Life is hard, and none of use will beat it in the end. But we can make the most of precious time and learn from the falls and fashion our battle scars proudly. There is always going to be a bottom falling out but there will always be a rise. It will be long, slow, steady and more arduous than the one before but there will be a rise if we so wish.
Redditor u/puddle_socks wanted to hear from everyone about their significant life recovery stories by asking.... What's your "oh, rock bottom has a basement" story? And how did you recover?
Stay Back Jinx.
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My very first semester of college I got pneumonia the first few weeks. A week after that I got a yeast infection (a very painful one too). Then I fractured my wrist a few weeks after that. Then after I had been home for Thanksgiving for a week and had to go back and finish the last two weeks of the semester I thought "Well it can't get any worse" and I was hit by a car a week later. Urpledell
The Helpers?
I was homeless at age 18. I went to a homeless shelter despite warnings from some shady looking guy. I got treated like crap, got made fun of and belittled, and had my backpack with all my important documents stolen. All this was by the shelter staff, the people who are supposed to help. I still don't donate to any homeless shelter.
You don't know how they're really like until they're your last hope. After that i sold my cellphone, bought a tent and found a backpack in a garbage can that reeked like cat piss but was otherwise clean and did my best not to starve while going from place to place. My tent got stolen eventually but luckily nobody took the backpack. I also got a revolver at one point.
I recovered by getting unbelievably lucky and having my uncle find me and take me in and even give me one of his old property's in exchange for fixing it up real nice so he can sell it when he retires. thelongestusernameee
Off Balance.
I quit smoking cigarettes, taking pills at the same time cold turkey and with no help. My mental health deteriorated pretty fast. I felt like i really lost my mind for good. Took me a year to recover and feel relative normal again. Every month that goes by from then i feel better and better. Time was needed i guess for my brains chemistry to balance. Anevrismata
Too REAL!
Girlfriend cheated on me, my uncle died in a house fire on christmas, my cousin was shot 30 some times because he was in a psychosis and tried to take a car, watched my grandpa slowly wither away from a rare cancer in his abdomen, failed all five classes that college semester, tried to end my life but couldn't figure out how i'd do it so said ex that cheated on me called the police so i got charged for having alcohol. krammnitt
All the Bad News.
I can't get too deep because I'm on mobile but basically :
My older brother passed away shortly after I found out I was cheated on by my girlfriend. All while I was homeless and slowly losing the use of my left leg due to illness.
Then I got the news my innocent, autistic little brother got cancer.
[He's been in remission for a while now, current biggest worry is about Batman or something] Omnilink3
Thanks to the Bestie.
Tried to kill myself, got caught at the right time by mom, mom breaks down, tells me its all my fault and I'm shaming the family name by taking the easy way out. End up staying at the hospital longer than necessary because mom needs an excuse. Start planning elaborate ways to kill myself and making it look like an accident or from a disease.
(A death that won't shame my family) caught a bad case of tuberculosis, laying in bed get a deliriously good idea. Start throwing up whatever i eat or drink. Take meds on empty stomach. Take extra pills or take no meds. Having a weak stomach, now I'm coughing up fresh blood in the bathroom or wherever. I hide them away. Say I'm taking my meds. No one figures out. Goes to bed one night, wakes up in the hospital. I'm too weak to speak. I can't make much sense but I feel somehow disappointed. See my best friend beside my bed.
She's crying her eyes out. Sees me, still crying says she knew I'll survive battling this disease. Says she wouldn't know what to do if I died. Continues to say many things that I have forgotten about. I feel like I betrayed her. I'm crying with her.
Long story short, I crawled out of that basement thanks to my best friend. Yuneame
Success in spite of them!
Girlfriend left me for my best friend. Then they kicked me out of the house that I was paying rent for (turns out I was never added to the lease!). Then they stole all my stuff by not allowing me near the house. I became homeless with just the clothes on my back. I was sick, too. It was great. I worked my butt off to get an apartment, go to college with no student loans, and get a good job. LollipopDreamscape
The Light.
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My daughter went into sudden respiratory arrest when she was 2 months old. Day 9 of ICU I got a call that my older 3 kids were in a bad car accident with their dad and "I don't know if they are okay."
Fortunately they walked away with only mild concussions and my baby is preparing herself for kindergarten and is healthy as can be.
I'm so lucky and so blessed. kochanie2013
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
But we should also be prepared and ready to ask the right questions to have a leg up on the competition.
"What is THE best question to ask on a job interview?"
A company's history or information about a past employee were suggested subjects appropriate for questioning.
Prior Knowledge
"When you were interviewing here, what would you have liked to know before you joined?"
"This worked for me. I asked my interviewer a question about how she had personally dealt with a company policy she had just explained. She bragged about her stellar adherence to the policy. I nodded my approval. I got the job."
A Previous Employee
"One that has always gone over well for me:"
"What were some qualities that the previous employee in this role brought to the job that you would like to see carried forward?"
"Another good thing to do is research the company you are interviewing with and you can ask things about what they may be involved in or you could drop that while reading about the company, you wondered this."
Hypothetical questions were suggested as helpful examples of inquiry.
Indicators Of How Companies Treat Employees
"A question that landed me a job once was: 'If I asked your direct reports about your management style, what do you think they'd tell me?' Stumped a hiring manager and he emailed me personally to tell me about it, no one ever asked him that question but got the job.
"In my current interviews I'm asking 'what did your company do for its employees during [the virus] to improve their day to day, work life balance, etc.' and I ask 'Is there anything your company adopted during [the virus] that they plan to keep post [the virus]?"
"These questions give a lot of insight into whether a company treated their employees well."
Past Performance & Adjustments
"If we were currently sitting in my 1 year review, what would I have done in this year for you to say I excelled in my role?"
"If I could snap my finger right now and change anything about your job or the company, what would it be and why?"
The following questions about a prospective company may not be answered from initial digging on their website.
Measure Of Success & Career Trajectories
"How is success measured in this role?"
"What are some possible career trajectories within the company that could stem from this position?"
Being A Solution
"Ask them what is the biggest problem you can solve for them in your first six months with the company. Similar to 'don't think of a purple hippo,' this forces them to imagine you succeeding in the position."
Simply The Best
"Who is your best employee and why is he/she the best?"
"You will then face 2 situations mostly:"
"panicking CEO who can't answer you 'Bob who works 17 hours a day for a slice of bread' so the fear in their faces must be a big nono for you"
"entusiast CEO who actually follow their business and can tell you who is an added value for the company and why."
– ThePiz91
My experiences with job interviews are different than others seeking work in office environments.
Having had a years-long career as a dancer, my "interview" was the dance audition, where hopefuls dance in small groups of people at a time after learning a routine and then awaiting their fate after the panel evaluates their performances.
The question I may or may not have asked in such a scenario earlier in my career was: "Did I make the cut?"
I did not make the cut. And I learned never to ask that again.
I remember the worst date I ever had. My biggest regret is that I stayed for the entire thing. I should've left as soon as I realized this was not going well, which was basically at hello. But he was paying so I drank, a lot. I'll keep names and dates to myself to protect the innocent.
0/10
Big Brother Reaction GIF by Big Brother After DarkGiphy"Went to brewery, date said I had hairy arms and that meant I was horny, said "you look really awful in this light" and then tried to dig out of that hole by saying in his native language that was a term of endearment long term couples said to each other. 0/10 did not date again."
Lucky 13?
"My wife wanted to plan our 13th wedding anniversary. I was excited because usually, I plan it. She bought us some new disc golf discs and after a quick supper, we went to play. We hadn't played in forever. We were laughing and I had a great time. She served me with divorce papers and told me that the date was a test to see if she still had feelings for me. I also learned that she was having an affair that started well before our anniversary."
- rmorlock
Two Hours from Home
"Not necessarily a date but a person I was dating invited me to his parent's house for the afternoon. He wanted to introduce me to them and show me the house he grew up in. I thought it was super sweet and had no problems going. He was also in the middle of moving and needed to pick up a few things, so it really didn't seem that unusual."
"Yeah, we got there and it was awful. His entire family was there. They traveled from hours away too. This was not just meeting the parents, it was meeting the ENTIRE family. Even worse? At some point, this idiot told his parents that he had proposed. We had been dating TWO months. I spent the entire afternoon dumbfounded and just playing along."
"We were two hours from home and I had no cell service, no way to leave at all. We ended up spending the afternoon brainstorming wedding ideas and planning an Alaskan honeymoon that his parents planned to gift us. His brother even called to say congratulations! We drove back to his apartment in silence. When we got there, I got in my car and left, didn't even bother grabbing my stuff. Weirdest experience ever. I have no idea how he broke it to his parents that we weren't getting married."
You're Cut Off!
"Got set up on a blind date once between mutual friends. She shows up to the restaurant already a little tipsy, orders multiple appetizers and only takes like one or two bites from each one. Then she proceeds to order 3 or 4 more drinks and is visibly drunk at this point. She gets up and says she's going to the bathroom and staggers off. About 15-20 minutes go by so I try to call her several times but no answer."
"Finally I decide to pay the check and just leave. About 2 hours later I'm sitting at home and I get a call from an unknown number. It's the police department. She was picked up on a DUI on her way home after she ditched me and gave the cops my number to see if I could go bail her out!"
- mox44ah
Sorry?
Bbc Three Idk GIF by BBCGiphy"Well, I gave this answer on a different topic, but it ties in with this. We were out on a date, we had been seeing each other for a while, close to a year maybe. She gets a phone call. Suddenly she looks destroyed. Her fiancé had just died in a motorcycle accident."
What in the world? I mean how can we ever expect to pair off with the dating pool being inundated with liars and nut jobs? I'm going to delete my apps.
Girl, Bye.
Sassy Beyonce GIFGiphy"Had a girl openly flirt with the bartender in front of me. She says she wasn't. But handing him her own phone and asking for his contact info in front of her date seems like it to me."
Crazy!
"Came out from a movie, late at night, and date's Camaro was stolen. Apparently, he called his WIFE (that I did not know he had) and let her know where he was and what happened. She showed up and realized he was on a date! She started chasing ME around the parking lot telling me she was going to kill me. Saved by the cops who showed up just in time to take the auto theft report."
Hey Mom
"Met a girl at a country bar one night in my 20s. We were both pretty drunk but hit it off pretty good. Ended up getting her number and we agreed we'd go on a real date. Fast forward to the date, she gets in my vehicle and... she looks almost identical to my mom. I was mortified. I was polite and we went for lunch where I found out she also had a boyfriend she "wasn't sure if she was into". Never talked to her again."
- SgtGo
Liars...
"When I was in college many years ago, before the advancement of cell phones and social media, I was chatting with a girl I met on a BBS who lived on Long Island, NY. I was 18 at the time, but lied and said I was 22 because she said she was 25. We spent a few weeks emailing each other, as well as calling each other."
"We even exchanged pics. When we finally met up, things blew up. Turns out we both lied about our ages: She was really 33, and lied because she thought she looked younger. She admitted she sent a college photo to me. We still had dinner together, but it was awkward as hell. We never spoke again."
Doubles
Kill Me Now Season 1 GIF by FriendsGiphy"It was a double date. She was more interested talking to the other girl throughout the whole thing. Found out later from the other guy that his girl cheated on him with my date."
Ummm... I think I'm just going to stay single. That is a handful of crazy. Why can't people just be honest? I swear the search for love warps people's brains. Be careful out there people.
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