The Secret to Bouncing Back When Life Hits Rock Bottom

There have been moments in my life when everything I thought I could count on was swept away in an instant. Some of you may remember me sharing about Hurricane Wilma back in 2005. In just a few hours and in its aftermath, the storm destroyed everything I had—my home, my possessions, my business, and the sense of stability I clung to. I had to start over from nothing. Yet, it was from that very place of devastation that my path as a mystic and healer truly began to unfold. I discovered that when the world strips you bare, what’s left is the core of your spirit—and that is where the greatest strength is found.

Losing everything after the hurricane taught me that we are not defined by what we own, or by what we lose. We are defined by how we rise, how we choose to step forward even when the ground beneath us feels unsteady. That period of my life was terrifying, yes, but it was also sacred. It opened a doorway into my purpose. I learned that healing and wisdom are born from the ashes of what once was, and that resilience is not about being unbreakable—it’s about learning how to be remade.

Fast forward to this year. Five months ago, I faced a loss that was deeper and more painful than any storm could

bring: the passing of my beloved son, Daniel. He was only fifteen. A brilliant musician, a gentle soul who loved animals and nature, a young man just beginning to step into his identity as a descendant of the Seminole tribe. Losing him was like the earth itself cracked open beneath my feet. This wasn’t about losing things; this was about losing a piece of my heart, my future, my joy. Nothing prepares you for that kind of grief.

And yet, here I am. Still standing. Still breathing. Still rebuilding, though in a very different way than after the hurricane. This time, it’s not about reconstructing walls or collecting possessions. It’s about learning to live with both the beauty and the ache. It’s about honoring my son’s life by continuing to live mine. It’s about letting the pain soften me into deeper compassion, not harden me into bitterness. Every day is a choice: to sit in the dark or to search for the light that Daniel’s spirit still shines into this world.

What I’ve learned is this: the secret to bouncing back when life hits rock bottom is not to try and get back to who you were before. That version of you is gone—and that’s okay. The secret is to allow yourself to be transformed by the fire, the flood, the loss. To give yourself permission to grieve, to stumble, to question, but also to trust that life is not finished with you yet. There is a strength in you that only reveals itself when everything else has been stripped away.

Each time I’ve hit bottom, I’ve discovered a deeper layer of myself. After Wilma, I became the healer I was meant to be. After Daniel’s passing, I am becoming someone new again—someone who carries his light forward, someone who speaks more tenderly, listens more deeply, and cherishes every fleeting moment with those I love. Rebuilding doesn’t mean pretending the loss didn’t happen. It means weaving the pain into your story in a way that gives it meaning, even when it still hurts.

So if you are at your own rock bottom right now, know this: you are not broken beyond repair. You are being reshaped. You will rise, not as who you once were, but as someone more aligned with your soul’s truth. Life will keep asking us to begin again, sometimes painfully, sometimes unexpectedly. And each time we do, we prove to ourselves—and to the world—that the human spirit is stronger than the storms, stronger than the losses, stronger than the darkness. We are not here just to survive, but to keep becoming.

And now I want to ask you, my friends—where in your life have you been broken open, and how did you begin again? Take a moment to reflect on the places you’ve fallen, and the strength you found in rising. Share your story if you feel called. You never know—your resilience may be the light someone else needs to find their way out of the dark.