Buckley3

There's a "bottom" beneath the "bottom" I hit that makes my "bottom" look like a wonderful life.

I think 'hitting bottom' is more of a subjective & figurative way of describing reaching the limit of what you can survive or tolerate. It's a myth that we don't have a say in it.

Sadly I can relate to your post. In the days leading up to finding my 'bottom' I had myself b.s.'d into thinking that's what it would take. Please don't. When it comes things can get out of control very quickly. Absolutely doesn't have to be that way.

B

Eddiebuckle

I personally hate the expression "he/she has hit his/her bottom" - as though each of us have a nadir in our addiction at which we are pre-ordained to have that mythical "moment of clarity". As totfit said earlier, the only sure bottom in addiction is a grave.

rascalwhiteoak

I'm more of a "sick and tired of being sick and tired" quitter than a "rock bottom" one. It was a series of small, yet very stark, realizations that pushed me to stop drinking. No sense in seeing how bad it can get, right?

MantaLady

There was a lovely chap at the rehab I have just spent 2 monthss at that was talking about rock bottom and relapse. He said he had had so many rock bottoms, periods of sobriety and relapse that at 62 he sometimes looked with fondness at rock bottom number 1 or 2 etc as they were much better than rock bottom number 7, we all laughed as we all got it. Rock bottom is different for everyone and no matter how low it gets there is always another layer below until the ultimate of death.

Recovery is not reliant on a rock bottom, it is reliant on admitting you are powerless over alcohol and surrender, on a good strong recovery plan, on reaching out to other humans when you are struggling. Recovery is reliant on the person wanting it enough and working their recovery plan to the letter, no excuses, no procrastination! xx

Berrybean

Everyone's bottom looks different. We can stop digging whenever we've decided we don't want to go any lower.

BB

nez

A 180 degree turn doesn't necessarily entail a rock bottom. My journey included several points and times that could be looked at as a rock bottom. I had a physical one, a mental one, etc. I am not sure if my recovery was reliant on a bottom but it started with a 180 degree turn.

MindfulMan

This.

There was a rehab counsellor that I could not STAND. A disbarred lawyer working on reentering his profession, he was arrogant, entitled, and was constantly hinting that he was slumming by being a rehab counselor, and was only doing it because he'd lost his license as an attorney.

His meetings were all about structure in recovery, making your plan, and sticking to it. Certain professions (nursing, doctors, lawyers) have very specific programs that must be followed to regain and maintain your professional license once you've been censured for substance abuse. They are very controlled, involve a ton of accountability in the form of random testing, specific as hell and have definitive timelines and milestones.

They also have a VERY high success rate.

So his group was all about forming a very specific and accountable recovery plan. It was the most practically useful meeting with regards to my continued sobriety. I thanked that a-hole daily for months after!

DreamCatcher17

I don't believe that is a requirement and everyone's rock bottom may look different.
I could only imagine the worst case scenario for my "rock bottom" so I wanted to get out of the game before that scenario happened in real life.

You only have to go as far down the rabbit hole as you want to go. Hopefully you are far enough down the hole and will start to climb out into the sunshine!

Blessings,
DC

August252015

Recovery is reliant on deciding to quit drinking permanently, no matter what.

Berrybean

Can I also add something that occurred to me this morning...

At then end of my drinking and start of my recovery my bottom was not a definite. I could have gone lower,, but I think something in me just suddenly became aware of that, and realised that some drastic changes were required. My house of cards was a-wobbling. I didn't know for definite that I was at my personal bottom at that point. I just knew that I felt desperate and hopeless and hated myself and my life.

Then I spent 6 months sober and my life got better practically speaking - there were no new consequences to deal with, let's put it that way. But, even though I was sober and even attending meetings and posting on here, I wasn't actually doing any recovery work, and so, at 6 months sober I experienced another bottom. My soul was crushed and I knew the answer wasn't to go back, or to stay how I was, But it still took a while for me to realise that, like all those others in the rooms of AA and here in this forum, if I wanted to be happy and free I needed to put some work into it, just as others said, and finally I leant into my fear and committed to it. Got a sponsor and started the step work, no matter how scary I found it.

Nowadays I can look back and retrospectively know what my bottom was. But like someone else said, it is not a preordained thing. We can always go a bit lower if we choose to keep digging, until we reach death.

I wasted a lot of futile time and energy trying to figure out if this was my rock bottom (ie is this when I'm supposed to stop drinking). Then one day I read (on here) what I've chosen as my signature thingy, about it being time to stop digging is when we realise we're in a hole. It's only in retrospect, with a good dollop of recovery, that we can understany what our bottom is and can even start to realise how low it was for us personally. At the time it's not obvious. Even people who get really sick, or lose all their possessions, or kill someone, or ehose kids get taken away, or survive some terribly-awful drunk situation that should by rights have killed them - all sometimes decide to keep drinking a nd find that yep, it can still get worse.

Sorry if that's a bit rambling.
BB

Healthyandsober

I think recovery is one of the hardest things a person can do in their lifetime. Why wait till you lose everything to then climb out of the hole with no house, no job, no family, no kid, no health, no self respect and no sole?

Few people can come from that...why if you are in a deep deep hole you then would choose to trow dirt on you to bury yourself.

sorry just thinking out load in your thread. In all seriousness the sooner you get off this night train the better. (I need to listen to my own advice for sure)

Fly N Buy

If I were to blindfolded and headed towards the side of a cliff, when should I stop? Am I there, yet? Can I take a few more steps..................