CaliJohn

Hi Natalie.

Bottoms are different for everyone. Solutions are as well.

Have you heard of Rational Recovery? I just started reading the book, so I can't share too much of it with you. But I like it so far. Of course the Big Book is a great read too, even if you're not a fan of the AA route. You might also try checking out HAMS.cc It's about HARM Reduction.

There are lots of places to get help. But unfortunately we can't do it for you. Believe in yourself. You don't have to kill someone with your car to decide its time to make a change. Be the change you want to be.

Good luck!

PhoenixJ

12 steps in not about god. Many do not even believe in the god concept. It is set of words to help people better themselves. Otherwise a person is just a drunk waiting to happen. Sobriety means to me fixing myself. Booze was the tip of the iceberg. As to choosing- it sounds like you are running out of choices. The police were weird in letting you off. Do you want your 'bottom' to be damage to others- death? Go to meetings with a new fresh look at it. If what you are doing is not working - perhaps it is your thinking, NOT the steps or the SMART or the faith or the food or the books.
Just like diets or running for a marathon.
Support offered.

Zebra1275

Before I got clean I had gotten 3 DUIs.

I had drank two pints of vodka and half a bottle of wine (I'm a 115lb female btw) and was completely incoherent and driving and lost and swerving . . . I got pulled over and the police officer had me call someone to come get me......omfg!!!! I was certain when I saw those lights that I was going to jail. I don't understand why he let me go,

I'm shocked. Especially if he ran your driving record.

Natalie724

I'm sure he did run it. I was certain I was going to jail. I'm still shocked that he let me go. If it had been a state trooper, he surely would have locked me up.

MarkTwain

You don't know where your bottom is.

No one knows until after it happens.

If I or anyone else could predict or tell when the bottom will happen, we'd become billionaires from the suffering we could spare people.

When? Who knows? I could tell you horror stories not only from my own drinking but of others who went through what should have been bottoms but weren't, horrific events, and kept on drinking.

I still don't know why I quit, not really, but I did.

If you're looking for a bottom as a reason for quitting drinking, you're probably not finding it.

MarkTwain

I've known a couple of alcoholic people who killed other people with their cars while drinking and still didn't make a change. (Naturally it wasn't their fault.)

First stop on getting out on bail? Liquor store.

I wish I were making this up.

ScottFromWI

It will happen when you realize that it's really a choice...and you are the only one who can make it. By that I mean that only you can choose to quit drinking. There is no specific "bottom" that will force you to stop, other than death of course.

Accepting that we have a problem and the seeking help can only be done by us.

KiKi0615

Yikes! You got very lucky. If you drink again I feel that something very bad is going to happen. I feel the same way about myself BTW. It's not worth it!

Fitcher

Like others here have said, you reach the bottom when you stop digging.

grayghost1965

I have a similar story - in 2006 I managed to get DUIs # 5 and #6 within 3 months of each other. I was just sure I was headed to jail, but when I went to court, I got a suspended sentence and probation. That period was my last sober period until now. As soon as I got off probation and had the "blow and go" removed from my vehicle, I was hitting the bottle just as hard (probably more so) until last month when I realized that I was in for some worse times if I didn't straighten up.

No one can tell you what your bottom is, or what course you should follow. For me, personally, AA holds no attraction - I realize that it's a non-religious setting, but while on probation I was required to attend and have never met a more negative, almost hateful group of people. This is a small town, so you see the same people no matter what meeting you go to. Most of them don't have jobs, and spend their non-meeting time hanging out downtown - no thank you !

I have found this site and the forums to be a Godsend - I can find the kind of thread that fits with what I am dealing with at a particular time and take what I need and leave the rest.

Good thoughts for you - stay connected to recovery people, regardless of the venue/medium.

PurpleKnight

What bottom are you looking for Natalie?

Your story stops short of either killing someone or killing yourself, what are you waiting for to happen?

Draw a line under the chaos that alcohol is causing and write a new chapter to your future!!

You can do this!!