What Hitting Rock Bottom Can Teach Us
We all experience pains. We’ve conquered challenges. We’ve experienced having problems — big and small.
In more than two decades of my existence on Earth, I’ve experienced being in the highest and lowest possible point in my life. I’ve been on cloud nine celebrating small wins. I’ve also experienced hitting rock bottom — may it be a failed examination, relationship, or career goal.
But, did you know that hitting rock bottom can teach us a thing or two?
When I was in Elementary, I was never chosen to be a contestant for a Math contest. I was jealous of my classmates back then. Before entering Grade 4, I studied hard for the elimination test. With luck and perseverance, I made it. I’ve became chosen as one of the three contestants for the competition and me and my teammates won bronze.
When I was in High School, I failed to be in the top 10 during my first year. Back then, I knew that not only did I fail myself, I also failed my family. After researching for study tips and giving my best in the three years of my High School life, I eventually made it. This time, I ended up ranking 4th in the whole class of 150+ students.
When I was in college, I did not make it to the main campus of the premier university in our country (AKA my dream university). But this did not stop me from doing what I can to make my family proud. I continued my studies and semester after semester, I made sure that I would be a part of the College Scholar/University Scholar (GWA = ~1.75 or higher; equivalent to Dean’s List or Chancellor’s List to other universities). In the end, I was able to graduate with flying colors.
Later on in life, I’ve learned (from Kassidy) that our biggest emotional struggles are there because we are meant to overcome them in order to pursue our purpose, but we would not be motivated to overcome them if the emotional charge was not so strong. If it was just a little problem, we’d probably settle and never work on elevating our minds and lives to be above that problem.
In time, we really have to hit rock bottom before actually making a big change. If we’re not disrupted by a problem, we usually ignore it until we can’t anymore.
That’s the beauty of hitting rock bottom. It seems like being awakened to the reality that we have to tweak something either within ourselves or within our environment to make positive changes in our lives. It’s like a wake-up call from a Higher Being that we are meant for greater things only if we allowed ourselves to get out of our comfort zone and be ready to explore the outside world.
Up until today, I still have problems, maybe upgraded versions of what I’ve had when I was younger. I still feel pain and whenever the pain is not tolerable, I made sure, and I will make sure in the future that I will do something about it.
Hitting rock bottom is not always bad. As long as we know how to always bounce back after experiencing failures, rejections, and whatnots.
I also wanna share with you one of my favorite quotes, “An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. When life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means it’s going to launch you into something great. So just focus, and keep aiming.” 🏹
