Rock Bottom - change of perspective

by Cosmina Topircean
View the authors Profile

When you feel like you've reached rock bottom, what's actually the feeling about?

Rock bottom is a perspective issue, not a position issue.

Imagine your life as stacked levels, like floors in a building or layers in a game.
You fall, struggle, feel stuck - "rock bottom"
Now rotate the image 180 degrees, and suddenly you see:
You’re standing on the roof of your current level.
The "bottom" you’re touching is actually the ceiling above you.
Just beyond that ceiling… is your next level
What feels like collapse is actually contact with your next evolution.
When you rotate the image, what you called rock bottom is actually:
The top of your current level
The ceiling of an old identity
The highest point you can reach without changing how you think, act, or lead yourself

The ceiling of your current level feels painful because you’re pushing against old limits, your current tools can’t take you higher

Ceilings hurt when you keep trying to grow vertically using horizontal thinking.

At this point, effort isn’t the answer, identity is.
To move up:
You don’t work harder
You don’t tolerate more
You don’t "push through"

You break through by:
Changing beliefs
Releasing roles
Rewriting self-perception
Upgrading boundaries and standards

It's time to ask yourself:

If this is the top of my current level, what have I mastered here?
What rules or beliefs formed this ceiling?
What would I need to let go of to pass through it?
Who am I trying to be that belongs to a lower level?
What does the next level require, not just desire?

You cannot access the next level with the mindset that built the last one.
Rock bottom happens when:
Growth demands a new operating system
Comfort and familiarity can no longer support expansion

Hope this serves you well!