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

Screenshot of Seth Meyers discussing Donald Trump
@MarcoFoster/X

Seth Meyers Responds To Trump's 'Truly Deranged' Personal Attack Against Him With Hilarious Takedown

After President Donald Trump lashed out at late-night host Seth Meyers on Truth Social over the weekend and called him a "truly deranged lunatic," Meyers responded to Trump’s “ranting and raving” about him with a damning supercut on his program.

Trump apparently tuned in to Thursday night’s episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers, where Meyers poked fun at the president’s complaints about Navy aircraft carriers using electromagnetic catapults instead of traditional steam-powered ones. Meyers joked that Trump "spends more time thinking about catapults than Wile E. Coyote."

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

Girl's Hilarious Reaction To Getting Divisive Candy For Halloween Caught On Doorbell Cam

In the '80s and '90s, kids were raised with the understanding that they got what they got, and they should say, "Thank you," for what they received. This was true for birthdays, holidays, and trick-or-treating on Halloween, even if they got candy they wanted to throw away the instant they turned the corner.

But kids today are much more communicative about what they like and don't like, and they can be brutal in their bluntness.

Keep ReadingShow less
Lauren Boebert
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Lauren Boebert Slammed After Photos Of Her Racist ICE-Theme Halloween Costume Emerge

Colorado Republican Representative Lauren Boebert—one of the most prominent MAGA voices in Congress—has sparked outrage after she and her boyfriend Kyle Pearcy attended a Halloween party dressed as a Mexican woman and an ICE agent.

Boebert wore a sombrero and a traditional Mexican-style dress to a party in Loveland, Colorado, while Pearcy, a realtor, attended dressed as an ICE agent, complete with a uniform and weapon. The event took place amid growing outrage over President Donald Trump’s ongoing immigration crackdown that is tearing apart families across the country.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Marjorie Taylor Greene
ABC

MTG Just Admitted The Awkward Truth About The Republican Healthcare Plan On 'The View'

Speaking on The View, Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke about sparring with House Speaker Mike Johnson over healthcare—and revealed that the GOP does not have any replacement for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) despite what Johnson and her fellow congressional conservatives tell the public.

Democrats have continued to reject Republicans’ proposed continuing resolution to keep the government open without considering an extension of the premium tax credit that helps subsidize health insurance for people earning between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level.

Keep ReadingShow less
protest with flat Earth sign
Kajetan Sumila on Unsplash

People Share The Best Ways To Shut Down A Debate With A Flat Earther Family Member

The Flat Earth conspiracy theory is strictly a modern online movement, rumored to have begun as a prank, that gained momentum among people who mistrust authority through the power of social media.

There is a persistent myth that Europeans in the Middle Ages believed the Earth was flat. But that is a 19th-century fabrication to sell Columbus Day, not historical reality.

Keep ReadingShow less