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

A vaccine is administered into the upper arm, a routine medical act that has helped drive diseases like polio to the brink of eradication through widespread immunization.
Jean-François FORT / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images

Anti-Vaxxer Surgeon Gets Epic History Lesson After Pointing Out That We Got Rid Of Bubonic Plague Without Vaccines

Developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, the polio vaccine led to a massive decrease in cases in the United States, to the point where the iron lung was phased out for polio victims in the late 1950s and 1960s.

It remains one of the clearest public health successes of the modern era, something Northwestern University physician Dr. Neil Stone highlighted on December 21 in a post underscoring the importance of vaccines and continued vaccine research.

Keep ReadingShow less
Tim Walz; Donald Trump
Jeff Wheeler/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images; Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Tim Walz Slams 'Depraved' Trump For Post Implying Walz Had Dem State Rep. Killed

On Saturday, MAGA Republican President Donald Trump posted a conspiracy theory video on Truth Social that accused Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz of having Democratic legislators and their spouses in his home state attacked and murdered.

The post came as conspiracy theories regarding the murder of Charlie Kirk to create a MAGA Horst Wessel—to distract from Trump’s problems with his ties to his longtime friend Jeffrey Epstein—and the alleged assassination attempt during his 2024 campaign are blowing up online.

Keep ReadingShow less
Marjorie Taylor Greene; Donald Trump
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Joe Raedle/Getty Images

MTG Bluntly Calls Out Trump's Hypocrisy After He Announces The U.S. Will 'Run' Venezuela

For months now, Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has been calling out Donald Trump for his hypocrisy and betrayal of MAGA and the movement's so-called "America First" principles.

That criticism ramped up In the wake of Trump's invasion of Venezuela and his assertion that the U.S. is going to "run" Venezuela.

Keep ReadingShow less

People Describe The Biggest Bullets They've Ever Dodged In Life

Without living multiple lifetimes, in various timelines, there's really no telling how life might have gone if relationships, events, and decisions had played out differently.

But every once in a while, something happens that is an undeniable game-changer.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @rachelanderson471's TikTok video
@rachelanderson471/TikTok

Woman Immediately Walks Out Of Date After Realizing He Was Trying To Set Her Up For Embarrassment

It's becoming alarmingly obvious that the Venn diagram of people who complain they can't find anyone "good to date" and people who behave terribly on their dates is essentially a circle.

TikToker Rachel Anderson recounted her experience of a first date that went sour within about 30 seconds, leading her to block the guy before she even reached her car.

Keep ReadingShow less