How To Start From Rock Bottom
Whilst you’re in a storm it can feel like it’s never going to end; resist the self-pity trap and lift yourself up!
Life is suffering.
Once you truly understand this life will make a lot more sense. Whilst fun can be had, love is experienced, we learn, we grow and feel and experience a plethora of emotions, the overarching theme and consistent, reoccurring characteristic of life is that every single human being walking God’s earth is here to suffer.
Naturally, you ask why…
That will be answered another time. For now, let’s focus on how to navigate whilst you’re dealing with a storm, major setback or just a consistent feeling of unhappiness, lack of purpose or lack of clear vision.
Set Goals
Prooper goal setting provides clarity, purpose, vision and aim. Meandering meaninglessly through life will compound and before you know it you’ve wasted some 3 years doing a lot of nothing.
Goals help us to focus our mind, our thoughts, our bodies, spirits and souls in a meaningful, productive and actionable way; set goals!
SMART goals help make goals realistic and endow them with meaning and tangibility, so ensure you make them Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant and Time-boxed.
Take Action(s)
A lack of action will open you up to the dangerous trap of self-pity. Self-pity is a cancer that must be destroyed at all costs.
Feeling sorry for one’s self is ugly, pointless and exacerbates the situation; simply ignore calls to feel sorry for the self.
This isn’t to say you shouldn’t mourn the death of a loved one, or take time to reflect ones’s past mistakes with the view of preventing the same mistakes again, nor contemplate your actions in a more reflective and purpose driven way.
But there’s a point where talking must stop and action must be taken. You’ll make mistakes along the way, you’ll mess up, but it beats wallowing in self-pity and inaction.
Don’t be too hard on yourself if you mess up, at least you’re making an effort and that’s better than nothing.
Look After Yourself
Healthy eating habits, exercise and ingesting positive stimuli are crucial when you’re down.
Avoid junk foods, processed sugars, meaningless content online and surround yourself with healthy and positive stimuli that encourages and motivates you to taking positive action(s).
The only way out is through and you must go through the storm in order to get through it. Life throws many curve balls, most of which we have no control over, so it’s how we deal with them that counts.
Looking after yourself doens’t just mean eating well and watching and consuming great content, but reaching out to your friends when you need help, speaking up and sharing your feelings and seeking the presence of God when you truly need help are forms of self-care that will most likely be required when you’re going through the “mud” as it were.
Seek The Presence of God
As a Christian Jesus Christ is my personal Lord and Saviour, so I pray and read the Word regualrly.
I couldn’t advocate for any other spirtiual system as I came to Christ properly last year and spiritually, having practised just about all the alternative spiritual systems (transcedntial mediation, breathing exercises, “raising my consciousness level” etc.,) I can say from experience that nothing comes close to repentance for my personal sins and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.
When you come to Christ, your problems don’t disappear, but you have real support that is truly there in your life and I know this from personal experience. Salvation is free and God would welcome you if you’re willing to be humble and accept that you’ve broken his laws — something we’ve all done as humans.
The truth is, there are ways round feeling like you’re at rock bottom, but without a real and tangible relationship with God these issues will just keep coming back. You can pave over them with money or carnal pleasures, but that true peace of heart will evade you with a real relationship with God.
