Rock Bottom Has Built More Heroes than Privilege
“ I wish I had known this too shall pass. You feel bad right now; you feel pissed off; you feel angry; this too shall pass.
You feel great; you feel like you know all the answers; you feel like everybody finally gets you; this too shall pass.
Time is your ally; if nothing else, wait it out.”
Tom Hanks
We can’t get to success without passing through a hard time, failure, and feeling like everything is unraveling as we try to grasp onto the strings floating around us. All we can do is make the next best choice, try to set up the next day for success, and make one good decision for tomorrow. Your tomorrow will thank you.
One second, one minute, one hour, one day at a time.
Because no matter how far we have fallen or how deep and dark the hole gets, it can get worse.
So take a breath, a minute, a heartbeat to feel it, know it will pass, but we have to make the next right decision, and then the next, then the next. If we don’t know what to do, find a hero who can help us build a roadmap. Google answers, listen to someone who inspires you, and spread joy.
And though it might not feel like it, fighting your way back brings knowledge of consequences and better prepares you for the next time you start over. Like shoots and ladders, we can be almost to the goal, see the finish line, and an unexpected turn sets you back.
I am currently sifting through the shrapnel; I knew I was walking into a period of life where landmines were abundant. Though I skipped past the first few, I didn’t take the opportunity to set myself up if any of the other ten materialized. So when life went Boom!, I looked around, said “Fuck”, and then made a plan. Do I wish I had done it earlier? Best laid plans, but I have put them into place now.
Tomorrow will get better. Should I have assumed that I would hit rock bottom? I choose not to live in a world of pessimism; I live with hope. So how do I plan a fail-safe that helps keep the blowback manageable but doesn’t keep me from never taking a chance? That is the question.
It is why we hit rock bottom. It means we leapt while we were still scared.
And we can’t become heroes if we never leap.
