I finally stopped digging once I got to rock bottom.
As my symptoms started getting worse, I was making changes, but I guess not the proper ones. And I was going slowly downhill until I just started getting worse and worse.
Until one day, something felt like it snapped. The level of fatigue was so much more intense than before, the medications seemed like they’d stopped working, and I was having all kinds of new symptoms.
Emotionally, I hit a low at that point, too. I just wanted to curl up and disappear from the world.
Only now do I realize that this was the beginning of my getting better.
Over the past few months, I’ve seen a lot of clients hitting their personal rock bottoms as well. And it’s been fascinating to see what positive growth they’ve experienced after they stopped digging deeper.
By our next session together, they’ve usually made huge positive strides. Of course, when we’re hitting rock bottom, it seems terrible (because it is), but only by looking back can we learn the important lessons:
1. You learn that you’re able to try new things.
When you hit rock bottom, you probably realized that nothing you were trying was working. Or at least not in the way you were doing it. This is a perfect opportunity to switch everything up, to try new things, and to do things differently. This is how you create space for new things. You have a blank slate that you can fill with things that make sense for you.
2. You learn to become aware of your patterns.
You might be falling into a pattern and replaying it over and over in your life. Or even a certain cycle of activity and flare-up from pushing yourself too much. This period of quiet and forced introspection makes you realize some things about these patterns. And with these realizations, you gain new insight and can rebuild again with a strong foundation based on this new sense of clarity.
3. You learn about your ego
Ego might make you overestimate your own abilities and worth. This makes you lose touch with reality. Hitting rock bottom humbles you. You realize that you, actually, know very little. The delusion that has you believe that you know more than you do harms you. So, it’s powerful when your ego loosens its grip, and you’re better attuned to your inner voice. You become open to new ideas and perspectives and trying new things.
If you’re at your rock bottom right now, this post might reassure or frustrate you. It’s only after the period of introspection that you’ll be grateful for all of the pearls of wisdom that you’ve gained. As usual, hindsight is 20/20.
What have your dark moments taught you?
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