Rise Again

You ever feel like life just… knocks the wind right outta you? Like, no warning. No build-up. Just boom, and suddenly everything’s upside down.

Sometimes it creeps in slow — like watching stuff you cared about just… fade away. Like sand slipping through your fingers. Other times? It’s instant. One message. One phone call. One stupid second. And then you’re on the floor wondering, what the hell just happened?

Yeah, I’ve been there. A few years ago, actually. I quit this job that was draining the life outta me. Thought I’d feel relieved, like, finally free or whatever. But nope. What came instead? Fear. Anxiety. That weird, heavy quiet where you don’t really know what to do with yourself.

I had no routine, no backup plan, nothing. My confidence? Gone. Like I couldn’t even remember who I was without that job title or the daily chaos. Some mornings, I’d just lay there, staring at the ceiling, thinking... is this it?

Then — and I swear this felt random at the time — I got a call from a friend I hadn’t talked to in months. We chatted, and somewhere in the convo, he goes, “Remember when you thought you weren’t gonna finish college? Or when you were broke but still cracked jokes like nothing was wrong?” And it just hit me. Not in a ‘rah-rah motivational’ kinda way — more like, wait… yeah. I’ve done hard things before. I survived that. Why not now too?

That didn’t flip a switch or anything. Life didn’t magically get better after that call. But it gave me something. Like… a crack of light in the dark. A small reason to try.

Rising again? It’s not some big Hollywood moment, okay? It’s not fireworks or some epic “I’m back!” montage. It’s messy. Real messy. It’s crying at 2 a.m. and still showing up to your 9 a.m. like nothing’s wrong. It’s rewriting your resume for the 5th time even though no one’s replied to the first four. It’s standing in front of the mirror, feeling like crap, and still telling yourself, get up anyway.

I started doing tiny things. Like journaling — nothing deep, just brain-dumping whatever was in my head. Taking slow walks, even if I didn’t feel like it. Playing old songs that reminded me of better days. Talking to people who actually saw me — not just the “me” I performed for work or social media. Slowly, like really slowly, I started to feel a little more… me again.

And listen, it’s not just me, okay? There’s people out there who went through way worse and still got back up. Oprah got fired. J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter when she was broke and depressed. They didn’t have magic powers. They just didn’t quit.

The biggest thing I’ve realized? Just ‘cause something ends — a job, a relationship, a dream you thought was the one — that doesn’t mean you’re over. As long as you’re breathing, there’s still time. Still space to become whoever you’re supposed to become next. Even if that version of you doesn’t look like what you pictured before. Maybe especially then.

So, if you’re reading this and you're in that weird stuck space — like everything's blurry and you're just tired — just know you’re not alone. I swear, more people are walking around feeling this than you think. We’ve all had our face-in-the-pillow, “I can’t do this anymore” moments. But look — we’re still here. You’re still here.

And that? That means you’ve still got a shot. Maybe not at going back to who you were, but at becoming someone even better. Even realer. Someone who’s seen the storm and still decided to move forward.

You don’t have to fix it all today. Honestly? Just do one small thing. Brush your teeth. Text that one person back. Step outside and feel the sun. That counts. That’s something.

One day — could be soon, could take a while — but one day, you’ll look back and think, wow. I made it.

So yeah. Fall apart if you need to. Cry. Be mad. Stay in bed a little longer.

But then?

Rise again.

You’ve done it before.

You’ll do it again.

And maybe this time… even stronger.