Have You Hit Your Rock Bottom?

I’m not a fan of the term “rock bottom”. The reason is that it insinuates that you have to hit rock bottom before some sort of positive and transformational change takes place.

Instead, I find it helpful when you are able to confront your reality with compassion and clarity. What this means is that you do not need to wait to reach a “rock bottom” before changing your life. You can instead, pause and reflect on where you are at and identify if you are going in the right direction.

Below are key areas to overcome when your goal is to live a healthy and productive life.

Saying you are fine when you are not.

One of the key reasons that people struggle with healing and recovering is connected to unhealthy internal beliefs. The internal dialogue of telling yourself that “everything is fine” when in fact it is not causing you to continue living an unhealthy and unproductive life.

What can help is to write down your values, and goals, and list out a few positive habits. Now review your life and see how aligned to the items you are.

Using unhealthy habits to escape.

It’s extremely common for people to use a “quick fix” to address difficulties in life. We often see this on television and in the real world. Substance use to alleviate anxiety or depression. Overworking to avoid dealing with difficulties in a troubled marriage.

The goal is to gain clarity on what your habits are and how you are using them. I encourage you to write down your habits and list out how you are using them. The ones that are unhealthy, replace.

There is no “magic” way to fix this.

Are you searching for a magic pill? Something that will solve all of the issues or an item that you can blame everything on.

To address this area, start by writing down all of the areas that you are struggling with. This can be challenging. Next, connect each item to your process of fixing it. Circle the ones that hold the definition of the magic pill.

You can’t use control to overcome the challenge.

During difficulties in life, some people will turn to control. They will do their best to control as much as they can as a way to address certain challenges. For instance, a person that struggles with addiction may hold strong control over their work schedule. This way they feel that everything is fine since they are able to excel in their job. Another example is found in a marriage where one partner tries to control the other with the expectation that such control will reduce their insecurities in the marriage.

As you move forward from the reading, I want to encourage you to reflect on your life and create a plan of action. Align your plan of action to SMART goals that connect to your values. If you feel stuck and would like to work with a trained licensed counselor please contact our counseling office.