http://www.amandamillerlittlejohn.com/podcast

Warning: personal story ahead.

The year I started my business was one of the hardest years of my entire life.

It was the year that I became a mother and despite the joys of motherhood, my personal life was a mess.

You see, all of these major life events just so happened to coincide with the Great Recession of 2008-2009 and the economy was crumbling around me. Not only was my reporting job eliminated, but my husband was laid off in that same time span. Add a newborn baby to the mix and you can quickly see how that got real stressful, real fast.

I remember feeling embarrassed, humbled, defeated, depressed.

It felt like all of the odds were stacked against me. They were stacked against this frightened, new young family that was struggling to get off the ground.

But somehow, some way we made it out of that year. We not only survived, but we began to thrive on the other side. Before we made it out though, there were a few times that I distinctly came to recognize "rock bottom".

We had not only hit it, but we had set up camp. We had moved in.

Having to ask for help to keep our household afloat was the worst. That was a feeling I had never felt before.

But despite how bad things got, I somehow had the fortitude to understand that we were bigger than our situation. And this simple truth fortified me during the worst of it.

If you are at rock bottom, or are still operating from a "rock bottom mentality" you'll want to keep this one big lesson I learned from all of that in mind.