10 Powerful Things To Do When You Hit Rock Bottom

When you hit rock bottom, it is so easy to be swallowed by hopelessness and start believing that no matter what you do, you will never be able to pull yourself out of this hole.

I’m certainly no stranger to this feeling. Five years ago, I hit rock bottom. I was at the lowest point of my life. I was grieving the loss of a loved one, l was buried in so much debt and I was still in between jobs.

Every day, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I was desperately clawing my way out of that dark hole that I was trapped in but regardless of what I do, to me, it felt like a lost battle. Everything felt too overbearing that even getting out of bed was a struggle.

That’s often how it feels when you hit rock bottom, you get so overwhelmed that you just start to feel paralyzed by everything and you just end up feeling so stuck, drained, and exhausted.

If you’re currently going through this difficult season, please know that there is hope. You will be able to pull yourself out of this deep hole, pick yourself back up, and come out stronger, braver, and wiser.

In this post, I will share with you the things that helped turn my life around after hitting rock bottom. I’m hoping that these tips will help you too.

10 Things To Do When You Hit Rock Bottom

1. Breathe

When you hit rock bottom, it’s so easy to feel suffocated by everything. That’s why it’s so important to pause, slow down and just breathe.

Take a long deep breath. Breathe in hope, courage, and strength. Breathe out stress, anxiety, and worry.

I know it feels like your entire life is falling apart right now and there is just nothing you can do to fix it, but that’s not the case, you got this.

You will make it through. You are strong enough to pull yourself out of this hole. You are strong enough to turn your life around for the better.

Just breathe. You can do this!

2. Get Organized

I know how overwhelming and paralyzing it can be when life seems to keep hitting you with one problem after another. Bills start to pile up and the next thing you know your car breaks down.

You barely have enough strength to get out of bed and the thought of having to face all of those problems just makes you sick and so exhausted.

In moments like this, I learned that one of the best things that you can do to fight the feeling of overwhelm is to get organized and make a list. List all problems that you need to tackle.

I normally divide them into two columns. The first column contains all the most important things that I need to tackle first and the next column contains the least important.

Once that’s done, I list all the things I can do to help solve the problem. All the tasks that I have to accomplish to reach my goal.

To me, seeing everything in writing just shows me a different perspective. It gives me hope. It shows me that it is possible to get this done and turn my life around.

3. Show Yourself Kindness and Compassion

When you hit rock bottom, it’s so easy to constantly criticize yourself for every mistake, for every failure, and for every decision that has led you to this.

You constantly beat yourself up thinking that this is the best thing to do to hold yourself accountable. I used to think that too.

But I’ve learned that beating yourself up, especially during this time is not going to help you. It’s not going to make things better. Truth be told, it will only make you feel so much worse.

It will damage your self-esteem which will only lead you to question whether you have what it takes to change your life.

The best thing that you can do is to give yourself some grace, compassion, and love. Be kind to yourself. Love yourself more. Stop beating yourself up and recognize every little thing that you are doing to improve your life.

4. Don’t Be Afraid To Be Vulnerable

Hitting rock bottom is not easy. To me, it felt like my entire life was falling apart, and there was nothing that I could do but watch.

It felt heartbreaking and truth be told, every day, I felt like a total failure for letting it happen to me.

I was still grieving and I had so many regrets and heartaches but I thought that the best thing to do during this time was just to set all those emotions aside and just keep pushing through.

But it all caught up to me. It was only a matter of time before I finally broke down. Running away from your feelings will not help you move forward.

I’ve learned that bottling up all your emotions will only keep you from truly healing and from moving forward with your life.

Remind yourself that vulnerability is never a sign of weakness. I actually find a great deal of courage and strength in allowing yourself to be vulnerable.

Don’t be afraid to sit with your emotions and feel everything. Allow yourself time to grieve, to feel the heartache, or even just to scream and cry.

5. Determine Your Goals

When your life is falling apart and you’re at your lowest, it’s easy to feel lost. That’s why it’s so important to take some time to revisit your goals and determine your priorities.

Determining your goals and priorities will make it easier for you to know which path to take. It will help you make the right decisions that will help you achieve your goals.

It will also help you use your time wisely since you already know where to focus all your efforts and which tasks you need to accomplish first.

Here’s a great article from Possibility Change that will help you find your goals.

6. Change Your Perspective

When you hit rock bottom, it’s so easy to trap yourself in negativity. It’s so easy to let negative thoughts consume your mind and focus on everything that is going wrong in your life.

I was certainly guilty of this. I let negativity take hold of me. I let my negative thoughts shape how I view my life and everything around me.

And I tell you, doing this did not help me in any way. It did not make me feel better and it did not help improve my life. For what it’s worth, it only made my life even more difficult.

By allowing myself to hold on to negativity, I was only feeling more and more hopeless every day. I started to get angry and irritated by the smallest things.

I’ve learned that one of the best things that you can do, especially when you’re going through difficult times is to change your perspective.

Stop letting negativity control your life. Allow yourself to find the positive side of things. Be grateful even for the smallest things.

Doing this will not only make you feel even a little better. But it will also give you hope and the strength and motivation that you need to continue to push forward.

7. Find Support

When you’re struggling in life, I know how easy it is to feel isolated. When I was at my lowest, I felt so alone. I wanted to talk to somebody but at the same time, I didn’t want to burden them with my problems.

I felt like this was something that I had to do on my own. It was my mistakes that lead to this, I thought that it was only fair to just keep it to myself and figure it out on my own.

But doing that was so difficult. Every day, it felt like I was drowning. I’ve learned that sometimes things are just too big for us to bear on our own and asking for help is not something that we should stop ourselves from doing.

Reaching out will not take away your strength. It is not a sign of weakness. Remind yourself that you are not a burden.

The people that truly matter will listen to you and do what they can to be there for you.

8. Make Time For Yourself

When you hit rock bottom, self-care and making some time for yourself is definitely the last thing on your mind.

I mean, with everything that is going on in your life and all the problems that you have to address, often taking a break and slowing down is not an option.

But there’s no better time to prioritize your mental and emotional health than during this difficult season. Don’t feel guilty to take the time for yourself.

You have to take care of yourself first for you to keep taking care of other people. You have to take care of your needs too for you to keep going.

Schedule at least 15-30 minutes of downtime every day, you can use this time to do things that will help calm you down, alleviate stress, and just breathe.

9. Remember That You Are Strong Enough To Get Through This

Hitting rock bottom will easily make you feel so drained, exhausted and so overwhelmed that you start to question if you’re even strong enough to get through this.

I’m no stranger to this feeling. I thought that there was just no way for me to get through the other side. I thought that I was just not strong enough to face the loss and fix my problems at the same time.

But one thing that we all should remember, we have within us this invaluable strength. The strength that we never even thought existed. We are brave enough to face the pain and continue to move forward.

We are wise enough to find solutions to our problems and strong enough to take action every day. You have the ability to turn your life around and pull yourself out of this deep and dark hole.

Believe in what you can do. Take the first step and remind yourself along the way that you got this.

10. Remember That This Too Shall Pass

This is probably one of the most important things that you need to remember. When you hit rock bottom, it’s so easy to believe that your life will always only go from bad to worse.

It’s easy to let ourselves believe that things will never get better for us. That we will always suffer, we will always fail and that life will always be this way.

But that couldn’t be farther than the truth, your today is not going to be your forever. Whatever is that you are going through will pass. Storms will never last.

And you can come out at the end stronger, braver and so much wiser. Just keep going. Take small steps if you have to and keep reminding yourself that this too shall pass.

Final Thoughts

I know that things are hard right now and that there are no words to describe the struggle that you are going through but please know that you are not alone.

Please know that you can do this. Believe in yourself and in what you can achieve as long as you put your whole heart and mind into it.

Remind yourself that as cliché as it sounds, when you hit rock bottom, there is truly no way to go but up. You will get through this.

Take it day by day. Life will get better. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. You will pull yourself out of this hole. You got this!