RAW Recovery Podcast

People think healing makes you softer, gentler, more agreeable. But the truth? The healed version of you will look “meaner” — not because you turned into a jerk, but because you finally stopped letting people walk all over you.

Healing doesn’t turn you into a saint. It turns you into someone who values their own peace. Someone who doesn’t apologize for boundaries. Someone who doesn’t shrink to keep other people comfortable. Someone...

We don’t get sober just to stop drinking — we get sober because something inside us wakes up. A deep desire to live usefully. A desire to stop hiding, stop destroying, and start showing up for life in a way that actually matters.

Living usefully isn’t about being perfect. It isn’t about saving the world. It’s about being honest, present, dependable, and willing. It’s about taking everything we’ve been through — even the darkest par...

We’re not here to be perfect — we’re here to grow. And sometimes growth comes dressed up as a slip, a setback, or a moment where our flaws get loud. That doesn’t make you a failure. It makes you human.

Today we’re talking about what it really means to look beyond the flaws — ours and other people’s — and why a slip can actually be progress when it wakes us up, humbles us, or gets us honest again.

In this Daily Trudge, we dig into:

Living sober is one thing. Living emotionally sober is where the real work starts. Most of us didn’t drink because life was hard — we drank because feelings were hard. Emotional sobriety is the ability to sit in life without letting our reactions run the show.

In today’s Daily Trudge, we’re breaking down what emotional sobriety actually means, why it’s harder than putting the drink down, and the simple tools that make the biggest i...

In recovery, we feel deeply — fear, shame, joy, insecurity, hope. But here’s where a lot of us get tangled up:

We start treating feelings like facts. “If I feel unworthy, I am unworthy.” “If I feel abandoned, they must be abandoning me.” “If I feel anger, someone else must have caused it.”

But feelings aren’t facts — they’re signals. They’re valid, they matter, and they point to something inside us… …but they do not automatically r...

“Repairing the Damage” is more than making amends — it’s about becoming the kind of person who doesn’t keep creating new wreckage. In recovery, we look back and see the emotional, spiritual, and relational destruction our drinking caused. It’s overwhelming if we stare at it all at once. But the program teaches us a different way:

One conversation at a time. One behavior change at a time. One willingness moment at a time.

Today we’l...

In recovery, we don’t always need fancy words or deep philosophy — sometimes the truth just needs to be spoken plainly. Today we’re breaking down recovery without the fluff, without the buzzwords, and without pretending everything is fine when it isn’t.

We’ll talk about what’s really going on under the surface:

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“Practice these principles in all our affairs” — the line every alcoholic skips over until life smacks us in the face.

This isn’t about being perfect. It’s about consistency.

Anyone can be spiritual in a meeting. Anyone can be humble when life is going their way. But real recovery shows up at work, in traffic, in relationships, in conflict, in fear…

In all our affairs means: • When we feel attacked • When we feel tired • When we do...

Not everyone we meet in recovery plays the same role — and knowing the difference can save your sobriety.

Today we’re breaking down three of the most misunderstood relationships in recovery: the Sponsor, the Temporary Sponsor, and the Closed-Mouthed Friend.

A Sponsor walks you through the Steps, tells you the truth even when you don’t want to hear it, and helps you build a spiritual foundation that won’t collapse when life hits.

A ...

Emotional sobriety doesn’t come free — it costs comfort, ego, self-pity, and the illusion that we can control everything. The moment we stop drinking, we start facing the real work: feeling feelings, taking responsibility, letting go, and learning how to respond instead of react.

Emotional sobriety is the point where recovery stops being about not drinking and starts being about living differently. Today we talk about what it costs...

Betrayal hits differently for alcoholics. It doesn’t just hurt — it reopens every old wound, every fear, every lie we told ourselves, and every lie that was told to us. But recovery gives us something we never had before: a path from betrayal to real closure.

Closure isn’t about forgetting, pretending, or minimizing what happened. It’s about reclaiming our peace, releasing the poison, and removing the power that betrayal has had ov...

In AA we hear it all the time — “the Steps are suggested.”

But suggested like a friendly menu option… or suggested like gravity?

The truth is, the Steps are “suggested” the same way opening a parachute when you jump out of a plane is “suggested.” Nobody is forcing you — but the results speak for themselves.

Today we’re talking about what “suggested” really means, why the Steps aren’t optional if you want long-term freedom, and how ...

Quitting drinking is only the beginning. What we choose not to do after we put the bottle down is just as important as what we choose to do.

In this Daily Trudge, we’re covering the most common traps that take recovering alcoholics off the beam — resentment, isolation, self-pity, drifting from the basics, and thinking we’re “good now.”

Staying sober means avoiding the behaviors that pull us back into fear, ego, and self-destruction...

“Let Go and Let God” gets misunderstood all the time. Some people think it means giving up, backing out, shutting down, or sitting on their hands waiting for a miracle. But that’s not recovery — and that’s not God.

Letting go is not defeat. Letting go is not apathy. Letting go is release — release of the illusion that we control everything.

Today we’re talking about the REAL meaning of “Let Go and Let God”:

• Surrendering contro...

Codependency is when our emotional well-being depends on someone else’s behavior, reactions, approval, or chaos. It’s the habit of trying to fix, manage, or control other people while ignoring our own needs.

In recovery, codependency is just as destructive as the addiction itself — because it keeps us living through others instead of living our own lives.

Today we’re talking about how codependency forms, how it affects relationship...

Serving our brother means showing up for others the way someone once showed up for us. In recovery, service isn’t charity — it’s survival. When we focus on helping another alcoholic, our ego quiets down, our purpose becomes clear, and God works through us in ways we could never manage on our own. Today we talk about what real service looks like, why it’s not always convenient or comfortable, and why helping our brother is one of th...

One of the most misunderstood principles in recovery is “Attraction, not promotion.” It’s not about selling recovery. It’s not about convincing anyone. And it’s definitely not about flashy promises or ego-driven outreach.

Attraction is about how we live, not what we say. It’s the calm in our voice, the consistency in our actions, the peace in our spirit, and the authenticity in our walk that makes others lean in and ask, “What chan...

Gratitude isn’t just saying “thank you.” In recovery, gratitude is a spiritual position — a way of seeing the world that keeps us sober, sane, and connected to God.

It shifts our focus from what’s missing to what’s been given… from what we’ve lost to what we’ve gained… from self-pity to purpose.

When we practice gratitude, our minds calm down, our hearts open up, and our perspective changes. It is one of the fastest ways to get out...