Breakdown
I had a serious breakdown in 2021.
Only 2 people know about it.
Now you do, too.
A ton of stress and decades of repressed emotion caused it.
It's a long story for another time,
But I will tell you what I learned from it
Because it changed my life.
And I know it will change yours, too.
As I sat on the bench in my gym that cold night in 2021,
I was midway through my breakdown,
And these words appeared in my mind —
In high contrast, black and white —
"Soon, this pain will be useful to you."
You may recognize this sentence.
I posted it yesterday on the FWH Instagram feed.
See, I was reflecting on that moment yesterday morning,
And I realized a life-changing lesson about it.
I wasn't breaking down —
I was breaking through.
I was breaking through my repressed trauma,
And the self-limiting beliefs
And the self-imposed boundaries that came with it.
It was a painful process…
But it was positive disintegration in its purest form.
This is why I say:
Look, people criticize, imitate, love, and hate me for this FWH quote,
But it is THE rawest and truest piece of life advice I can give you.
See, as humans, we experience the pain of loss, regret, and guilt for a reason:
To EVOLVE.
Just like your muscle,
You break down to ultimately break through… and build up.
The key — the hard part — is keeping your eyes open through this process,
Seeing it all, feeling it all, and learning through it all.
You must not allow the experience to envelop you in the darkness…
You must keep your eyes fixed on the light, no matter how faint.
When you learn through this process, you reorganize, reinvent, and reinvigorate yourself.
You reach more robust and more tenacious levels of your higher self.
So whether you're voluntarily or involuntarily experiencing pain right now,
Know that you are not breaking down,
You are breaking through…
And I'm with you.
Joey
