, but what you can do with it means even more when it comes to moving forward.
If none of this helps you, then I leave you with this from one of my favorite television shows Chicago Fire:
"I want to talk with you today about a subject that touches every one of us: loss. Sometimes we are faced with things we think we just can't handle. The death of a loved one, a father, a child, and we strive to find the reason behind it all and when those reasons don't make sense, we question God. We look up and we say, 'God, how could you do this to us? How can you put so much on our plate?' We're not operating on God's timetable, are we? We don't understand God's plan. How can we? Let me tell you, this is where faith comes in. Faith can help us see His message in our own lives. Perhaps this loss is there to teach us not to take the ones we love for granted, to cherish the simple, mundane moments, to love others as firecely and as bravely and as compassionately as we can. And in that love, human love, forgiving, relentless, unconditional love, you'll find peace."
Just have a little faith in yourself and others. Forgive yourself, forgive others, forgive who you are blaming, and the rest will soon begin to follow. Find peace.
