This is Annie Grace and you're listening to this naked mind podcast where without judgment,

pain or rules, we explore the role of alcohol in our lives and culture.

Hi, this is Annie Grace and welcome to this naked mind podcast. Today I'm doing something a little bit different,

is just going to be a bit of a monologue. I know I usually do stories and stuff like that,

but today I wanted to discuss this important topic and it's the topic of rock bottom.

I think that this is such an interesting topic because you hear it said so many times that,

oh well, you just need to hit rock bottom and then everything turns around. You just need to hit rock bottom.

I was thinking a lot about this. I was actually thinking about this when I was at the ocean,

visiting my grandma and my son and I were in the waves and we were on a boogie board and the bottom was really rocky.

I was like, oh, it's like a rock bottom. I was like, huh, well, what is a rock bottom really?

And a rock bottom is where you hit rock at the bottom of something and you literally can't go any deeper,

like you can't go any further, you're down, you're done.

And so I was thinking about that in the context that we use rock bottom with addiction.

And one of the thoughts I had was, well, how come then people can have multiple rock bottoms?

How come somebody can have the rock bottom and then go back into it and have a lower bottom and a lower bottom and a lower bottom?

They say, oh, this is it, you know, never again, but then two months later, five months later, a year later,

they're back again and they're gone lower.

And I feel like while disastrous things can be a catalyst for change,

it's really truly a myth in the disservice to feel like internally we're waiting for that disastrous thing.

I remember there was a great thing that was said to me recently and it was a guy that was he's going to be on my podcast hopefully soon.

His name is Mike and he said, you know, I really started doing benzos and alcohol until it became a problem.

And then I just kept doing it for a few years just to make sure it was a problem.

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