Maybe, sometimes it might be good to hit rock bottom. The full range of human emotional experience exists, possibly to teach us how to stay in the middle. How to not to get too down on yourself or too full of yourself. We have all hopefully experienced more highs than lows, but how far down is rock bottom? It has to be throwing in the towel, ceasing to believe in yourself and that you don’t deserve to win. It seems like the easy path to throw in the towel and take a load off when things get too hard. But it is only easy for an instant and immediately after comes regret and suffering for it. Even if it’s just for a few days of bruised ego, we should avoid this at all costs to prevent it from becoming habitual.
It is no doubt, easier to win in the face of no challenge and from that point, you have two options. You have to practice and train to the point where no one can present you with anything that resembles a challenge or you have to build the resolve to fight for yourself regardless of the situation. Ideally you would be both, well trained and hardened in the face of any challenge. But where do the negative thoughts come from once faced with challenge and how do we close that door? Perhaps we need a list of things to keep in mind in order to stay in the middle and avoid hitting rock bottom again. Maybe having this list memorized and checking them off one by one, keeps the stress at bay by occupying the mind and closing the loop so to speak.
So we can say this then, that the first item that should be on anybody’s list of the most important things to remember, is not giving up on yourself. We already know this, but perhaps when stress is higher than usual we might forget.
To live a life well or pursue a goal, we must first and foremost never give up on ourselves and make sure that is the first thing we tell ourselves when faced with challenge.
Say to yourself “I got this” or “Here I go”. The word “I” that addresses the self seems to have enormous power and used negatively or positively inside your mind, usually dictates the posture of the body right after. So when you do use the word “I” in moments of higher stress, use it only positively and with the strongest conviction you can muster in the instant. Not to say that it will be easy but if you are already at rock bottom, then this is definitively your first stepping stone on the way back up. Stay Strong!