Hitting Rock Bottom

Hitting Rock Bottom

Orginally Posted: December 7, 2020

I started writing this post 3 days ago & since then, my life has continued to

turn upside down too many times to count.

So many of us are having tough times, especially as we approach the

holidays. I share my journey to shine the light on the conversation about

depression and challenging times, none of us have to go thru this alone.

Friday night, I hit rock bottom.

I felt numb, lost & overwhelmed. I felt I couldn’t do anything right.

I sat there on the floor in tears, feeling hopeless for the first time in my life. I

called the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline & had a 2-hour conversation

with one of the Online Counselors via chat, as I’d been crying so hard I didn’t

think I’d be able to talk.

It was just the right resource for me at the time, as I felt heard & was able to

get everything off my chest.

There is another twist to this story….none of this is taking place in the quiet

surroundings of a home, as right now I don’t have one; right now, I am

homeless. I have been bouncing around from couches to hostels to hotels to

airports for the past 3 weeks. A situation only made that much harder with

Covid & my not owning a car right now.

Why do all this? Because I fight for what I believe in. Just as I did with DADT in

the USCG, and for empowering people to see their own greatness now. WE

can do hard things!

You are probably thinking, what does the Thoreau quote have any time to do

with any of this?

I believe that our greatest lessons come out of our most significant

challenges.

Getting lost, or in my case, hitting rock bottom Friday night was a gift. It’s

allowing me to honestly look at my life with fresh eyes & see what is no longer

serving me on my journey. Along with seeing how I can do things differently.

There are so many lessons to keep learning as I grow. While also knowing

everything is happening for me!

So in wrapping this up, I’m going to ask you to do something today….check on

a friend & ask them, “How are you?” Just because someone posts a picture

of themselves smiling or juggling on a beach doesn’t mean that they aren’t

having their own challenges & couldn’t use a friend saying hi.