Can you recover without hitting rock bottom ? I keep hearing around that you need to hit rock bottom in order to bounce back to recover. I guess I am fortunate i never hit that point in my life but is that why i still struggle. I find that I can be clean / sober but mentally I still want to use.
~ Ashley Marie
Your bottom is when you decide to put the shovel down. 
Rock bottom is a subjective term. I never had a dui, lost a family or possessions, never had an intervention, etc, but I still reached a point where I said “this is it, I’m done”
The term I’ve heard used is “high bottom”. Everyone has their own limit.
Rock bottom is a relative term. I know that my rock bottom always had a trap door. No matter how bad things got, they could always get worse. There’s only one ultimate rock bottom, and that’s death. For me recovery was a lot easier when I had pretty much lost everything, except my life. But a bottom can be defined as any time when the pain of using becomes worse than the pain of not using.
If you are at a point where you are wanting to get sober, but cannot, then it’s probably a bottom. You’ve lost one of the most important things you can lose, control over your own actions and behaviors.
I don’t think a rock bottom exists, because you can always take things further, and go even lower than you ever imagined possible. Everytime I think I’ve hit “rock bottom”, I just outdo myself on the next relapse.
Maybe your story isn’t as extreme, but it doesn’t mean your addiction is any less serious.
Someone mentioned in here that rock bottom is when your life spirals downhill quicker than you can lower your morals basically.
My bottom could have gone much lower, but I do NOT think I need to follow it to the bottom where it ultimately takes my life to get sober. I saw things for what it was, where I was heading if I didn’t make changes and I decided I want better for my life so I stopped doing what I knew was wrong. Have I craved it since I stopped? Sure, that’s normal but I committed to push forward no matter what without it, doing whatever it takes. It gets easier the more you build your sober muscles by saying no. 
I was told that my rock bottom wasn’t that bad, and that my DOC wasnt as intrusive in my life as others…by a couple people on here. So, you may hear that.
Our DOC devistates our lives. Some physical, some mental. No matter how “low” your rock bottom is, it is YOUR rock bottom. As long as you want to recover and lead a sober life is all that matters. As long as you want to work on recovery, that is all that matters.
I will always be an alcoholic, but that doesnt mean I have to die drunk.
In grappling terms, my rock bottom is when alcohol had me in a choke hold to such a point where I tapped out. And then I asked for help - for me that involved walking into my first meeting. I knew I could not drink, but the thought of not drinking crushed my soul. It is not necessary about bad things happening as a consequence of my drinking - those did not stop me and those could have kept continuing until I was dead. For me, it was a psychological bottom. And as @Englishd said, there is always a trap door and further to fall, until you are dead.
thank you every one this really helped me understand and get a new look on my addiction
I don’t really believe in a “rock bottom” unless it’s death. We all have different “bottoms” or moments of clarity when we simply decide we have had enough. Previously? I got sober because I knew I was out of control and I just wasn’t happy.
But I thought I was ‘good’, spiraled after a couple years clean and that relapse was filled with a hospital trip at coma inducing BAC levels, broken bones, 2 arrests and treatment. I’m still dealing with things like pending charges and… I KNOW I don’t want to see what my next low point could be. So here I am, granted with only a month, but feeling like I really, truly can work towards getting better.
No matter what made you find your way here and wanting sobriety, stick with that motivation and take it one day at a time.
Some addicts like myself and many here had to find a bottom. We are too damn stubburn to realize a problem b4 we loose everything, or eventually go to jail. Not everyones bottom is as deep as others and they did fix it before they lost it all but it will return again if we let our guard down feeling accomplished and use again… That choice is yours to see and determine…
My rock bottom wasn’t physical, it was mental. My head just couldn’t take any more. It was AA or jumping in front of on coming traffic on the motorway.
I’m glad I chose AA 
I would agree, I didn’t lose anything physical or anyone because of my drinking but I certainly lost my sanity. My rock bottom came when the anxiety caused by drinking took my freedom, I couldn’t face leaving the house which meant I couldn’t get my kids to where they needed to be (the thought of an emergency horrified me as I wouldn’t be able to get them to A&E) not being able to take care of my kids needs was the mental rock bottom it took to kick me into action