What was the low point of your year? How did you rise up, heal and move forward?

Although I had a generally positive year, life always brings both light and darkness, sadness in contrast to joy.

Suffering is an inevitable part of life. But so is happiness. Everything is changing all the time.

Without doubt, the low point of my year was at the end of July, when my then six-month-old baby fell ill. The moment when it sunk in—we would have to hospitalize her—that was my low. I was so full of fear, guilt, upset. (Here’s the full story.)

I rose up gradually from that low, that personal “rock bottom.” I rose up naturally, because that’s what happens after you reach rock bottom.

She got well quickly. We moved on with our lives and travels. We came home to the lake in Guatemala.

Rock bottom or not, lows are a fact of life. Depression comes and goes for everyone, but when depression gets overwhelming, we need to seek help through therapy and possibly medication. As a former sufferer of “clinical” depression, I advocate the short-term (as in, not lifelong) use of antidepressants when someone is really deep in depression.

Whenever you’re feeling down, hopeless or listless, how do you go about rising up, shaking the dust and moving on?

I rise up when I practice yoga regularly.

I rise up when I communicate and express myself.

I rise up when I give myself space for the right mix of action and relaxation, social time and privacy, yin and yang.

I rise up with the help of my friend, meditation. (Plus my other preferred versions of mindfulness these days: writing, playing and hiking.)

I rise up with the support of my community, far and near.

I rise up with gratitude, kindness and compassion.

How do you rise up?

#reverb13 is a means to reflect on the year that has passed and set intentions for the coming year. For the first two weeks of December, I’ll post a daily writing prompt. You are invited to participate, as privately or publicly as you wish. To share what you’ve written, add a comment. 

 

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Editor: Bryonie Wise

Image: Pixoto