Today’s Epiphany: Rock Bottom is actually beautiful and filled with unexpected blessings.
What brought this on? Well, I’ll tell you.
My heart has been in really bad shape again for a couple of weeks. This morning I had a bit of a meltdown. I admitted to one of my closest friends that I’m afraid. Of my heart…but also…I learned too strong of a lesson that if I can’t do it all, I’ll lose everyone. He was (rightfully) a little offended. He asked if I thought I’d lose him. I admitted that in my heart I knew I wouldn’t, but in my head…
Like many people, I have often struggled with the idea of unconditional love. I never purposely went out of my way to make anyone love me…but I’ve always believed I should put more good into the world than I found…and…deep down…I believed that my TRYING to be a good and giving person was probably the only reason people wanted me to be around. Would I admit that I believed no one could love me without a transactional value? Not even to myself. But I would self flagellate at every mistake because, deep down, I knew.
A lot of us believe that. That we have to have something to give to be loved.
Because of this, the view at the top…it’s great. When you have it all and you can BE it all…you’re surrounded by “love” and you know you’ve earned it. You give freely of yourself…not to be compensated or repayed…but because you feel all this LOVE and you know they’d do the same for you.
I’ve spent some time on top of the world.
And when I fell..when I hit rock bottom…I believed I had lost it all and would never have it back.
As I watched the people who I thought were my ride or die…well…ride away…when I had nothing left. As I felt the fear and abandonment that came with my fall from grace…it was terrifying.
Until…it wasn’t. Because the blessing of the valley? The blessing is that the people who stay there with you until you can rise again aren’t the people who loved you solely for what you could do.
The people who stayed…They were the least expected people ever. It wasn’t the people that I felt I had even been a particularly amazing friend to. I had never brought them dinner when they were sick. I had never helped with their kids. I had never gone above and beyond to EARN their love.
The people who stayed…love me solely for who I am as a person. If I never ran again, they’d love me. If I went completely broke and couldn’t donate to their charities, they’d love me. If I forgot how to do taxes, they’d still love me. If I can never do another thing to EARN their love…
It doesn’t matter. To them I earn it solely by being the crazy, weird, inappropriate, compassionate, train wreck they see before them. And they want nothing more.
They love me. Unconditionally.
That’s the beauty I found in the valley….in rock bottom…a blessing I couldn’t see from the top of the world.
A blessing I’d gladly stay at the bottom to never lose again.
*Jazz Hands* Mom 
I had one of those low points a few years back. It’s rough because it’s a double whammy in that not only are you dealing with some major issue/event/struggle, but on top of that, all the people you were supposed to be able to count on abandon you when you need them most.
I think, for me at least, it was the abandoning of friends/family that hurt me more than the actual stuff I was going through. Sometimes, even still, I want to call them up and yell at them, but then I remember I’m better off without them in my life. So I leave them in my contacts so that if they ever call me, I’ll know to ignore the call. lol.
I like your optimistic take on this. I wish I had seen it when I was in the middle of my dark time. The “fair weather” friends aren’t worth having around, and there’s certainly nothing quite like a life crisis to filter out the fake friends from the real ones.
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