How deep are you willing to dig?
 

They say you have to hit rock bottom before you can change (for us become sober). Sometimes, I think this has been a crutch for me in a way. My life isn't too bad, I haven't lost a job, or been arrested...nothing really bad has happened to me from my drinking...so how bad can my problem be?

But I know I have a problem and I am destroying myself both physically and mentally. So maybe I just need to decide that THIS IS my rock bottom.

I don't want to see how bad it can be. So today I have decided to stop digging my hole. And I can only go UP from here!!

So I challenge each of you. How deep are you willing to dig? Or are you ready to only go UP from here? I hope so. You are worth it. :grouphug:

Good for you! Go for it!

IME, you can't decide that you've hit bottom- you know it, or you don't. There were about a million times I "should" have hit bottom- and seen it for myself, and stopped. I didn't stop til I chose to.

Indeed, a "high bottom" can keep you drinking. Or you can stop at the small stuff (feeling bad, missing work here and there, etc). Those folks are lucky and smart. I had to go way, way, WAY further- to the brink of death by liver disease in the form of 12-18mos to live. Not to mention all the OTHER baggage and damage I had accumulated.

I don't think we can wish for a glowing sign from above to stop - but I think when we get the one that we really "get" it's time to make the choice, finally.

Rock bottom means to me that I've reached that point where CarolD and least would say you want to be sober more than you want to drink. I also didn't have many negative consequences, yet.

Have you joined a SR class ?

I am in the August class :)

I feel it's like an elevator plummeting down yet we can get off anytime we choose to. Some of us just stay on till it hits the ground (death,prison etc) others hop off before that ( a bad hangover, job loss, self loathing). It's your choice how far. Congrats on getting off that elevator. Let's not get back on

good post kgirl :)

D

Some people don't survive their bottom. Best to stop TODAY always.

Thanks for sharing

imo, this excerpt from the big book of aa sums it up pretty good:


Among today’s incoming A.A. members, many have never reached the advanced stages of alcoholism, though given time all might have.

Most of these fortunate ones have had little or no acquaintance with delirium, with hospitals, asylums, and jails. Some were drinking heavily, and there had been occasional serious episodes. But with many, drinking had been little more than a sometimes uncontrollable nuisance. Seldom had any of these lost either health, business, family, or friends.

Why do men and women like these join A.A.?

The seventeen who now tell their experiences answer that question. They saw that they had become actual or potential alcoholics, even though no serious harm had yet been done.
They realized that repeated lack of drinking control, when they really wanted control, was the fatal symptom that spelled problem drinking. This, plus mounting emotional disturbances, convinced them that compulsive alcoholism already had them; that complete ruin would be only a question of time.

Seeing this danger, they came to A.A. They realized that in the end alcoholism could be as mortal as cancer; certainly no sane man would wait for a malignant growth to become fatal before seeking help.

Therefore, these seventeen A.A.’s, and hundreds of thousands like them, have been saved years of infinite suffering. They sum it up something like this: “We didn’t wait to hit bottom because, thank God, we could see the bottom. Actually, the bottom came up and hit us. That sold us on Alcoholics Anonymous.”

Thank you tomsteve, that is perfect. :tyou

I was willing to dig pretty deep. I was almost 6 feet under with my drinking. I came to it just in time. I wanted the cops to shoot me (suicide by cop). They tazed me instead. I'm happy to be alive, and that didn't happen!!!

I hit the pavement ... I wouldn't recommend it ...

Kgirl41-great post!

I couldn't have gone much further than I did. I reached a point that I was in an impossible situation, but I can see also that someone with a few brains might see it coming . Such a person could realize the inevitable end of the alcoholic road and make that same rock bottom choice I did.

Live life on a spiritual basis or face an alcoholic death. For most of us denial prevents us seeing the latter, but if you are blessed with a moment of clarity where you can see the truth of your situation, that could be a pretty effective rock bottom.

I dug myself a pretty deep hole. I was in severe denial, until I had a moment of clarity (I call it a spiritual awakening) while I was handcuffed in the back of a police car after my 3rd DUI. I knew right then and there that I had to be done drinking and ruining my life and potentially the lives of others. No one else got hurt physically because of my stupid behaviors, but it was probably only a matter of time. I was at such a low point that sometimes I couldn't see the point in being alive, but my higher power reminded me that I have family and friends who would be devastated if I were gone. So that was my bottom, and the moment I started to climb out of my hole. If you can make the choice to quit before things like that start to happen, you are blessed, indeed.