In the Cincinnati metropolitan area where we live, seven bridges span the Ohio River that separates Ohio from Kentucky. So what I am about to tell may not be as easy to identify with if you live in a land-locked city.

Over the past couple of years I have struck up conversations with homeless people in downtown Cincinnati. A question I often ask the individual is “Where do you live?”  I get several answers from “I just got out of jail” to a shrug of the shoulders.

But the most common answer is “under the bridge.”  A specific bridge is not mentioned—just under the bridge.  I believe they are giving me more than a geographic location. This is a way of telling me their situation in life is at rock bottom. There is usually a tone of resignation when they give me that answer.

We all probably have times in our lives when we feel like we live under the bridge. A setback or life-changing event sends us reeling. We stagger, wondering how we can get out from “under the bridge.” 

Even though you may be figuratively living under the bridge, you know that things will change. Just thinking of people that literally live under the bridge may help you pull out of the doldrums with a different perspective on your own situation.