Please Believe In The Possibility That You Will Heal
By Aman Basra
They say that rock bottom is the reflection point of change. Once you’ve hit rock bottom, the only direction is to go up, right? I’ve always found that hard to believe. What if you are not blessed to be the lucky few who actually have a defined rock bottom? What if you are one of the unfortunate who never experience the saving grace of rock bottom? What if you are one of the ill-fated whose downfall is a limitless descent?
When you are in the depths of despair, there is no end to your agony. The only rock bottom or hard surface you may hit are the recipients of your endless sobbing like when you can’t hold yourself up anymore and succumb to the bathroom in tears or when life’s struggles overwhelm you and you fall on your bed hiding under the sheets in defeat. There is no hope discovered on the cold surface of bathroom tiles or under the darkness of bed sheets. There is no belief to be found when your entire existence is cloaked in a cloud of gloom.
Or so you may think.
Let me push aside the dreary clouds and inject a shot of optimistic light into your mind. Let me attempt the impossible. Let me undertake the daunting task of rectifying your foregone perspective.
I could try to appease you with my own personal experiences. I could tell you that I know what it’s like. I could tell you that I know what you are going through. I could offer some measly remark about shared familiarities but you are so far gone that my attempt would be futile. If I tried, you would retort at me with the obvious questions. When have two struggles mirrored each other unerringly? When have two varying accounts of ache been resolved in their entirety by a single corrective remedy?
I would tell you that you are right, which would leave you shocked. You are right in saying that pain is not always universal. Pain manifests itself in infinite forms. Your pain and mine may have points that cross and connect. There may be some fleeting resemblance of familiarity but the end output is never the same.
Your journey to recovery is self-determined. I can’t relay a specific plan. I can’t convey a detailed how-to guide. There is no twelve self-help manual here. I will not insult your intelligence and capabilities for we both know you can determine those specifics at your own choosing. If I may though, I would like to merely remind you of a fundamental principle that you have somehow forgotten.
You have forgotten your faith. I’d like to think you have not lost it, maybe simply misplaced it for the momentary period. While you were falling in despair, I was searching the lost and found and to my shock, I discovered your faith. It was a bit rugged, roughed up by the journey of being left behind but it was still sturdy and strong, it was still thriving despite the odds.
Place your hand in the palm of my own. Do you feel it? Do you feel the warmth? This is not mine. This is entirely yours. This is the power of your faith. This is the ambiance of your faith between us now. I have no use for it. I am purely returning it to its rightful owner if they will accept it. Will you take the chance? Will you take the chance to have your faith resurrected? Will you believe in the possibility that you will heal? I cannot give you certainty. I cannot give you false assurances. I cannot declare that this all is a guarantee. I can only give you the possibility, a mere opportunity at getting better. The fate of it all is no longer in my hands but your own. It is all contingent on your faith and the unyielding nature I know it has. They say that rock bottom is the reflection point of change but I would disagree. The reflection point of change is here right now and not at a future point of further misery. The reflection point of change stands in front of me and it is you, gazing at your own hand in awe and amazement as conviction colors your face to recovery.