saphira

I don't really agree with the terminology "rock bottom" either. I think it gives a lot of alcoholics excuses to keep drinking. I know it kept me drinking for a long time. "Well, I've never hurt anyone, never done anything illegal, so I must not be that bad!" Well, I was hurting my family and myself. That was enough for me. I just felt worn out physically and emotionally and knew I couldn't do it anymore. That was my "bottom."

adore79

Assuming that we are talking about the type of rock bottom that is supposed to be the turning point where an addict chooses recovery or continued using/drinking:

i kinda see rock bottom as not the loss of things in life like family, health, jobs, but somethign that happens within ourselves. It can be an epiphany, a moment of clarity, sudden self realization- whatever you want to call it. I think most alkies, myself included, dont really care what happens to us- bad things are just another excuse to drink and self destruction is a symptom of dependence. However, we dont wish harm on those people around us. Once we realize what our drinking is doing to our loved ones and we realize that we have responsibilities whether we like it or not- that even if we want to drink ourselves to death we simply cannot do so because we do not exist seperate of everyone else but rather everything we do affects others. Finally taking responsibilty for ourselves and others can give us the motivation and strength to trully commit to a recovery plan.