Recovery Radio Podcast - KMP3 - Long-Term Sobriety in A.A.

This episode continues with the personal experience of what it was like to first show up in Alcoholics Anonymous, at the age of 18. 

Homeless, penniless, and out of ideas, the 12 Steps were the only option left. 

The host has remained sober since 1989. 

At one year of sobriety, the obsession to drink returned, and remained for the next year and a half. Some people in A.A. told me to go drink again, that I was not "done drinking" and/or I had not really done the First Step.

By the grace of God, I did not drink again, and was eventually led to a man who carried the message of Alcoholics Anonymous to me in a way that changed my life. 

Today, my guest is a close friend of mine in Alcoholics Anonymous named Dave.
He talks about prayer, the "Big Book", A.A. meetings, the Third Step, and that time he was tazed by police officers right in front of his horrified neighbors. 

After trying to get sober for twenty years, Dave received the same message I received, and it completely changed his life. 

In this episode I discuss my understanding of what alcoholism is, and is not, according to the first 164 pages of the "Big Book"; a clear understanding of the "problem" made the application of the "solution" much, much easier. 

In this episode I discuss how my relationship with AA meetings has evolved. I talk about practicing listening, getting out of self, the 12 Traditions, giving verses taking, the loving and tolerant nature of Alcoholics Anonymous, how easy it is to play God in a meeting, and finally, about how whatever I'm looking for, I will find it in a meeting.

The Big Book suggests that I do very specific things when someone pisses me off. 
So I do not simply pray for that person. Rather, I ask God how I can be helpful to them, and then I take action if possible (it usually is). 
In this episode, I share about how the practice of these very suggestions has had a tremendous impact on my entire life, on my relationships, and on how I respond to this world. 

The "Big Book" tells us that God will show us how to create the fellowship we crave.
In this episode, I discuss my journey through the process which eventually put me right in the middle of a group of people with whom I feel comfortable, elated, and inspired.

Do you have the fellowship you crave? 

In this episode, I talk about gratitude, about why it is important. 
I discuss some events, aside from the incredible gift of my sobriety, that, I believe, continue to keep me in a state of gratitude (my own flat-lining; the suicide of my best friend; September 11th, 2001).  

"I've never met anyone who relapsed because they were grateful." 

A very close friend of mine shares her experience, strength, and hope.
She started sponsoring other women when she had 33 days, and has remained sober for over two and a half years. 

She talks about, among other things, how she picked her sponsor, the 12 Steps, the amends process, keeping spiritually fit, being a stay-at-home-mom, flatulence, Taylor Swift, and Del Taco, and prayer. Not in that order. 

In this episode I talk about my understanding of the point of making amends.
I discuss the difference between an apology and an amends. 
I share stories about both giving and receiving them. 

In this episode I discuss my general experience with sponsoring people in Alcoholics Anonymous. How many people who ask me for help actually accept my help? 
Do we need to be called out on our B.S.?  Is there still B.S.? 

In this episode I describe the powerful spiritual experience I had in 1989.
Up until that moment I had been an atheist. 
Yet the event gave me strength I have never completely lost. 

My friend LaDawn returns for part two. In this episode, I ask her about contrary action, prayer, spiritual growth, and vulnerability. 

(Other topics included: "The Whole Thirty", Star Wars, and tortilla strips verses tortilla rounds.)  

In this episode, I read Step Three from the "Big Book." I discuss, as I go, my own understanding of it. 
When this particular understanding was first passed onto me, it greatly improved the quality of my sobriety and the experience I was having with the 12 Steps, and everything else.  

Two weeks before I recorded this episode, I suffered from a stroke. 
Gratefully, it was minor, and I am expected to make a full recovery. 
In this episode, I check in with all of you, and talk a little bit about the last two weeks of my life. 

On this episode, I describe the events of my first sober holiday (Halloween, 1989). 
These events were profound for me, as I began to learn that my experience in sobriety was going to be. ultimately, up to me. 
I discuss the idea of assigning new meaning to things. 

In this episode, I discuss resentments, what the "Big Book" says about them ("they destroy more alcoholics than anything else"; "these resentments must be mastered", e.g.). 

In this episode I talk more about resentments, my understanding as to the difference between resentment and getting angry. 
I further discuss my own understanding of the Step Four process, concerning resentments. 

I hope this offers hope to anyone struggling with the obsession. 
In this episode, I read from pages 84-85 in the Big Book, where it describes being restored to sanity (this relates to the first drink).  It is my favorite thing in the book, as it is all I ever wanted, and is my experience on this day.