For those living with addiction, many of us experience what we often refer to as hitting “rock bottom,” that time and place where we feel we’ve fallen as low as we possibly can. In this place, there are some common things many of us think, feel and experience that are memorable and that stay with us the rest of our lives. What does hitting rock bottom feel like?

Rock bottom can be described as an extremely dark place, where we feel as though we’re drowning in panic, sadness, shame and remorse. We feel everything we’ve done and everything we’ve been through come crashing down around us. We feel haunted by our past mistakes and regrets. We can relive past trauma, feeling all the old pain as if for the first time. We feel like there’s no way we’ll be able to forgive ourselves or ask others to forgive us. Our wrongs feel too shameful. We feel like damaged, broken people who have no possibility for redemption. When we’re in this place, we believe we’re destined to be miserable for the rest of our lives. We don’t feel as though we deserve another chance. We feel as though we’ve messed up too big this time, and that realization hits us like a ton of bricks.

When we hit rock bottom, it can feel like a breakdown – in our overall health, our thinking, our stability. The heavy emotional weight of our breakdown affects us mentally, physically and spiritually as well. Our minds can feel like they’re spinning out of control. We can have racing thoughts that we feel powerless over, that we feel tormented by. We can have a hard time processing our thoughts and emotions, understanding what we’re thinking, or making sense of even the smallest things. We can feel like we’re going crazy or losing our minds. We can feel as though all our inner demons are attacking us at the same time, inundating us with fear and sadness. We can feel unable to eat, sleep or go about our routines as we normally would. We don’t feel like ourselves. It can feel like an out of body experience, where we’re watching ourselves totally fall apart but can’t do anything to stop it.

Rock bottom can feel like a total spiritual overload, where we are so disconnected from the truth of who we are, and so burdened with emotional pain, that our bodies and minds simply can’t withstand it and start to shut down. We can feel as though we’ve completely snapped.

Hitting rock bottom is one of the scarier things we can experience in life, but it is often the catalyst that pushes us to finally get the help we need.

You don’t have to go it alone. The qualified and compassionate staff at Bayview Recovery understand addiction and can help you find your path to health and well-being. Call 888-570-7154 today.