Hitting bottom is a term used in addiction recovery to define the moment of realization an addict has when he sees himself objectively for the first time as a true addict who can and must recover. It is a moment when that crystallizes into the realization that, “I cannot live like this for a single moment more…”
I have often referred to my own “hitting bottom” moment as the best and worst day of my life. The best because it was the day I knew I would recover from an over decade-long drug addiction and the worst because the pain I experienced as I finally saw myself for the disgusting, worthless fiend I truly was; without filter or excuses, I finally realized who I was and what I was doing to myself. That pain was deeper than any physical pain since it went to the core of my spiritual self; something eternal and essential. Then began the long, long journey through recovery to sobriety. Sixteen years later I am still clean.
As a counselor, my job is not just to get people to get clean because many addicts have not fully realized their addiction. My job is to get them to that realization without hitting bottom. Why?
Because bottom is emotional and spiritual devastation and it is traumatic. I don’t want others to have to lose themselves (and loved ones and property) before they finally commit to recovery.
I recognize a counselor’s job as helping the client mature as a person in character and virtue so they can make the inevitable conclusion that getting clean is the only option. The maturation process can take time, but once you get a person to commit on their own personal level they will make it for good. Too many addicts, families and treatment programs think the work is all about abstinence; getting the addict to stop at all costs. I am willing to tolerate some addictive behaviors in my programs if I can find a way to use them as leverage, incentives and life-lessons towards ultimate sobriety. Sobriety is different from abstinence. Abstinence means “not using” whereas sobriety implies a “new attitude and perspective of self and one’s existence.” Don’t wait for bottom, start now to escape it and get living again.
Scott Spackey is a CA. Registered Addiction Specialist, Interventionist, Life-Coach and Hypnotherapist. For more information, please call 661-299-1966, visit www.LIFE-MIND.com and email: Scott@Life-Mind.com.