When ‘Rock Bottom’ Spins into the Catalyst for Change

Hitting rock bottom is like a wake-up call in a person’s life when everything is spiralling out of control, and finally one day the inevitable happens.

It’s when tragedy, loss, and failure are a constant state of existence, which slowly extinguishes all hope in a person’s soul. Like a candle burning in a dark place, their heart finally gives in to the atmosphere of sorrow. Broken beyond recognition, their lives are changed forever.

Why is it, that some people don’t’ bounce back from tragedy, while others can use it as a springboard to rebuild their lives?  If your heart is breaking today, imagine your best friend who whispers, “Let’s go for a walk and see if we can change the scenery.”

The Scenery
1. My People – We all need friends, a tribe where we can seek comfort and support.  These wise ones will be patient with us, as we mend and heal and decide what to do.  It starts with time, and after a while, we give ourselves permission to think about rebuilding our life.

2. My Seasons – Walking through this dark valley, would for me, be Autumn, the season of shedding.  A time of letting go and deciding what we want to take with us into the next season – Winter, the quiet season, where there is self-reflection, and floods of tears.  And then, Spring arrives, the season of hope, where the tiniest flower desires to blooms.

3. My life – What does it look like?  Who am I?  What do I want to do? Asking questions is a sign of healing like feeling emotionally numb and new thoughts peeking through like the early morning sunlight.   If we are asking questions, we are seeking hope of a new kind of normal, something that we may never have considered ever doing before, but here, at this lowly place, for me, the possibility of what I’m thinking maybe scary,  but what have I got to lose.  I want to live.

4. My Story – And, the answers may surprise you.  Just like it did with J.K. Rowling.  Out of the heartache of immense pain, deep depression, and profound loneliness, J.K. Rowling found life.  In that severe dark existence, as she believed the answers in her heart and grabbed them like a life jacket, she poured out the story from her imagination and told it like no other.

Hitting rock bottom can for some, be a catalyst for change where we will be honest about our pain, cry out for hope and take hold of the risks that enter into our hearts that will light up our lives.

1. Image JK Rowling – http://www.confusedsandals.com/7-unputdownable-female-authors-of-all-time/