quitting without hitting bottom?
where the light is
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 2,763
From 12 Steps & 12 Traditions:
This quote helps me understand where my life was heading if I did not take action. I didn't really lose anything in a physical sense but the self-hatred & mental anguish were my bottom. I'm actually very grateful that I didn't have to go down even further before I woke up.
It is a tremendous satisfaction to record that in the following years this changed. Alcoholics who still had their health, their families, their jobs, and even two cars in the garage, began to recognize their alcoholism. As this trend grew, they were joined by young people who were scarcely more than potential alcoholics. They were spared that last ten or fifteen years of literal hell the rest of us had gone through. Since Step One requires an admission that our lives have become unmanageable, how could people such as these take this Step?
It was obviously necessary to raise the bottom the rest of us had hit to the point where it would hit them. By going back in our own drinking histories, we could show that years before we realized it we were out of control, that our drinking even then was no mere habit, that it was indeed the beginning of a fatal progression.
It was obviously necessary to raise the bottom the rest of us had hit to the point where it would hit them. By going back in our own drinking histories, we could show that years before we realized it we were out of control, that our drinking even then was no mere habit, that it was indeed the beginning of a fatal progression.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 384
I don't think that hitting bottom has anything to do with it...
it's when we've had enough. For some people, that conclusion finally comes when they hit bottom. Consider yourself fortunate that you don't need to spiral any further down in your addiction to stop the madness.
I am one that didn't hit the proverbial "rock bottom"... but I had enough of what alcohol was doing to my life. I decided to quit on a 'positive note' rather than a 'negative situation'. I consider myself very lucky to have been given the chance to quit before dire consequences made the decision for me.
Please look at your present situation & the mindset you have to want to quit as a gift... there is as positive energy that is giving you the chance to change before an event happens that you will regret for the rest of your life.
Deep in my heart I know that there was a reason that I needed to quit when I did... I don't know the exact reason for it, and I may never know... but for some reason I needed to quit then... it may be that I'm destined to do something important, or it may be that I need to be responsible so that I don't mess up the destiny of someone else that is here to make a positive difference. I now take pride in being responsible...for myself, and for others that come in contact with me.
it's when we've had enough. For some people, that conclusion finally comes when they hit bottom. Consider yourself fortunate that you don't need to spiral any further down in your addiction to stop the madness.
I am one that didn't hit the proverbial "rock bottom"... but I had enough of what alcohol was doing to my life. I decided to quit on a 'positive note' rather than a 'negative situation'. I consider myself very lucky to have been given the chance to quit before dire consequences made the decision for me.
Please look at your present situation & the mindset you have to want to quit as a gift... there is as positive energy that is giving you the chance to change before an event happens that you will regret for the rest of your life.
Deep in my heart I know that there was a reason that I needed to quit when I did... I don't know the exact reason for it, and I may never know... but for some reason I needed to quit then... it may be that I'm destined to do something important, or it may be that I need to be responsible so that I don't mess up the destiny of someone else that is here to make a positive difference. I now take pride in being responsible...for myself, and for others that come in contact with me.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Ct.
Posts: 5
searching for answers
Thanks so much to all of you for your sharing on this topic of "bottoms"...while i have always had a fear in the back of my mind that i had a problem....and am grappling with it more now, at 52...it has been a crazy process....and if i am honest, i have never been able to relax around alcohol..and it has gotten worse....i obsess over it..for myself and everyone else...weather or not that is making me an alcoholic or i am acting on ACOA isses...i must stop drinking altogether...it is not serving any good purpose...while in college..i always drank to get drunk, in high school too , for that matter, it seems now that i am older, i can stop, because i can exert a great deal of control to stop myself...out of fear, pure fear..and according the the Big Book, that does not make me an alcoholic...i just continue to go to alanon..and pray for my obsessions to lessen...or go away altogether...is that possible...??
I will keep working my program..Thanks Again
rerun
I will keep working my program..Thanks Again
rerun
Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 2,059
sanjay-
i just want to say that the only requirement to joining AA is a desire to stop drinking.
i quit before hitting bottom as i could clearly see that it was leading down the path to nowhere. i attend AA for right focus. it really helps.
naive
i just want to say that the only requirement to joining AA is a desire to stop drinking.
i quit before hitting bottom as i could clearly see that it was leading down the path to nowhere. i attend AA for right focus. it really helps.
naive
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