Picking Yourself Up After Hitting Rock Bottom
The phrase ‘hitting rock bottom’ is used to describe that feeling you get when you’re at your lowest and think things couldn’t possibly be worse than they already are. Whether you feel like you’ve reached this point in your relationships, health behaviors, finances, or all areas of your life in general, picking yourself up is possible and within your power.
How do I know when I hit bottom?
Feeling like you’ve hit rock bottom is an incredibly personal experience and will look different for everyone. Most people who reach this point will use words to describe themselves and their situation such as feeling broken, flattened, depressed, at the end of their rope, overwhelmed, lost, frightened, or even completely numb.
You may have spent the past weeks or years suffering in silence, relying only on yourself to pull yourself through tough times. When it becomes clear that you’ve exhausted every avenue and need the help of others, you’ve likely hit rock bottom.
Finding help is crucial for starting the climb to recovery.
How to pick back up
There are a few actions you can take to help get back up:
Explore ways to take better care of yourself. If your physiological needs (food, shelter, safety) aren’t being met, come up with ways to establish these first. Once these are met, you can begin to take care of your psychological needs. Carve out time to engage in self-care practices that allow you to decompress.
Start journaling. If you’re convinced you’ve hit rock bottom but have no idea how you got there, it’s time to explore that so you can make positive choices going forward. The best way to do this is to grab a journal (or open up a Word document) and start typing. Let the thoughts flow out of you without stopping to judge them. Come back to what you’ve written a day later and start challenging any assumptions you’ve made. You may be surprised by what you find out about yourself.
Reconsider your goals. What do you want in life? Consider life categories such as relationships, finance, career, and health. Are you on track to meet your goals? If not, what changes can you make to bring yourself in alignment with them?
Should I get a therapist?
Despite increasing awareness about and reduced stigma towards mental illness, many people are still reluctant to start attending therapy. The cost for those who do not have health insurance and the trepidation in knowing you will have to open up to someone you don’t know about things you may not have even admitted to yourself are massive barriers to seeking therapy.
Finding support from family and friends is always an option, but seeking out support from a trained professional who can give you the tools to recover and provide an impartial opinion is often essential to healing.
It’s a common misconception that therapy should only be sought out in times of extreme need. In actuality, therapy is not just a valuable resource for rock bottom recovery, but for everyday functioning and prevention of hitting rock bottom as well.
If you feel like you’ve hit rock bottom, it is highly recommended that you get a therapist. The therapist isn’t there to fix you but to help equip you with the tools to help yourself.