80 Encouraging & Uplifting Quotes To Get You Back On Your Feet When You've Hit Rock Bottom
Wipe off the dirt and start climbing.
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Hitting rock bottom is one of the hardest things to describe. Those moments are things we tend to talk about a lot because they're what shape us into the people we become.
Rock bottom is the feeling you get when things are going wrong all around you, and life feels chaotic or even hopeless. You're losing drive, motivation, and the ability to think clearly. It's the lowest level you can be on, and the most unhappy a person can be.
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Hitting rock bottom isn't a good thing, but it can lead to growth and positive changes if you so choose.
How do you know if you hit rock bottom? It kind of feels like a roller coaster from which you can't get off. Of course, to make things worse, the roller coaster is underwater, so it's really only a matter of time before you can't hold your breath any longer. You drown under the pressure. In short, it sucks.
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The real question, though, is how do you take those feelings and channel them into something positive? How do you build yourself back up and continue on to a happier and healthier life?
Even starting to think about these things feels overwhelming when you're there. But what do you do when you hit rock bottom? The answer is simple: you rise above because you have nowhere to go but up. And these life quotes will remind you of just that.
The Best Uplifting QuotesThat Hit Hard When You Feel Like You're At Rock Bottom:
1. “Experience is a brutal teacher. But you learn. My god, you learn.” — C.S. Lewis
2. "I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone, it’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people that make you feel all alone." — Robin Williams
3. “I think this is what we all want to hear: that we are not alone in hitting the bottom, and that it is possible to come out of that place courageous, beautiful, and strong.” — Anna White
4. “When this ultimate crisis comes... when there is no way out — that is the very moment when we explode from within and the totally other emerges: the sudden surfacing of a strength, a security of unknown origin, welling up from beyond reason, rational expectation, and hope.” — Émile Durkheim
5. “There would be no cloud-nine days without rock-bottom moments left below.” — Richelle E. Goodrich
6. “When you feel like you have been hit, dig deep and hit back. Rock bottom is not your end; it is your beginning.” — Christine Evangelou
7. "It’s not like in the movies, Mary. There’s no magic reset button at rock-bottom.” — Benjamin W. Bass
8. "When you have hit rock bottom and survived, there are very few things that can scare you."
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9. "Never be afraid to fall apart. It represents an opportunity to rebuild yourself the way you wished you'd been all along." — Rae Smith
10. "Bottom became the solid foundation on which I built my life." — J.K. Rowling
11. “It is impossible to lose everything and still be alive.” — Mokokoma Mokhonoana
12. “As it turns out, it was that very rock bottom that became the firmest foundation I had ever planted my feet on." — Mandy Hale
13. “I spent so much time at “rock bottom” that I was charged rent for staying there.” — D.C. Hyden
14. “Sometimes it takes being left seemingly with nothing to realize that you are everything. To see that you held the key to your own happiness and self-worth and belonging and wholeness all along.” — Mandy Hale
15. “The best stories come from rock-bottom.” — Trevor Carss
16. "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." — Mother Teresa
17. "Hitting rock bottom doesn't mean you have to stay there." — Michelle Parsons
18. “When I’m at the bottom looking up, the main question may not be ‘how do I get out of this hole?’ In reality, the main question might be ‘how do I get rid of the shovel that I used to dig it?” — Craig D. Lounsbrough
19. “There is no pillow, no comforter, no room for the night at rock bottom. Once you hit there, get up and get out!” — Toni Sorenson
20. “Rock bottom is the bedrock from which every good thing was ever built.” — Toni Sorenson
21. “Sometimes we need to be knocked down in a place so dark that we have no choice but to trust our heart to illuminate the way.” — Brittany Burgunder
22. “One of the most amazing things that we often forget is this: God never forgets us! Face it; you could hide under a rock, but, God will still be beside you saying, "Rock bottom, already?” — Mary Kate
23. “Once you hit rock bottom, that's where you perfectly stand; That's your chance of restarting, but restarting the right way.” — Justin Kanayurak
24. "I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love." — Mother Teresa
25. "Strength and growth only come from continuous effort and struggle." — Napolean Hill
26. “If you have never reached rock bottom, you have never attended the school of greatness.” — Matshona Dhliwayo
27. “Life is not for the faint-hearted.” — Nicky Verd
28. “The beauty of adversity is that when we hit bottom, the only way to go is up.” — Dana Arcuri
29. “When you hit rock bottom; test your limits, compete with yourself and challenge your potential. There is no greater glory than self-achievement.” — Somya Kedia
30. “Sometimes we have to reach rock bottom before we're willing to rise up and overcome our trials.” — Dana Arcuri
31. “This is only rock bottom if you let it be.” — Lauren Evers
32. "Having a soft heart in a cruel world is courage, not weakness."
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33. "Sometimes it takes an overwhelming breakdown to have an undeniable breakthrough."
34. “Here's the thing about hitting rock bottom. You can either stay down there or get back up. It's your choice.” — Hannah Camacho
35. “Your breakdown is a breakthrough.” —Andrea Benito
36. “I hit rock bottom, but thank God my bottom wasn’t death.” — Stevie Ray Vaughan
37. Rock bottom demands we pay a price for the ride back to the top.” — Toni Sorenson
38. “When you hit rock bottom and survive, there are very few things left in life that can scare you.”
39. “It doesn’t matter how often you get knocked down, it matters how many times you get back up.”
40. "You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." — Mahatma Gandhi
41. "Sometimes you have to get knocked down lower than you ever were in order to stand taller than you've ever been."
42. “Rock bottom is good solid ground, and a dead-end street is just a place to turn around.” — Buddy Buie
43. “Some of my lowest points were the most exciting opportunities to push through to be a better person.” — Demi Moore
44. “I think you sometimes have to go hit rock bottom before you can grow and rebuild as a person.” — Paul Dano
45. “Hitting bottom and hitting it hard was the worst thing that ever happened to me and the best thing that ever happened to me.” — Dave Ramsey
46. “This is what they call “hitting rock bottom,” and they call it that because it rocks.” — Rob Sheffield
47. “There are times when we must sink to the bottom of our misery to understand truth, just as we must descend to the bottom of a well to see the stars in broad daylight.” — Vaclav Havel
48. "Keep in mind, when you hit rock bottom, you got nowhere to go but up, baby." — Ludacris
49. "Rock bottom has built more heroes than any privilege ever could."
50. “Many have to hit rock bottom before they want to make any changes. We show them they’re not alone, and we offer them the chance to realize they can make those changes.” — Susan Hicks
51. “No matter how terrible the day, the sun will rise the next morning.”
52. “When you feel like quitting, remember why you started.”
53. “Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.” — Muhammad Ali
54. “Sure rock bottom has a basement, that’s where the real work starts.”
55. “Nothing produces invincibility like hitting rock bottom and coming back.”
56. "Use love as the only instrument to question the world around you." — R.M. Drake
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57. "Before something great happens, everything will fall apart."
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58. "Even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise." — Rumi
59. "Fall seven times, stand up eight." — Japanese Proverb
60. "If you fall behind, run faster, never give up, never surrender, and rise up against the odds." — Jesse Jackson
61. "Sometimes against all odds, against all logic, we still hope."
62. "The human soul, beaten down, overwhelmed, faced by complete failure and ruin, can still rise up against unbearable odds and triumph." — Harold Russell
63. "When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor." — Elon Musk
64. "The best view comes after the hardest climb."
65. "It's gonna be okay. No matter how hard your rock bottom is, you can rise above it and you can come back." — Demi Lovato
66. "Success is how high you bounce after hitting the bottom." — George S. Patton
67. "How could you rise anew if you first did not become ashes?" — Nietzche
68. "What defines us is how well we rise after we fall." — Zig Ziglar
69. "Struggles are required in order to survive in life because in order to stand up you got to know what falling down is like."
70. "She fell, she crashed, she broke, she cried, she crawled, she hurt, she surrendered, and then... she rose again." — Nausicaa Twila
71. "I understood myself only after I destroyed myself. And only in the process of fixing myself did I understand who I really was." — Sade Andria Zabala
72. "If you're going through hell, keep going." — Winston Churchill
73. "What you become depends on what you can overcome." — Anthony Douglas Williams
74. "Our greatest glory is not in never failing but in rising every time we fall." — Confuscious
75. "Sometimes you just have to die a little inside in order to be reborn and rise again as a stronger and wiser version of you."
76. "I don't believe in rock bottom. Rock bottom is like a fishing term." — Charlie Sheen
77. "As I grow older, much older, I will experience many things, and I will hit rock bottom again and again. Again and again I will suffer; again and again I will get back on my feet. I will not be defeated. I won't let my spirit be destroyed." — Banana Yoshimoto
78. "You slam the bottom and either walk away or suck it up and get through it." — Gabrielle Reece
79. "I'm satisfied to go in at the bottom — that's the best way to learn what things are all about." — Cesar Romero
80. "Keep going, the best is yet to come."
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Beth El Fattal is a writer who covers astrology, pop culture, and relationships topics.