RAW Recovery Podcast

In recovery, not every emotional reaction is a resentment — and not every painful memory is “just trauma.” But we mix the two up all the time.

A resentment is usually about anger, ego, expectations, and old wounds we keep feeding. Trauma is about deep emotional injury that shaped our nervous system, beliefs, and reactions.

One needs inventory. The other needs healing.

Today we talk about how to tell the difference, how each one aff...

Live and Let Live” sounds simple, but for alcoholics it’s one of the hardest spiritual principles to practice. We want to control everything — outcomes, people, opinions, emotions… all of it.

But recovery teaches us that peace comes when we stop running other people’s lives and start focusing on our own.

Today we’re talking about what “Live and Let Live” actually means in daily recovery: • Letting people be who they are • Dropping ...

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There comes a point in recovery where we stop living in a world of spiritual make-believe and start living in spiritual reality. The Big Book tells us that the childish dream world we once clung to is replaced by a deep sense of purpose and a growing awareness of God working in our lives.

But that awareness isn’t meant to lift us out of the world — it’s meant to prepare us for service in it.

“Keep your head in the clouds with Him, ...

In recovery, we love to complicate things. We overthink, overwork, overreact, and try to control everything. But the solution has always been the same: Keep it simple.

When we strip away the drama, fear, and ego, the basics still work — meetings, honesty, service, prayer, and staying connected. The moment we drift into chaos, it’s usually because we stopped doing the simple things that keep us grounded.

Today we talk about getting ...

In the Big Book, we’re told flat-out: “Selfishness—self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles.”

Most of us didn’t get sober because we were living selfless lives. We got sober because our self-will ran straight into a brick wall — and took everyone around us with it.

Today we dig into the truth that no alcoholic likes to face: We cause most of our own pain.

Self-will. Fear. Control. Expectations.

When we’re in s...

Principle Nine — Justice — isn’t about punishment, score-keeping, or trying to make life “fair.” In recovery, justice is about living honestly, taking responsibility, and treating people with the same dignity we expect in return.

Justice in the spiritual sense means: • We tell the truth even when it’s uncomfortable • We stop blaming others for our pain • We clean up our side of the street • We repair harm where we can, and stop cre...

In today’s episode, Dion sits down with Stacy, founder of Sands of Hope Recovery, for one of the most honest and heartfelt conversations we’ve had on this show. Stacy shares the story behind her recovery business—named in honor of her mother—and opens up about how prevention, lived experience, and compassion shape the way she supports people in recovery.

We dive deep into:

• Why recovery coaching matters more than ever

• The re...

We all walk into recovery carrying wounds — some we caused, some caused by others, and some we’ve kept alive far longer than necessary. The real spiritual work begins when we stop spreading the hurt and start becoming instruments of healing.

Inspired by the spirit of the St. Francis prayer (without the religious packaging), today we talk about what it really means to bring peace where there is conflict, forgiveness where there is r...

Why is it that we can give patience, kindness, and understanding to people we barely know — but the second we walk into our own home, our fuse gets shorter, our tone gets sharper, and our grace runs out?

In recovery, we learn that the real test of spiritual growth isn’t how we act at a meeting… it’s how we treat the people we live with, love, and sometimes take for granted.

Today we dig into: • Why it’s easier to be patient with st...

In today’s Daily Trudge, we’re talking about a hard truth: Alcoholism doesn’t just destroy the drinker — it reshapes the entire family system.

Families living with alcoholism often become defined by: • chaos, • secrecy, • denial, • emotional volatility, • and roles that no one ever asked for.

The alcoholic isn’t the only one who gets sick — everyone under that roof learns to survive in a dysfunctional environment.

The Big Book tell...

In today’s Daily Trudge, we’re talking about something the recovery world doesn’t always want to admit — people judge what they don’t understand.

Ever been told you’re “too much,” “too emotional,” “too intense,” or that you should just “get over it”?

That usually comes from people who’ve never stood on the front lines with us.

The front lines of addiction. The front lines of trauma. The front lines of rebuilding your life from ashe...

In today’s Daily Trudge, we’re talking about expectations and the little things — two areas that can either build our serenity or completely destroy it.

Expectations are resentments waiting to happen. They tell us how life should go, how people should act, and how recovery should feel.

But peace doesn’t live in should. It lives in what is.

When we slow down and start noticing the small stuff — a quiet morning, a friend’s text, the ...

In today’s Daily Trudge, we’re shining a light on one of the sneakiest threats to long-term sobriety: Big Shotism — the idea that I’ve got this now, I’m different, or the rules don’t apply to me anymore.

The Big Book warns us that when ego takes over, sanity slips out the back door. Big Shotism isn’t loud — it’s subtle. It shows up as: • Thinking you’re “too good” for the basics • Giving advice instead of taking direction • Forgett...

In today’s Daily Trudge, we’re talking about one of the most common — but least admitted — challenges in recovery: loneliness.

Loneliness isn’t just being alone. It’s the feeling of being disconnected, unseen, or spiritually empty. And for many of us, loneliness was the engine that drove our drinking.

The Big Book tells us we were people who “didn’t belong,” who lived in separation, fear, and self-pity. When we put the bottle down,...

In today’s Daily Trudge, we’re diving into a skill that most alcoholics struggle with — the art of delayed gratification.

Our disease taught us to chase the quick fix: the drink, the escape, the comfort, the emotional hit. But recovery teaches us something far more powerful:

Not everything good happens instantly — and not everything instant is good.

Delayed gratification is where emotional sobriety really begins.

It’s choosing long...

In today’s Daily Trudge, we’re taking it back to where recovery truly begins: The admission of personal powerlessness.

Before the healing, before the Steps, before the promises — there’s a moment where we finally admit the truth:

I can’t do this on my own.

This isn’t weakness. This is awakening.

The Big Book tells us that alcohol is “cunning, baffling, powerful,” and that without help, it will beat us every time.

But the second we ...

In today’s Daily Trudge, we’re hitting one of the most reliable truths in recovery: When in doubt… get out of self.

Most of our problems don’t come from the world — they come from the way we react to it. When I’m stuck in fear, anger, resentment, or self-pity, 99% of the time the solution is spiritual, simple, and humbling:

Get out of self and into service, honesty, gratitude, or God’s will.

The Big Book reminds us that selfishness...