Anyone else hit rock bottom?

Yes, I feel your pain, I hit rock bottom about a year ago . I am a home builder and own commercial real estate. I unfortunately waiting to liquidate toys
hoping things would pick up. Once desperate I had to sell off properties, a restaurant , cars, boats and give away prices (nobody had money to buy them). Last June I was facing some serious financial problems and literally giving stuff away because I couldn't afford warehouse space. I lost a Laundromat, and Arcade vending business etc. We went from two homes, a bunch of cars, plenty of cash flow to nothing in a 18 months.

In August I was fortunate to find a job for a Natural Gas Company (I hadn't worked for a company in 8 years). They sent me to Pennsylvania, and with not having to worry about an immediate income (Money to cover, food, gas, housing for the family etc) I was able to regroup and look for opportunities.

Although I am homesick for Texas, getting away from all the last few years of failures has really helped my confidence, and being up here where property is cheap and labor cheaper I have started building back up (slowly). I have purchased another building (My avatar) and while working for Chesapeake gas starting to get the residual income thing going again. What will I do different this time? NO DEBT!

I wont buy cars, boats, planes, nice homes unless I can pay cash! I have found these material things to be such a burden. When we first moved to PA our furniture was still in Texas, We had NO furniture up here, just sleeping bags, folding chairs, a 14 inch TV and funny thing, my family and I had a blast! We spent a lot of time going for a drive, or picnicking, or taking the kids to the park.. The kids would sit at our card table dinning table and do puzzles in the evening. Once our 10k dinning room set showed up, they haven't sat at it since (wife doesn't want it scratched)... It showed me whats important..

Looking back, I am glad I hit bottom, even though its was a major struggle, I feel it would of happened sooner or later. Living in Texas you see a Mercedes at every light, exotic cars every day, beautiful homes and its easy to get caught up in it. Up here (Western PA) there are plenty of Multi Millionaire farmers and ranchers living in modest family homes, driving old Ford trucks, and living a simple life,,, The difference is, the economy hasn't fazed these guys one bit..

We still have or home in Texas (leased out) and we plan to go back, but I am thankful we are where we are at today..

 

Rock bottom yet you still have Internet access from your home? Real rock bottom is no money, no job, no phone, living on the 'streets'...

And yes, have been there and you KNOW it when you feel it. So are MANY Americans right now for the first time in their lives. While i did pull myself up with the help of family and DID SOMETHING about it, it saddens me to know there may be little anyone can do right ow because CONgress and the financial/banksters are corrupt, breaking MANY laws will not be properly legally taken to task... or even reported on by the corrupt and now toothless mainstream media.

Still, people can camp out at their gvt rep's office...

 

I wouldn't say I have hit rock bottom but some days I feel close.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=223189

It's funny how Jason said that he felt it was actually good for him. I know the feeling. When bad things like this happen it really makes you look at the small important things you have such as you health and friends and family. Some things in life just happen and they can really test how strong you are. Eventually you get the feeling that it is just a bad moment in time and life goes on. Every day is a new day and if focus on the good things the bad doesn't seem to matter so much.

 

Twice in my life.

 

I have a couple times.

When I was 18 I moved to California with $800 in my pocket. I had no family or friends to back me up. Lived in my car for almost a year. I consider that rock bottom though at my young age it was kind of fun...ultimate freedom to not have a single bill or responsibility except finding food.

I then hit rock bottom again in my late 20s. I had run up huge CC debt trying to get my company going. I remember just laying on my couch for days with the phone ringing non stop from bill collectors. Eviction notice on my door. Utilities getting shut off. Car about to be repossessed. Again no family or friends to go to for help. Non stop panic attacks. Constant thoughts of what the easiest way to kill myself was going to be. I even remember coming to peace with the concept of death. It was at that point , where you realize you have nothing left to lose that you feel re-energized...or at least I did. Though it took many months of depression to get there.

I think 'rock bottom' means different things to different people...especially on this forum.

I have a buddy that landed farther down than me and I am now trying to help him. If you still have internet access...if you still have a home...an income stream...you havent really hit rock bottom.

 

my rock bottom was in the early 80s - living in the ghetto part of town,
eating government cheese handouts and bologna sandwiches, alternating
each month on which bills just wouldn't get paid, while having the gas
turned off altogether. So any downturn since then has been nothing
by comparison. Knock on wood.

Jedi

 

Rock bottom we would not be hearing from you for a while.

 

Rock bottom varies. The multi-millionaire who has lost seven or eight properties and is down to $50K in savings and has just closed a chapter 13 while living in a median priced home they were able to keep IS rock bottom (for them)....... The average Joe who had their condo foreclosed on them, $3K in savings and is now living in an apartment (with a $19.95 a month DSL service) and no job is at rock bottom......The homeless couple who just got kicked off a property they were living at and got their tent stolen is at rock bottom. In short, 'Rock Bottom' varies from person to person. I was at rock bottom about 25 years ago. I was doing lousy at the sales job I had and owned one white dress shirt that I washed and ironed (for the next day) before my room mate came home was rock bottom for me.

At whatever level, hitting the bottom at least once in your life is good for you. It makes you appreciate everything you have and makes you save for a rainy day.

 

Rock bottom may have nothing to do with finances; it can as easily be depression, addiction or a variety of other situations.

 

+1. money isn't everything.

 

I'm sorry to hear that, Jason. You had a lot going on. But one thing is for sure: you are an optimistic, disciplined person and you'll bounce back. This is merely a chapter for your self-help book!!

I think about that scene in Kill Bill 2 where she's buried alive and has to choose whether to keep fighting or let herself die. I listen to that Morricone theme music every once and a while. I've been thinking a lot lately about picking yourself back up when life throws you off the horse. There's sometimes a point where you literally ask yourself whether you will keep on. Whether you'll get out of the rainy, cold mud and get back up on the horse, even though you feel like everything and everyone around you wouldn't care if you just let go and gave up the ghost. But after a time, you clench your hands in the dirt, lift up one eye and see light. You pull your elbows in underneath you and lift your chest up, and with everything you have left you force your body back to your feet, stagger over to your ride and then pull your sorry, soggy self back on and keep going.

"It is not the critic who counts. ... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, who ... if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt

 

wow.

great post

 

Rock Bottom hasn't been a hit since '74.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnnQFLoCbWw

Some things just shouldn't be revisited either.....

 

I am sorry Carl, for some reason I assumed you were talking about financial or business issues, It didn't dawn on me it may be an "emotional rock bottom" Ive always been blessed with being an eternal optimistic.

 

Amazing song by one of my fav bands (though I prefer the UFO version)

 

I have hit emotional rock bottom before, but what ever happens, you just have to get up and keep on going.

 

I wouldn't call it Rock Bottom in fact far from it. I recently had a personal low though. I was just demoted at work from a management position to a supervisory role. I was feeling really down about my abilities but I took good look at the situation and came to the conclusion that even though I did make mistakes I had a GM that set me up for failure (possibly without realizing it) by not giving me the support staff needed to be sucessful. He is now gone and my new GM went to bat for me with the Director (who was buddy-buddy with the old GM) to keep me on board instead of firing me. I know that as long as that Director is in his position I will likely never get promoted again. Then my wife's car just got out of the shop and my car has just had a catastrophic failure so the savings is GONE, what little there was.

I know not as bad as some but when you have the pressure of 3 kids and 2 elderly inlaws to take care of on one income it was pretty heavy stuff to deal with in a 2 week period. I have a week vacation coming in May and 2 more to use before August so I am going to test the job market (not good timing but at least I am still working) and see what is out there. If it were not for my wife I would have slipped even farther before pulling myself together. She is one in a million and I am lucky to have her. Thankfully I don't have any personal demons to deal with like drug or alcohol abuse so financial rock bottom is MUCH easier to deal with. I would pump gas or flip burgers before I let my family down.

Korr, look for the people that love you for support even if that is an internet community like F-chat. Spoken words and written words are the most powerful medicine if you accept it. This is a great bunch of people here and no one here wants to see you fail. PM me and I will give you my cell number if you need to talk. Good luck my friend.

 

I remember once I ran out of Grey Poupon and when I drove thru the Jack in the Box in my Maranello and asked the girl for some she told me to F**K OFF AND DIE!

That really was a sad day for me, as you can imagine!

 

Actually Darth, I think you forgot one. Didn't you tell me about the time when you ran out of Extra virgin olive oil and had to use "virgin" instead to dip your baggette? That was a worse day for sure.

But actually, seriously, there have been two times when I was on my ropes. Once when I wrote a check with the last buck I had for my apartment and the next step was homelessness. That was scary. The other was when I was about 100K in debt and felt there was no way I would ever be able to repay it.

A little luck, a lot of sacrifice, being clever with every opportunity I found, and a lot of hard work got me out of both -- by myself. And, it wasn't over night either. It took years. Believe me, I don't want to go back there again.

But it shows.... it can be done. Those that say we're all "trust babies" to be able own these cars have no clue what we did to get here. Maybe that's why we enjoy them so much. Until you see the bottom, you really can't appreciate the top.

 

12/24/1989, lost wife, didn't have a house but manged to keep my job.
30 year old truck and two pairs of holey jeans was about all I had.
Moved into a 28' travel trailer and started over.

Since then I have been pretty conservative and have always tried to leave options open.
One lesson I learned is just what kind of friends you have when you are down on your luck. The ones that disappeared from my life stayed that way by MY choice. Those kind of friends nobody needs.

 

Peter, I recall you writing this before. If you don't mind, why BEFORE the room mate returned?

This decade has been an emotional rollercoaster for me. Just had 2 big dips in the last 6 months that I'm trying to recover from. Hoping the next decade is better. (even though it may end in 2012!)