A Breakdown is Not the End

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Sometimes falling apart is part of falling into place.

Breakdowns aren’t the end - they’re often the beginning.

So don’t worry if you’ve hit rock bottom - bedrock is a great foundation to build upon.

Here is a never-before-seen Wisdom Made Easy visual:

This visual was inspired by the Japanese art of Kintsugi.

This is the act of restoring broken pottery by using gold to put the pieces back together.

This typically makes the renewed pottery more beautiful than the original.

You are the same.

You are more beautiful because of the things that you have experienced that once broke you.

Today’s Saying is a piece of scripture that was a great comfort to me when I felt like I’d hit rock bottom.

It is often our weaknesses that become our strengths.

I used to be so ignorant about mental health that I was dangerously offensive.

Then I went on my own mental health journey and I felt at my weakest, but this led me to have a greater understanding and compassion for other others who were experiencing depression.

Can you relate to this? Have you grown stronger in an area that you used to feel week in?

God has a strange way of using collapse to create clarity.

Whether it’s burnout, heartbreak, or failure - these moments feel like an undoing, but often these things falling apart make space for something new and more meaningful.

Many spiritual traditions and psychological theories recognise that crisis often precedes growth. It is the cocoon before the wings.

So if you find that you’re at rock bottom or trying to put yourself back together, here are 3 ways to embrace the breakdown as part of your becoming:

1. Name what’s ending.

   Every breakdown signals that something is no longer serving you.
   An identity, belief, relationship or story - whatever it is, let it go.

2. Stop rushing to fix.

   Growth following hardship isn’t always linear or instant. In fact, most growth isn’t.

   You may find that the wisest thing you can do following a wreckage is to pause to take it in.

   Recognise that growth won’t happen on your timeline, but don’t forget to eventually…

3. Look for the gold.

   Like Kintsugi, fill your cracks with meaning.

   What strength, wisdom, or compassion is being formed through this breaking?

I am keen that WISER serves you in the experiences that you are navigating.

Consider responding to this email with the breakdown that you’re currently trying to find meaning in.

Here is today’s journal prompts to get you unpacking today’s wisdom:

• Have I been broken by an experience that I now perceive as a catalyst for growth?

• Am I currently at rock bottom? Have I paused to take in what has led me to this place?

• What gold or meaning have I taken from an experience that previously broke me?

Want to learn more about journaling? Join Journal Wiser today!

Today’s resource is a bit different. I want to share about a charity that is doing remarkable things to empower people to recognise that feeling broken is not the end.

Kintsugi Hope empowers leaders to run wellbeing groups, helping individuals to better understand mental health, stress, shame, self-acceptance and much more.

I had the honour of being a wellbeing group leader a couple of years ago, and it was great to see the transformation in some participants because of the safe space that this charity helps facilitate.

You can learn more about their mission and where you can find a local group to participate in here:

If you have any feedback on the WISER Newsletter, I would love to hear it! Simply reply to this email, and I will get back to you. Alternatively, just DM me on social media.

You can find my social links and learn how to work with me here.

Catch you in the next issue!

Thanks,
Michael