Note: This is a guest post by Jodi Chapman of Soul Speak
Have you ever been beaten down by life and felt so low to the ground that you worried that you may never bounce back? I’m going to take a guess and say that we all have felt this way at some point in our lives.
Life can be hard. It’s true. And sometimes the pain that we feel begins to pile up. And all of the disappointment that we’ve suffered throughout our life starts to pile on top of that pain. And then all of the struggles that we’ve faced pile up on top of the pain and disappointment until pretty soon we feel like we can’t even breathe because all of this gunk is on top of our spirit. Our light that once shone so brightly seems so much dimmer.
By the time we realize just how far down we’ve gotten – how far up it is to the light – we are far too tired to do anything about it. We crawl into bed, pull the covers up, and plan to sleep until everything is okay again.
If this sounds familiar, I have two things to say to you: I’m sorry, and I get it. I’ve been there. It wasn’t all that long ago that I was in that bed with the covers pulled up. It wasn’t that long ago that I was waiting for life to get better – waiting for all of this pain to go away – waiting for my chance to bounce back.
Your choice: Live in pain or in the light
And two years ago I got that chance in the form of a spiritual awakening – an experience that I wasn’t open to and didn’t even believe in. But after a year of hearing a voice from the other side, asking for proof and receiving it, and hearing the helpful words of love that helped get me out of the bed and back into the world, I started paying attention. And what this experience taught me was that I could choose to continue living the way I was living or I could choose to bounce back – to come back to life. The choice had been within me all along, I just couldn’t see it. I needed that helping hand to reach in and pull me out of myself – out of my own pain and into the light.
And now I want to be that helping hand for you. You don’t have to hear a voice – you don’t even have to believe me when I say that I did. That’s not what’s important. What is important is that you recognize that you don’t have to sleepwalk through your own life. You don’t have to just go through the motions and get through the day. There is so much more to life that is just outside of your tunnel vision – just waiting for you to open up to. You can choose to come back to life. And you can choose this right now.
Saying yes to life
When I realized this, I began to make drastic changes in how I was living my life. And no, they weren’t always easy, but they were life-altering. I realized that I had been living in fear for so long that I was no longer saying yes to life. I also was completely closed off to offers of help. I wanted to do everything on my own. So my coming back to life story included taking one leap of faith after another and building my bravery muscle. It also included opening up and allowing others in. Your story may include something else. Once you decide to wake up and start living fully, you begin to examine why you stopped living and then you get to figure out how to heal from that, forgive yourself and anyone else that needs to be forgiven, open up to the universe, and begin embracing your life again.
And no, it’s not always as easy as this makes it sound. But once you begin and once you feel that glimmer of hope again – that feeling that you probably haven’t felt in a really long time – you won’t want to turn around. You’ll want to keep moving toward the light. I guarantee it.
And if you want some support along the way, I would love for you to join us in the Coming Back to Life Ecourse. It’s a 6-week course that begins on 10/1. It is a helping hand, a loving community, and concrete tools and techniques to help you come back to life all wrapped up into one loving course. And when you sign up, you’ll receive over $150 in bonus gifts immediately!
Whether you join us or not though, please remember that the choice to live fully and embrace life is always within you. I truly hope that you choose to wake up. It’s the best choice that I ever made!
Guest author Jodi Chapman is the author of the inspirational blog, Soul Speak; the upcoming book, Coming Back to Life: How an Unlikely Friend Helped Me Reclaim My True Spirit; and the bestselling Soulful Journals series, co-authored with her husband, Dan Teck. Her new Coming Back to Life Ecourse begins on 10/1. Register now and receive over $150 in bonus gifts!
Note: I’m an affiliate for Jodi’s e-course, Coming Back to Life, and I want to emphasize that I would not sponsor or partner with any coursework or product I did not believe in 100%. Jodi is a woman of her word and her course might change your life!
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Thank you so much for sharing my post, Bobbi! 🙂
Dear Bobbi: I had this same experience many years ago when my life was in shambles, a divorce was looming, I was making daily all the wrong decisions, knew I was, felt compulsed and hated who I was. I remember sitting on the bed in a totally catatonic state, a place of escape in which I knew I could just stay. I had a choice, somehow there was voice inside of me that said, your life is in the toilet, but you can swim and you can save yourself from drowning. It wil take some time, but you will live beyond this, not without consequences, but you will live and so will everyone else involved. Your children will be even worse for the wear if you don’t pull it together, teaching them that recovery and life changes are possible. It all happened pretty much that way, not simply and not overnight or even over years, but it did happen. Fifty years later I still vividly remember those moments.
Arlen, thanks for sharing this! I knew life has been rough for you at times throughout the years, but I really admire how you consciously made a choice to swim rather than drown, even if it was in a toilet. Hmmm … I think I feel the idea for another blog post coming on . . .
😉
Love you!
(To all reading this: Arlen is my much-loved aunt who is currently living with breast cancer. She’s da bomb!)
So glad to have you share your experiences and words of wisdom, Jodi!
Sometimes we don’t retreat into bed. Sometimes we respond in other ways as I did, getting caught up in the busyness of life, being a workaholic.
But our bodies have ways of making us notice, leaving no choice but to listen.
I have left behind the busyness of life to get on with the business of life and courses like this are a great support.
Thanks for your perspective, Priska! You’re right, there are many ways to handle being overwhelmed and down-and-out, aren’t there. I love your line: “I have left behind the busyness of life to get on with the business of life.” Great!
So very important to hear. Thank you for being strong for others but most especially, for yourself.
Amen to this!! If you had lived long enough most of us have been there right with ya at one time or another. Sometimes it is the drastic changes that are needed – at others it is the small incremental steps toward change. Thanks for the reminder.
I choose… to live in the light!
I love the point you make about not having to sleepwalk through life, and coming back to life. That’s what I’m all about, being awake and creating a life I love – and helping others do the same! It’s a great message.
It is a great message and you’re doing a great job, Kaylee!
Hello again, Bobbi.
I have taken a few steps forward with bouncing back and acceptance but unfortunately life keeps pushing me back. When your pain is about loss, and you’re vulnerable and feeling alone, it’s easy to trust the wrong people, and then experience even more loss when those folks disappoint. Hopefully time will heal. Thank you for your helpful posts.
Hi Ellen,
Good to hear from you. Yep, life is like that A LOT – 2 steps forward, 3 back. Keep hanging in there, though, and allow time to do its mending.
Jodi, glad to hear you bounced back.
I think that a lot of people are in similar situations as you were in. They more or less just go through the motions of life without any type of direction or goals.
In sharing your story here and with your book you might be able to help a few of them, which is truly amazing. Good luck with your book.
We all have to chose to live in the light, it’s not always easy but a regular reminder is good
falling back might not be a choice but bouncing back is certainly something that we can chose
thank you so much for the inspiring post
Thanks for your insight, Farouk!
Excellent post Jodi, thanks. And thanks for mentioning that it isn’t always easy and that hope plays such a key role. I agree!
Jodi,
Thank you for sharing your story. Hope is essential…without hope, it’s even harder to keep going.
Hello Bobbi,
I just want to thank you for the article at pickthebrain on 19 ways to Bounce Back.. it was really helpful and really hit the nail on the head.
-richard
Hi Richard,
You are most welcome! Thank you so much for your feedback.