Hitting bottom is often the starting place for recovery. One more morning not remembering what happened last night. One more failed relationship or lost job, one more day with the empty feeling deep in you.

Knowing that more booze or drug or money or sex or fame will not fill that hole. Aware that doing the same thing will give us the same result, that despair. It is a dark and lonely place that everyone who has experienced recovery knows all too well.

Thankfully this is where the light comes in, that ray of hope, a desperate, sometime quiet cry for help. That is fundamental foundation of any recovery, admitting that we need help. No, I cannot fix this on my own, we tried and failed.

The first place we ask for help is internally, giving ourselves permission to expose our need for help. Here we seek, with limited knowledge, a path to freedom. That can be simple admitting to a friend, partner, therapist, doctor, or higher power that you need help. The real test here is to accept help.

Thus begins a lifelong journey that is never a straight line. We must always remember that you put the oxygen mask on first before you attempt to help others.