Hitting Bottom (from daily ACA email)

"All bottoms have meaning, and all bottoms can be a starting point for a new way of life. There is hope. Healing is possible."

We've hit some type of a bottom. Maybe we feel hopeless because life hasn't gone as we hoped. Or we've lost too much because of our dysfunctional behaviors, and we realize that we don't know how to change on our own. We tried, but it didn't work. Maybe we find our way to an ACA meeting because deep down we know there has to be something more.

Working the ACA program doesn't mean we might not hit more bottoms. Some of us are often blindsided by something we thought we'd dealt with. Maybe we've spent eons working on our over-responsibility character defect and have made great strides. Then in the face of overwhelming stress and grief, it feels as if we find ourselves right back where we were before we began recovery. We're in there trying to take care of everyone, being the buffer, trying to control the situation.

The difference this time is that we're not really in the same place. We now have tools. This new bottom tells us that we're a complex individual who doesn't have all the answers.

On this day, when I slip so far that I think I can't see daylight, I will not abandon myself. I will look at my situation as another opportunity for growth.