Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Explain How They Rebounded From The Lowest Point In Their Life

People Explain How They Rebounded From The Lowest Point In Their Life
Sad Man Smoking - Free photo on Pixabay

When we are in a valley, depressed, anxious, or feeling hopeless, it can seem that things will never improve again. It feels as though that destroyed self-image and total lack of motivation is a permanent state.


Truly, it's a sense of total doom that arises from a mixture of both internal and external circumstances.

But we can get out of there. We can leave that place. People have been there and ascended. It's possible to resurface and rediscover joy, to access feelings of pride and gratitude that seemed gone forever when down in the valley.

What pulls a person out of the hole, however, is variable. Different things work for different people. Some need interpersonal connection and love. Others need to forget themselves in an ongoing task or action.

However it happens for people, their stories remind how entirely possible it is to get back in the saddle.

panicdotjpg asked, "What broke you out of your lowest point in life?"

Externalize 

"Getting a job, interestingly enough."

"I actually had something to do during the day instead of being stuck at home missing my recently-passed grandfather and listening to my parents' marriage implode."

"Being forced to interact with people also made me more assertive and gave me responsibilities."

-- TheMidnightScorpion

Fake it til You Make it

"Theater."

"I was in an abusive relationship. I played a character who's husband was plotting to kill her. I kept on getting compliments on how well I played the part of the terrified battered woman. The week before we opened I left him and never looked back."

"If my character could survive and find happiness than so could I."

-- BAUIntern

Love Helps

"I was saved by a girl I was really crazy about. She was outside of all the problems going on and was a beacon of light and hope in the disaster that was my world."

"I started building a life with her in another state and could escape the horrors I was dealing with and go visit her whenever I could afford the plane fare."

"She kept me going, gave me hope, and ultimately helped rebuild our world together."

-- LovesMeSomeRedhead

Nurturing Forces

"My fiance and my mom. I'd been running dead end fast food and living in my own filth after my ex destroyed me emotionally and I failed out of college."

"I met my fiance on line and we started talking. She kept going out her way to keep me company when I was lonely and online playing games together."

"Meanwhile my mom pushed me to try a budget program for kids who didn't go to/finish college to get IT training and job skills to be more hireable."

"It's been 4 years now. Engages. Working a high end job. I owe it all to the 2 best women in my life."

"I am a lucky man"

-- CaptainOptimail

Forget Yourself

"Had a child. I never even realized I was at my lowest point. I was a night shift worker at taco bell after failing out of college."

"Up to my ears in debt with no prospects in sight and the worst part was I had grown to accept that I would be struggling to pay rent, going without health care, and living off of Ramen for the foreseeable future."

"I would have even said I was happy."

"Then I found out I had a kid and suddenly I knew that I had nothing to offer. I wouldn't be able to provide a stable home, Healthcare, or any of the costly advantages a kid can get in this country. 6 months later I was in a bus headed for basic training."

"18 years later he is getting ready to go to college and I have always been able to keep a stable place for him to come to when things get too stressful."

-- shroom2021

From Someone Who's Been There

"I was recovering from a life changing injury and was taking my limitations a bit hard. I met a guy my age that was confined to a wheel chair, he spoke with me and was so positive."

"He had it worse than me and had that kind of outlook. I had no right to be a stick in the mud, I chose to accept my situation and live positively."

-- AdmiralTallywacker

Neurochemical Interventions

"Magic mushrooms. I was at my heaviest weight and a mushroom trip gave me the push I needed to start losing weight and being healthier."

"I'm still not where I want to be with my weight, but I'm going in the right direction"

-- askmeabiutlife

Other Neurochemical Interventions

"Medication. I can't stress enough how much of a difference I've felt and experienced after starting anti depressants. The fog has lifted and I've never been this level headed and confident. I've struggled my whole life and have experienced some very very low points."

"Finally in my 30s I decided to look I to meds and it really helped."

"There is definitely something to be said for diet and exercise and getting outdoors, but failing that, talk to your doc."

-- ironmcheaddesk

Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Miss J. Alexander; Tyra Banks
Netflix; Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

Fans Upset After 'America's Next Top Model' Favorite J. Alexander Reveals Tyra Banks Didn't Visit Him After His Stroke In 2022

Tyra Banks wanted to share her side of the story and do some big reveals in the Netflix docuseries Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model, but if she was hoping the docuseries would improve her image to the public, she was sadly mistaken.

Past model contestants have already gone public about their time on the show, but now, people from behind the scenes, like one of the show's photographers and judges, Nigel Barker, the creative director, Jay Manuel, and judge and runway coach Miss J. Alexander, have all come forward with their experiences, and the history might be darker than we ever expected.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sarah Spain; JD Vance
@spain2323/Instagram; Kevin Lamarque/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

ESPN Commentator Claps Back After Her Comments About 'Demon' Vance Spark Hate From MAGA Trolls

Emmy-winning sports reporter Sarah Spain drew the ire of the MAGA minions after commenting on having to sit near MAGA Republican Vice President JD Vance at a Team USA women's hockey game. Spain is covering the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy.

In addition to her 15 year career at ESPN, Spain also hosts the award-winning daily iHeart women's sports Good Game with Sarah Spain podcast and serves as Content Director for the iHeart Women's Sports Network for iHeartMedia.

Keep ReadingShow less
Marc Kennedy during Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics Men's Curling Round Robin.
Foto Olimpik/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Canadian Olympic Curler Sparks Flurry Of Memes After He's Accused Of Cheating By 'Poking' Stone

Last week at the Winter Olympics, tensions ran high when Team Canada faced Sweden in the men’s curling event. A cheating controversy erupted after Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson accused Canadian curler Marc Kennedy of illegally touching the granite portion of a curling stone rather than the handle, which the rules prohibit.

Sweden further alleged a “double touch,” which occurs when a player makes contact with the stone after it passes the hog line.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ilia Malinin
Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Ilia Malinin Hints At 'Vile Online Hatred' With Cryptic Instagram Post After Struggle At Olympics

Team USA's Ilia Malinin making any mistakes on the ice, let alone missing multiple combinations and taking two falls while attempting quads, couldn't have been further from what everyone expected during this year's Winter Olympics.

Unfortunately for him, instead of taking home gold this year, he faced multiple complications on the ice, including several single and double axels where they should have been quadruples, and two significant falls that led to multiple red marks on his routine.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @kirstierobbb's TikTok video
@kirstierobbb/TikTok

ICU Nurse Reveals The Eerie 'Inner Shift' That Always Happens Before A Patient Passes Away

Religion and education have been separated for a long time, and religion is similarly separated in the medical field.

But a sense of spirituality has at least been alluded to in the medical field, especially for patients who either go through a traumatic experience or who are on their deathbed—and TikToker @kirstierobbb believes it's time to talk about it.

Keep ReadingShow less