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March 28, 2008

Change the World: Find Rock Bottom

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 6:44 am

Change the World!

I was on my way to a post by Cath Lawson I read yesterday. I Googled her name to get there. The post that came up first had a great headline.

Sometimes You Need to Hit Rock Bottom

I’ll wait while you read it.

I know few things about hitting rock bottom. Haven’t been there recently. Don’t plan to go there again ever, but I’m sure glad I made the trip. I was just turning thirty . . .

Losing everything isn’t the worst thing. It was the best thing that happened to me. With all of the “stuff” gone, I was left with me. That made it easy to see just who I was and who I was not. Even better than that, I learned a secret. People liked being around that person — broke, flaws, and all. Losing everything got me to build a new foundation on what I believed to replace the one I had built on other people’s voices. Why not? What were they going to do? Take all of my money? I had none.

I don’t wish you ever lose what you need to make your world function. But I do wish you the joy of security based in who you are not in what you own. It’s a new way of belonging. Rock bottom means that you’re standing on stable ground.

When we belong, we can make things better from just being a part.

We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

______________
If you’re ready to change the world, send me your thoughts in a guest post. Feel free to take the gorgeous Change the World image up there that Sandy designed back to your blog. Or help yourself to this one.

Change the World!.

Email me about what you’re doing or what we might do. Let’s change the world one bit at a time together. Together it can’t take forever.

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14 Comments to “Change the World: Find Rock Bottom”

  1. March 28th, 2008 at 8:11 am
    Karin H. said

    Ouch!
    Our ‘very expensive’ lesson of life I now call that period of hitting rock bottom (5 years ago).
    It hopefully also taught us how to prevent us hitting it again ;-) Still think we came out stronger, more focussed on values - not on valuable items but valuable ideas, attitudes and friends! - more generous too in a way.

    Like you we don’t ever want to go back there again, but are ‘grateful’ that whole period eventually brought us IMHO more than we lost.
    (You shouldn’t have asked me this during that time though ;-))

    Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)

  2. March 28th, 2008 at 8:19 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Karin!
    Yeah, the bruises of the fall have to heal first, don’t they? :)

    But once they do, we sure are stronger, wiser, and more pliable in our thinking about what matters and more importantly, what doesn’t. :)

  3. March 28th, 2008 at 8:27 am
    Karin H. said

    Wiser? o.k. on the benefit of the doubt then ;-)

    Once the (deep) bruises - also of the ego - have healed I found that life in general became ‘easier’ or in other words: you become more ‘mellow’, more accepting of situations you know you can’t change and more ‘relentless’ to change things for the better on issues you know you can change.
    Sounds like ‘growing-up’?

    Karin H.

  4. March 28th, 2008 at 8:35 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi,
    I’d say that knowing what you can’t change is wisdom of a sort. :)

    Growing up and growing stronger . . . like fine wine maturing. :)

  5. March 28th, 2008 at 8:42 am
    Karin H. said

    Can we have mature cheese with that? ;-)

    (From coffee with biscuits to wining and dining in just 1 hour, now that’s what I call life ;-))

    Karin H.

  6. March 28th, 2008 at 9:11 am
    Cath Lawson said

    Hi Liz - Thanks for linking to my post. I think the link you had had gone a little wrong though - it’s quite a long post. Do you use a mac? My theme wasn’t working right for mac users and someone was fixing it.

    What happened to you is an important lesson to us all. Sometimes you can wind up on the wrong path and you need to lose everything to realise it. This has happened to me 3 times now - although the 2nd time it was my own choice - I sold a business that made me money & made me miserable. I’m just too slow at learning some things.

  7. March 28th, 2008 at 9:20 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Cath!
    No mac here.

    The wrong path can turn out to be the right one if it gets us set on a great foundation. At least, that’s how I choose to look back on it.

    Nothing is worth being miserable for.

    I’m going back to read the rest now.

  8. March 28th, 2008 at 9:26 am
    Mark said

    Yeah… they taught me it would be in the valleys that I would grow. What they didn’t let me in on was that my valley would be the Grand Canyon :)

    BTW - you know that every bottom has a trap door right?

    Nice post Liz… as always!

  9. March 28th, 2008 at 10:09 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Yeah, Karin!
    Must be something to do with the time zones. :)

  10. March 28th, 2008 at 10:11 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Mark!
    I always wanted to see the bottom of the Grand Canyon, just wanted to pick my time and way to get there! :)

    You’re right. We all have our way out of the bottom. We just have to decide to leave there.

  11. March 28th, 2008 at 11:24 am
    Brooke said

    Great post. I hit rock bottom 5 years ago - it stinks to be there. But I am so glad that it did.

    Your post was GOOOOD reminder…

  12. March 28th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Brooke!
    It does stink! Maybe that’s why we learn to smell the roses. :)

  13. March 28th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
    robin said

    i like the saying, “the elevator gets off at any floor”… my bottom was different than yours, etc. and i can make a bottom my bottom by learning from you (and others). we don’t have to reinvent the wheel - we actually CAN stand on the shoulders of others!

    this is one of the little nuggets of wisdom i learned (the hard way) in college.

    thanks for a great post:)

  14. March 29th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Robin!
    Thank you for bringing that thought. I’ve often used the stories others tell me to think about how I might have reacted and learn from what happened to them.

    My friends have taught me as much as life itself, especially folks, like you, who comment on this blog.

    You’re not a stranger. :)

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