If you are like me, I didn’t think I had hit bottom the first time I stopped drinking. Sure my life was a mess, I could see that, but I wasn’t that bad, and I surely wasn’t like one of those weird people in the rooms of recovery. Below are the signs I knew I had hit my bottom.
“You can get off the elevator at anytime I just happened to get off sooner. I know my bottom could be much lower, but I’d rather not find out. Instead I choose to stay sober.”- Anon
1.You want to stop drinking, but can’t
If you find yourself drinking when you had no intention on drinking, or you don’t want to drink and end up drinking, then you are close to hitting you bottom. There was a time towards the end of my drinking when I was walking into a bar and I DID NOT want to drink. My mouth was salivating, my feet were moving, but my soul was screaming No!No! I walked in and ordered a shot… and a drink… and drank it as fast as I could. I did not want to drink, but it seemed like it was beyond my control.
2.You are sick and tired of yourself
The choices you keep making are getting you in trouble, you keep making mistake after mistake and when you really think about it, you wouldn’t want to be around you. When you look in the mirror you don’t look for too long because you know what you will find looking back- the truth.
3.Your problems are piling up
Unpaid bills, relationships in turmoil, issues at work. You might be lucky and not have every area in your life in trouble, but most of us do. Drinking away the problems no longer work and you start to get the sinking feeling that you are at the end.
“Everything hit me at once. I was going through a divorce, my business was failing, my health was in jeopardy because of my. All my accounts were at zero. I feel lucky to have hit bottom to be able to rebuild a new life, sober.” – Jackie 5 years sober
4.People are telling you to quit drinking or slow down
Other people are making comments about your drinking or have done an intervention, you may have hit bottom. If your boss, spouse, friends, and especially drinking friends are making comments, it’t time to listen to what they are saying and take a look at your drinking. It might be time to moderate, or it might be time to quit for good.
“I went on a date with a guy that did not drink, and I ordered a glass of wine, and then a 2nd, and on my 3rd glass, he made a comment about how much I was drinking. I was in shock. Never had I sat at dinner with someone that wasn’t also drinking. It was a huge eye opener and gut check. He said something along the lines of “Most people have a glass, maybe two, and you are already on number three and we aren’t even done with dinner…” Ouch. I hit bottom and quit drinking a few months after that date.” – Sarah 1 year sober
Only you can know for sure if you’ve hit bottom. Everyones bottom looks different, and no two stories are the same. I hope this gives you some insight and things to think about if you are wondering if you have hit bottom. So what do you do next if you’ve hit bottom? The first thing I did was reach out to a family member and let them know I needed help. I went to the doctor, and was admitted into detox, then to a six week outpatient program. During my outpatient treatment, I also attended 12 Step Meetings.
Below are some resources to read more about recovery.
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