Sober Sunrise - AA Speaker Podcast

Karl called his father, a minister and theologian, expecting him to explain God. His father gave him a much shorter answer: God is whatever got you to those people, so do what they say. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Karl, sober since January 21, 1987, shares a rapid-fire AA talk about growing up in Borneo, blacking out from his first drink at 11, earning ten college credits in three years, dealing drugs, living on the streets, and joining the Navy to escape people he owed. His drinking followed him into military life, where he drove through a guard shack, repeatedly drank on Antabuse, landed in jail, and was finally sent to treatment under threat of the brig and a bad-conduct discharge. At his first AA meeting, one sentence described the condition he could never explain: his mind would have killed his body, but it needed it for transportation. What followed was a weekend of meetings, a recovering alcoholic waiting for him aboard his ship, nightly Big Book study in the battery shop, inventory, difficult financial amends, an honorable discharge, and a return to college. Karl explains how meetings, the book, and service became recovery, unity, and service in action, and how loading newcomers into a broken Volkswagen taught him that helping someone else could improve his life before the car even left the parking lot. Karl M. from Covina, CA speaking somewhere in Texas, sometime in 1994 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Paul went to AA for seven months with no intention of becoming an alcoholic. Then he attended one meeting too many, caught himself laughing with everyone else, and never drank again ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Paul, sober since July 31, 1967, shares a wonderfully funny AA talk about being a doctor who could diagnose everyone except himself. After weight loss, convulsions, headaches, and a growing sense of insanity convinced him that he had a brain tumor, alcoholism landed him in the psychiatric ward of the hospital where he practiced medicine. He first attended AA to satisfy his psychiatrist, kept returning because his wife enjoyed the meetings, and finally discovered that the laughter, Steps, meetings, and fellowship were reaching him despite everything he thought he knew. Paul talks about the noisy committee in his head, giving God a 51 percent controlling interest in his life, assigning God the worry while he handles the work, redoing the Steps, carrying the message, and learning that sobriety requires both meetings and action. At the heart of the talk is the point of the V: accepting that he was alcoholic changed the entire direction of his life, because acceptance did not mean approval. It meant facing reality and finally having a choice. Paul O. from Laguna Beach, CA at 19th Everett Conference - November 28th 1997 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Michael knew he was alcoholic for twelve years before AA, but the part that changed his life was learning what came after putting the drink down. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Michael, from Montana, shares a direct and thoughtful AA talk centered on Step One, especially the unmanageability that remained after alcohol was removed. He talks about years of drinking Granddad in private, blackouts, hiding car keys from himself, waking up afraid of what he might have done, time behind bars, wrecked cars, hospitalizations, and the slow degradation that made him believe he did not deserve to sober up. After court, treatment, relapses, early sponsorship choices, and the death of a friend, Michael describes the moment he got on his knees with other sober men and finally asked for the compulsion to be removed. From there, he walks through why every Step after Step One deals with the same deeper problem: resentments, fear, selfishness, sexual behavior, sponsorship, amends, and becoming a builder instead of a destroyer. This is a strong tape for anyone who has heard “I’m powerless” but still wonders what AA means by “my life had become unmanageable.” Michael McK. from Whitefish, MT at Kalispell, MT May 17th 1998 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

In Part 5 of the Joe & Charlie Founders' Day series, Joe and Charlie dig into the strange mental blank spot that makes the first drink possible again. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter In this session, Joe and Charlie walk through More About Alcoholism and the Big Book's deeper explanation of the mental side of the disease. They break down the obsession that says someday we will control and enjoy drinking, the illusion and delusion that return after consequences, and why knowledge alone does not protect the alcoholic from another first drink. Using the Big Book examples of the man of thirty, the jaywalker, and Fred, they show how the alcoholic can be sane in every other area and still have no effective mental defense when the thought of a drink returns. Part 5 sharpens Step One by showing that the problem is not only what happens after drinking starts, but the mind that keeps taking us back to the first drink Joe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Part 5: "More About Alcoholism" Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Daniel says he spent his drinking years chasing the perfect level, but every time he found it, he flew right past it. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Daniel, from Benton, Arkansas, shares a funny, raw, and deeply alive AA talk about getting sober young after alcohol and drugs took him from anxiety and feeling different into blackouts, jail, withdrawal, rage, and wanting out. He talks about his first drink removing the knot in his gut, the daily chase for the “perfect level,” and the morning of August 8, 1998, when he asked God to let him die or give him help. What came next was detox, treatment, and three AA members who shook his hand, told him they were glad he was there, and carried a message real enough to give him hope. From there, Daniel walks through the Steps, sponsorship, inventory, amends, young people’s AA, service commitments, the recovery-unity-service triangle, and the joy of watching other alcoholics come alive. By the end, his message is simple: there is no advanced AA, service keeps the structure standing, and if God has a plan for your life, make it count Daniel E. from Benton, AR speaking at Arkansas Conference of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous in Morrilton, AR - October 7th 2005 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

In Part 4 of the Joe & Charlie Founders' Day series, Joe and Charlie explain the two powers in There Is A Solution: the fellowship that holds us and the spiritual experience that changes us. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter In this session, Joe and Charlie walk through There Is A Solution as the Big Book's answer to the problem laid out in The Doctor's Opinion and Bill's Story. They focus on the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, the phrase "we of Alcoholics Anonymous," and the strange but beautiful fact that people who normally would not mix can find a common solution together. They also make the larger point that fellowship alone is not enough for the real alcoholic. The chapter points toward the vital spiritual experience, the difference between the hard drinker and the real alcoholic, and the need for both support and a program of action. Part 4 is where the series starts to move from identification into the actual answer: not many solutions, but one common solution that can be lived. Joe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Part 4: "There Is A Solution" Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Jerome says he was not a has-been, but a never-was, until AA gave him a design for living that took him from Skid Row and institutions to sobriety, family, education, and useful work. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Jerome shares a vivid AA talk about growing up in South Central L.A., taking his first drink before a high school record hop in the summer of 1962, and discovering that alcohol seemed to make him able to act, perform, and stop caring what anyone thought. That first drink became a long collapse through homelessness, hospitals, arrests, mental health treatment, Camarillo State Hospital, and repeated attempts to explain away what alcohol kept doing to his life. On June 6, 1973, after one more jail cell and one more broken return home, Jerome walked into an AA clubhouse at 9604 South Figueroa and finally listened like only the dying can hear. In this talk, he tells how no-nonsense AA people, sponsorship, faith in action, work, school, fatherhood, forgiveness, and the simple design for living in Alcoholics Anonymous helped him become the man a psychiatrist once said he could never be. Jerome S. from Corona, California Speaking at the Santa Barbara AA Convention, September 23, 2000 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

In Part 3 of the Joe & Charlie Founders’ Day series, Joe and Charlie walk through Bill’s Story as the first full example of alcoholism, identification, and recovery in the Big Book. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter In this session, Joe and Charlie show why Bill’s Story comes so early in Alcoholics Anonymous: not as biography alone, but as identification. They trace Bill W. from early success, ambition, Wall Street, drinking in the jazz places, and the crash of 1929 into the progression of alcoholism - when drinking stopped being exciting and became necessary. They connect Bill’s repeated failures to stay stopped with Dr. Silkworth’s explanation from The Doctor’s Opinion, then follow the turning point: Ebby’s visit, the simple religious idea, the practical Oxford Group actions, and Bill’s sudden spiritual experience at Towns Hospital in December 1934. By the end, Joe and Charlie make the central point clear: Bill did not just learn about alcoholism, he had old ideas replaced with new ones, and almost immediately began thinking about how to help other alcoholics. Bill’s Story becomes the bridge from powerlessness to hope, and from hope to a design for living that works in rough going. Joe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Part 3: "Bill's Story" Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

In Part 2 of the Joe & Charlie Founders’ Day series, Joe and Charlie explain why The Doctor’s Opinion is one of the keys to understanding alcoholism itself. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter In this session, Joe and Charlie walk through Dr. Silkworth’s explanation of alcoholism: the body that reacts differently to alcohol, the physical craving that starts after the first drink, and the mind that eventually forgets the consequences and reaches for alcohol again. They break down the difference between craving and obsession, why the word “allergy” confused so many alcoholics, and why the Big Book says the body of the alcoholic is as abnormal as the mind. By the end, they connect The Doctor’s Opinion directly to Step One: if we cannot safely drink because of the body, and we cannot stay stopped because of the mind, then we are powerless over alcohol. They also point toward the answer: the psychic change produced through the Twelve Steps, where peace of mind, serenity, and usefulness begin to replace the restless, irritable, and discontented condition that once drove the first drink Joe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Part 2: "The Doctor’s Opinion" Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

In honor of AA’s 91st Founders’ Day, we’re sharing the legendary Joe & Charlie Big Book workshops in order, from AA history through the Steps, over the next 10 days. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter In Part 1, Joe and Charlie begin with the history behind Alcoholics Anonymous and the Big Book, starting from the Foreword to the Second Edition and the first AA group in Akron, Ohio in June 1935. They walk through Bill W., Dr. Bob, Ebby Thacher, Dr. Silkworth, the Oxford Groups, the early shape of the program, and why understanding the history makes the book easier to understand. This opening session sets up the pattern they return to throughout the workshop: what the problem is, what the solution is, and the practical program of action that carries the message Joe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Part 1: "AA History" Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Geoff says his first sponsor warned him that until he shook hands with the real version of himself, he would be working the program on the wrong guy. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Geoff walked into Alcoholics Anonymous on Christmas Day in 1978 after years of jail, drinking, using, fear, and desperation. In this AA talk, he shares the sponsor who almost refused to work with him, the inventories that forced him to meet the real Geoff, and the life that opened up when he began doing the work. He also talks honestly about drifting away after years sober, building a big life with a tiny program, relapsing before his 20th AA birthday, and coming back with no days. What follows is a moving story about sponsorship, service, prayer, prison panels, spiritual experience, and the discovery that God was never found alone, but in the spaces between one alcoholic and another. Geoff C. from Valley Village, CA speaking at the Third Tradition speaker meeting in Studio City, CA - November 14th 2007 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Chris used to know exactly where the serious AA people were, and he knew exactly how to avoid them. When he finally meant business, those “fanatics” were the ones he went looking for. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Chris, sober since November 19, 1998, shares how drinking took him from a 14-year-old waking up in a sand trap after 11 beers to school trouble, DUIs, work camps, prison, parole violations, detox, and finally the Okaloosa County Jail facing years behind bars. He talks about hearing the AA message long before he was ready, keeping it in his back pocket for “if it ever gets bad enough,” and finally reaching the point where there was no door number three. This is a rough, funny, gratitude-filled AA talk about singleness of purpose, strong sponsorship, a serious home group, following directions, doing the steps, carrying the message into detox and corrections, and finding out that the people he once dismissed as losers and fanatics were exactly the people who could help save his life. Chris S. from Ft. Walton Beach, FL speaking at the 17th Annual Southeast Louisiana Spring Roundup in Covington, LA - May 27th 2006 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Scott could fly supersonic jets, but he could not outfly alcoholism. By the time AA found him, the dream job, the willpower, and the John Wayne act had all stopped working. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Scott, sober since June 28, 1984, shares a funny and deeply serious AA talk about drinking as a young Air Force pilot, flying high-performance aircraft with hangovers, losing the greatest job he ever had, and finally landing in treatment outside Atlanta. He talks about the “John Wayne syndrome,” the first drink that made him feel tall enough and smart enough, the treatment-center moment where he cried out for forgiveness, and the unanswerable question that made him realize he did not know how to keep himself sober. From there, Scott gets into the Big Book, sponsorship by assignment, the difference between fellowship and program, jail and prison service, fourth-step forgiveness, family pain, and the kind of spiritual life that lets him say his wager is too high to treat recovery like a buffet. Scott L. from Nashville, TN speaking at Maryland State Convention in Hagerstown, MD - June 13th 2002 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Chris says treatment was only the discovery that a solution existed. The real change came when AA, sponsorship, and a God she could not yet name reached into the prison she had built around herself. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Chris shares how drinking began at 11 and followed her through blackouts, self-reliance, family pain, treatment, and the wreckage that finally made AA possible. She talks about treatment as discovery, not recovery; why “putting the plug in the jug” was only the beginning; and how sponsorship, inventory, amends, and carrying the message helped her move from ego and fear into love and God. This is a direct, deeply AA-centered talk about surrender, spiritual awakening, and the simple recovery arithmetic Chris learned: one alcoholic with another alcoholic means God is in the room. Chris H. from Cleveland, Ohio speaking at the Memphis Group in Cleveland, OH - October 18th 2008 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Adam went through treatment 28 times before a sponsor cut through the badge of honor: it did not make him an alcoholic. It meant he had paid half a million dollars for a Big Book. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Adam spent 17 years in and around Alcoholics Anonymous, picking up chips, coming to meetings drunk, cycling through treatment centers, and still not understanding why alcohol was not really his problem. In this sharp, funny AA talk, he breaks down the difference between the fellowship and the program, the problem drinker and the real alcoholic, and the outer wreckage versus the inner spiritual condition that kept taking him back. Once a sponsor took him through the Big Book and into action, Adam found the missing link in inventory, service, sponsorship, and carrying the message to another alcoholic. Adam T. from Los Angeles, CA speaking at Recovery On The Rock in Hamilton, Bermuda - November 28th 2014 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Peter opens with silence, then challenges the room with a hard question: are we actually feeding the spirit, or just giving God a quick check-in on the way out the door? ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Peter M. shares a workshop-style talk on Steps 10, 11, and 12, starting with the discomfort of silence and moving into the daily disciplines that keep recovery alive. He talks about spot-check inventory, making amends quickly, writing at night, prayer and meditation on awakening, and the danger of calling it “maintenance” when the program is meant to keep growing. From there, Peter pushes into sponsorship, bridge-building, unapologetic God language, and the lost art of the 12-step call, reminding listeners that recovered people know the way in, know the way out, and are trusted to go where the sick and suffering still are. Peter M. from Boca Raton, FL speaking on steps 10, 11 and 12 at the All Our Affairs group in Toronto, Canada - July 7th 2012 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Kane kept parts of his life away from the program until prison, sponsorship, and a Fargo home group started showing him that every little thing had to come into the light. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Kane got sober on August 15, 1996, and opens this talk by crediting God, his sponsor, AA meetings, and the United States judicial system. From feeling like he missed the class on how to be cool, to drinking in high school, losing jobs, running from consequences, and eventually going to prison, Kane tells a story about trying to manage life one piece at a time. After treatment inside, a halfway house, mandatory meetings, and a sponsor who finally took him through the book, he found a home group in Fargo and learned that service was not beneath him. Setting up chairs, cleaning floors, listening to his sponsor, and showing up early became the small ordinary actions that helped give him a life. Kane T. from Fargo, ND speaking at the Central Pacific Group in Minneapolis, MN - 2000 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Melanie had treatment, meetings, chips, and even years without drinking, but the real turn came when someone finally showed her what it meant to have lost the power to choose. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Melanie got sober sometime in October 2002, then picked 10-10 so she would not forget it. In this Dallas AA talk, she tells a sharp, honest story that starts with drinking at 10, feeling painfully different long before alcohol, and spending years in treatment centers, hospitals, relationships, geographical cures, and repeated attempts to manage what she could not control. After years around AA without really understanding her problem, Melanie finally sat down with a sponsor who qualified her as an alcoholic, walked her through the Big Book, and helped her see why the Steps had something to offer. From there, her story becomes one of sponsorship, amends, service, and carrying the message because, as she puts it, that is her job description. Melanie S. from Primary Purpose Group in Dallas, TX speaking at the SW Kansas AA Conference in Dodge City, KS - January 2008 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Dave was the first AA member in Quebec, but what finally reached him was simple: the Big Book described people who got sober, went to work, came home, and lived like ordinary human beings. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Dave, 21 years sober and serving as Canadian trustee, tells an old-school AA story that stretches from childhood fear in Mexico City to boarding school, the Bank of Montreal, Quebec City, Winnipeg, Vancouver, and years of consequences he kept trying to outrun. He remembers the first beer that opened a whole new world, the rooftop story at Portage and Main, a secret marriage that somehow survived, a cerebral hemorrhage at 23, repeated hospital stays, and the final loneliness of a police station bullpen where the fight finally went out of him. From there, a phone call to the small AA office in New York brought pamphlets, a Big Book, daily letters from a sober woman who became his sponsor, and the beginning of AA in Montreal. David B. from Montreal, Quebec, Canada speaking at the 11th annual Alberta Conference Banquet/Speaker Meeting - February 27th 1965 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Tarek says he did not just resist AA. He lived the Twelve Steps backwards until alcohol stopped working and his life shrank to fear, isolation, and trying to control everything. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Tarek, eight years sober from Soho Sober in London, shares with humor and honesty about the fear, people-pleasing, control, and emotional shutdown that drove his drinking. Alcohol first made him feel okay, but by the end he had money in the bank, unopened bills, a family upstairs, and a life narrowed down to work, isolation, and daily blackout drinking. After months of ignoring a sober therapist’s suggestion to try AA, he finally came through a 12-step rehab, got a sponsor, joined a home group, and started learning how to live through meetings, service, sponsorship, Step 11, and letting go of the outcome. Tarek K. from London, UK speaking at the Christmas convention of the Serenity Group in Stockholm, Sweden - December 15th 2012 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Terri says prison is where she found God, but the harder truth came years later: some amends cannot replace what was broken. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Terri got sober on October 17, 1993, inside a maximum security women’s prison after a fatal crash at 28 ended the life she had been running on alcohol, attention, and self-will. In this AA talk, she walks through growing up with an alcoholic mother, blacking out from her first drunk at 16, becoming a young mother without the tools to parent, and finally finding meetings, honesty, sponsorship, and a God she could understand behind prison walls. Years later, with a marriage, career, and nearly 17 years sober, Terri still speaks carefully about the harm she caused and the kind of amends that can only be made through right living. Terri K. from Woodville, OH speaking at the 13th annual Woman to Woman Luncheon in Toledo, OH - August 8th 2010 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Chris kept coming back to AA for seven years, but nothing changed until one Big Book meeting showed him the difference between attending and recovering. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Chris could quit drinking, but he could not stay quit. After seven years around AA, treatment, doctors, medications, meetings, and more relapses than he could count, he walked into a Big Book meeting where the room stopped telling war stories and pointed him straight at the solution. In this talk, Chris breaks down the physical craving, mental obsession, and spiritual malady, then makes a blunt case for working the steps, having a spiritual experience, and becoming useful right away. Chris R. from Ingram, TX speaking at the Primary Purpose Group in Atlanta, GA - March 2nd 2009 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Bud came to AA straight out of jail with a sentence hanging over him, a restitution bill he could not imagine paying, and nobody left who wanted his phone call. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Bud tells an old-school AA story that begins with the early days of Southern California meetings, the Hole in the Ground group, and a rough crowd of sober men who carried the message without much polish. When he came in on March 10, 1953, he had just gotten out of jail, owed more money than he could picture repaying, and had burned through family, work, and trust. In this AA talk, Bud shares how the book, sponsorship, amends, steady work, and one day at a time turned his life around, from making restitution and rebuilding family relationships to helping start a sober living house and later seeing one of those men still sober decades later. Bud McD. at the Alano Club, Reykjavik Iceland - June 28th 2002 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Tom says AA service gets dangerous when alcoholics trade the fire line for paperwork and forget the one job that saves lives. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Tom takes on the topic of love and service with the kind of blunt AA humor that makes the room laugh before the point lands. He argues that Alcoholics Anonymous has one primary service: one alcoholic working with another alcoholic so the newcomer can become willing to take the steps. From weak sponsorship and dull service meetings to gratitude without action and love that requires showing up when it costs something, Tom keeps dragging the talk back to the trenches. His message is simple: service is not status, busyness, or committee language. It is carrying the message, helping the lost person after the meeting, and staying close enough to the newcomer to remember what AA is for. Tom F. from Glenn Bernie, MA speaking on the topic of "Love and Service" Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Ray came in young, separate, and sure he was smarter than the room, then found out AA worked best when he was finally willing to follow directions. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Ray starts with a New Year’s resolution to try sobriety for one year, then admits he was amazed when he made it through the first day. Growing up around alcoholism, feeling apart from other people, dropping out young, and trying to escape through the same old patterns, he landed in AA unsure whether he belonged with the “real pros.” What changed was simple and uncomfortable: an old-timer helped him identify, a sponsor pushed him through the steps, he got on his knees without knowing what he believed, and service gave him a way to fit in. Years later, Ray is honest about slipping away from the basics and trying to return to the book, prayer, inventory, sponsorship, and the kind of 12-step work that keeps the program alive. Ray M. speaking at the regular weekly speaker meeting in Bryan, TX - 2007 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Dick spent his life looking for the power he thought everyone else had, until a broken bottle, a phone booth, and Alcoholics Anonymous showed him where that power actually lived. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Dick A. shares a thoughtful, funny, and deeply spiritual AA story about growing up in an honorable military family while feeling like he never fit, confusing the power he was looking for with alcohol from his first drink, and spending years in defiance, arrests, Vietnam, advertising success, job losses, isolation, and spiritual anger until a broken bottle and a desperate call from a phone booth brought him into Alcoholics Anonymous. Through sponsorship, service, home group commitments, the Steps, the Traditions, amends, learning to forgive God, and later walking through cancer with the help of AA members, Dick describes a life transformed from trying to get something for himself into being useful to others, and the miracle of discovering connection with God and people in the fellowship. Dick A. from Lithia Springs, GA speaking at the XXXIX Gopher State roundup in Bloomington, MN - May 25th 2012 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Mark spent years blaming war, prison, violence, and fear for the way he drank, until alcohol stopped working and AA showed him the problem had been deeper all along. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Mark B. shares a raw, funny, and deeply spiritual AA story about growing up in Quincy, Massachusetts, finding relief in his first drink at 14, carrying fear through Vietnam, psychiatric hospitals, jails, prisons, homelessness, and years of trying to survive with alcohol, pills, and anything else that would quiet him. After a year and a half of sitting in AA meetings while still medicated and terrified, Mark finally heard his own fear and loneliness in another speaker, got on his knees, found a sponsor, took the actions in the Big Book, and discovered a life built on sponsorship, corrections work, service, and the truth that Alcoholics Anonymous is not an intellectual exercise but a spiritual journey. Mark B. from Navarre, FL speaking at the 49th Florida State Conference at the Wyndham Palace Resort in Orlando, FL - August 2005 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Wallace was in prison before he ever got to prison, and AA was where he finally learned the difference between being locked up and being free. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Wallace B. tells the story of growing up poor in North Carolina, feeling restless and apart from everyone around him, and discovering in his first drink the confidence and ease he had never known. What began as relief quickly became blackouts, arrests, lost jobs, broken marriages, violence, and finally a sentence of natural life plus 40 years in the North Carolina prison system. Inside prison, Wallace found that being physically locked up did not automatically make him sober, and after a desperate night brought him back to Alcoholics Anonymous with real willingness, he began to recover through the Big Book, sponsorship, Step Five, service, and carrying the message into correctional institutions. Wallace B. from Sanford, NC speaking at the 49th Florida State Conference at the Wyndham Palace Resort in Orlando, FL - August 2005 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Jay had the kind of white-light experience AA people whisper about, then spent 20 years learning that the real test was not the vision but the fruit. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Jay S. digs into the idea of spiritual experience through the book that helped AA’s co-founder understand what had happened to him, the once-born and twice-born, sudden awakenings, gradual change, the Oxford Group, early AA figures, and the simple test of whether a life actually changes. The speaker traces how these ideas shaped Alcoholics Anonymous, then brings it home with his own experience of sitting in a room that seemed to disappear into white light, feeling a peace beyond words, and later realizing that the point was not having a dramatic experience but living as if it were true. Jay S. from Redondo Beach, CA speaking on the topic of "Varieties of Spiritual Experiences - James, Jung, Shoemaker & You" in Indianapolis, IN - April 26th 2008 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Wesley had 12 years sober, a good business, money in the bank, and respect in AA, then started drifting because he thought the inside job was finished. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Wesley talks about AA as deflation at depth, an inside job that starts with the steps but has to keep growing through unity and service. After years sober, with his family, business, and life restored, he began taking credit for what God and AA had done, skipped one regular meeting, felt ignored, and slowly slid into complacency, apathy, and dependence on himself. In this AA talk, Wesley explains how the traditions brought him back to the full program of recovery, unity, and service, and why he believes the Big Book, the Twelve and Twelve, AA Comes of Age, and As Bill Sees It are the basic tools that keep an alcoholic connected to the solution. Wesley P. speaking in Lakeland, FL - January 27th 1983 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Joe got the money, the condo, the business, and the attention, then found out none of it helped when he had to sit alone with himself. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Joe grew up around alcoholism, took his first real drink behind the factories at 15, and spent years trying to outrun himself through trouble, prison, business success, money, and geographic cures. After getting sober for two years without really taking the steps, he built a fast-moving internet company in Chicago, watched his ego take over, then lost the life he thought would finally fix him. In this AA talk, Joe shares how a broken foot, a failed rehab attempt, a call to his mother, and a meeting in Woodstock brought him back to the program he had known about since he was 17, this time with a sponsor, a book, prayer, inventory, amends, and a real willingness to do the deal. Joe "Windoes" D. from Woodstock, IL speaking at the Crystal Lake Alano Club in  Crystal Lake, IL - February 21st 2009 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu    

James M. says AA did not survive because alcoholics got organized, it survived because they finally learned what could destroy them. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter In this AA traditions workshop, James M. mixes his own recovery story with the history of how Alcoholics Anonymous found its footing, from early failure and spiritual desperation to the first meetings, the writing of the Big Book, explosive growth, group chaos, and the principles that kept AA from collapsing like earlier movements. He also talks about losing his family, career, and direction before learning that when he put AA first, everything else in his life had a chance to come back. James M. from Breaux Bridge, LA speaking at the AA's 73rd Anniversary in Galliano, LA - June 14th 2008 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Keith L. thought AA was just going to teach him how to stop drinking, but it kept proving him wrong about almost everything else too. We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Check out our lighthearted sober t-shirts and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Join the free Sober Sunrise Newsletter for the week’s speaker episodes, channel updates, and a few extra AA happenings. ☀️   Weekly Newsletter In this four-part AA talk, Keith L. shares how he came in from a basement in Washington, D.C., still convinced he could think his way out, and found a program that kept proving him wrong in the best possible way. With sharp humor and a lot of step-by-step experience, he talks about fear, pride, sponsorship, inventory, broken relationships, meetings, service, guilt, and learning that AA is not about managing life better but becoming useful to someone else. Keith L. from Wilmington, NC speaking at the God's word is priority in St. Bernards Abbey in Cullman, AL - November 1999 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu    

Peter cursed God outside Port Authority after seeing what he had become, then found himself in a Lower East Side hallway making the first honest plea of his life. We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Check out our lighthearted sober t-shirts and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Join the free Sober Sunrise Newsletter for the week’s speaker episodes, channel updates, and a few extra AA happenings. ☀️   Weekly Newsletter Peter’s story moves from Brooklyn fear, family loss, and repeated treatment centers to the filthy Lower East Side hallway where a small piece of willingness finally broke through. In this AA talk, he shares how his father found him with compassion instead of fury, how his first sober apartment held nothing but a sleeping bag, a Big Book, and God above the door, and why he believes recovered life is more than just staying away from a drink. Peter speaks with urgency about ego, prayer, meditation, sponsorship, and the one-drunk-to-another message that pulled him from the streets into the sunlight of the spirit. Peter M. from Union, NJ speaking at the Deerfield Beach group's 1st anniversary in Deerfield Beach, FL - September 10th 2007 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Don walked into a Cleveland AA meeting shaking too hard to sign a raffle ticket, until a man from the back of the room signed it for him and said the two words he had never found anywhere else: “we understand.” We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Check out our lighthearted sober t-shirts and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Join the free Sober Sunrise Newsletter for the week’s speaker episodes, channel updates, and a few extra AA happenings. ☀️   Weekly Newsletter Don starts as a 15-year-old grocery-store kid who found a voice in booze, wound up in the Army instead of jail, came home with war stories, and eventually landed in Rosary Hall still convinced drinking was not the real problem. In this rough, funny, old-school AA talk, he remembers the people who fed newcomers, paid utility bills, sat up all night with suffering alcoholics, and taught him that AA is action. Don is blunt about anonymity, sponsorship, amends, resentment, and the Big Book, but his point is simple: the book matters, but it never welcomed a newcomer, made a 12-step call, or sat beside someone who needed help. Don C. from Garfield Heights, OH speaking at Saturday Nite Live SE at Marymount Hospital in Garfield Heights, OH - February 13th 2003 - Don's sobriety date is February 11th 1968 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Pasha used to hide in a closet dreaming of Vermont because she thought God was there, then found out years later that the God she was looking for had been reaching her through AA. We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Check out our lighthearted sober t-shirts and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Join the free Sober Sunrise Newsletter for the week’s speaker episodes, channel updates, and a few extra AA happenings. ☀️   Weekly Newsletter Pasha opens this talk scared in a bathroom, trying to calm herself down before stepping in front of the room, then reaches back to the child who hid in a closet and dreamed of Vermont as a place where God might be waiting. She thought she belonged in Al-Anon, landed in treatment, and ended up in a Fort Lauderdale halfway house where her bed had burned before she arrived and rain hit the couch she slept on. Through structure, sponsorship, the Big Book, a Third Step prayer on the beach, motherhood, nursing, and the slow work of becoming herself, Pasha shares how AA gave her the key to the prison she had been living in. Pasha R. from Hinesburg, VT speaking at Florida Roundup in Miami Beach, FL - March 18th 1993 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Tim left Louisville in 1966 as an all-state basketball player with a college scholarship, then came home four years later carrying a lie only his mother knew. We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Check out our lighthearted sober t-shirts and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Join the free Sober Sunrise Newsletter for the week’s speaker episodes, channel updates, and a few extra AA happenings. ☀️   Weekly Newsletter In this three-part Vancouver men’s retreat talk from 2009, Tim shares how alcohol took over the life of a Kentucky basketball player who once thought the plan was college, law school, Congress, and maybe even the White House. Instead, he came home from school living a lie, became a teacher and coach who could barely show up, lost credibility with his family, and spent years starting over until April 12, 1990, when an AA meeting directory in his desk finally became the way out. Tim’s story moves from ego, dishonesty, and broken relationships into sponsorship, family healing, daily step use, and the simple instruction that changed his life: do the stitches and leave the patterns up to God. Tim H. from Louisville, KY speaking at the 21st Annual AA Fall Mens Retreat in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - September 19th 2009 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Chris thought his first Fifth Step meant reading someone every ugly thing he already knew about himself, until the Big Book showed him that inventory was supposed to reveal the pattern underneath it all. We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Check out our lighthearted sober t-shirts and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Join the free Sober Sunrise Newsletter for the week’s speaker episodes, channel updates, and a few extra AA happenings. ☀️   Weekly Newsletter Chris opens up Step Five by admitting his first attempt was basically a life story, a shame dump, and a walk in the park with a sponsor who mostly wanted to walk his dogs. Later, after learning how to do inventory from the Big Book, he found out Step Five was not about confessing every bad thing he already knew. It was about seeing the exact pattern underneath his resentments, fears, and conduct so he could start getting free. With blunt humor and no patience for overthinking, Chris makes the case that AA is not a debating society - it is a program of action. Chris S. from New Vernon, NJ talking about step 5 at a Big Book study in Winston-Salem, NC - 2010 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu    

Paul got sober in 1947, spent his first year convinced he had the program figured out, and then a friend told him he hadn't missed something in the program - he'd missed the whole program. We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Check out our lighthearted sober t-shirts and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Join the free Sober Sunrise Newsletter for the week’s speaker episodes, channel updates, and a few extra AA happenings. ☀️   Weekly Newsletter Paul shares from nearly six decades sober with old-timer humor, Navy stories, professional wrestling, and a hard message about what actually treats alcoholism. He talks about getting sober in 1947, hearing Bill Wilson speak, making delayed amends, reworking inventory, and watching people change through honest fifth steps and direct restitution. At 83, Paul is still working the steps every week and making the case that meetings are good, but the steps are the program. Paul M. from Chicago, IL speaking at a half-way house fundraiser in Chicago, IL - May 14th 2005 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Andrew came into AA feeling awkward, young, and afraid of being seen, then found that service gave him a way to belong without having to become somebody else. We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Check out our lighthearted sober t-shirts and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Join the free Sober Sunrise Newsletter for the week’s speaker episodes, channel updates, and a few extra AA happenings. ☀️   Weekly Newsletter Andrew shares about getting sober at 17, learning to live without alcohol as his solution, and slowly finding his place in AA through sponsorship, meetings, amends, and service. With dry humor and a deep love for the fellowship, he talks about general service, corrections correspondence, carrying the message, and how showing up for AA gave him far more than the relief he first came looking for. Andrew W. from Missoula, MT speaking at the 60th Gopher State Roundup in Bloomington, MN - May 25th 2013 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Charlie loved AA from the start, but eventually learned that meetings, friends, and fellowship could not replace the spiritual experience the book was pointing him toward. We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Check out our lighthearted sober t-shirts and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Want to receive all the speakers from the last week + some fun other AA happenings? Join the Sober Sunrise Newsletter! Weekly Newsletter Charlie shares with humor and Big Book conviction about getting sober, drifting on fellowship alone, and later realizing that outwardly looking fine was not the same as staying spiritually fit. He talks about sponsorship, working the steps from the book, getting honest about what was blocking him, and finding new life in carrying the message to other alcoholics. Charlie P. from Austin, TX speaking at the Bridge to Shore group in Austin, TX - January 1st 2006 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Shelly thought she had only handed God the drinking problem, until one long day in the steps showed her how much of her life she was still trying to manage herself. We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Check out our lighthearted sober t-shirts and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Want to receive all the speakers from the last week + some fun other AA happenings? Join the Sober Sunrise Newsletter! Weekly Newsletter Shelly shares about getting sober young, falling in love with AA before fully working the program, and the day her sponsor walked her through the steps fast enough to save her life. With sharp Big Book experience, funny real-life details, and a deep focus on action, Shelly talks about inventory, amends, sponsorship, and learning that God could handle far more than she was willing to hand over. Shelly S. from Portsmouth, NH speaking at the 70th "Old Grandad" Conference in Hot Springs, AR - August 20th 2010 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Wayne spent five years drinking his way through AA meetings before his sponsor casually mentioned the program works better if you don't drink - and what happened next almost got one of them killed. We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Check out our lighthearted sober t-shirts and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Want to receive all the speakers from the last week + some fun other AA happenings? Join the Sober Sunrise Newsletter! Weekly Newsletter Wayne was living in a dumpster behind a bar in Illinois when his dad found him and closed the lid. A bartender sent him to a basement AA meeting where an old-timer grabbed him and wouldn't let go - not through five years of drinking in meetings, not through a gunshot, not through a psych ward. Wayne fired his sponsor after year one, sponsored himself into a seven-year depression, then finally did the steps the way they're written and went from the bottom of the barrel to graduating a police academy. Wayne B. from Santa Monica, CA speaking at ORC 2000 Program - March 1st 2000 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu    

Bart spent eight years in AA meetings without raising his hand once - until someone's sponsor made him so angry from the podium that he showed up at the guy's store the next morning ready to fight, and walked out two hours later with a sponsor and a big book.We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Check out our lighthearted sober t-shirts and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Want to receive all the speakers from the last week + some fun other AA happenings? Join the Sober Sunrise Newsletter! Weekly Newsletter Bart came into AA in 1987 and spent eight years going to meetings without ever working the steps, raising his hand, or getting a sponsor. He was so shy people offered him cash just to say his name. In 1995 he heard a speaker talk about being recovered, happy, and free - and it made him furious. He showed up at the guy's store the next morning to confront him, and two hours later he was reading the Big Book for the first time. Three months in, his sponsor sent him to work with a guy from a rehab who wanted to kill everyone in the room - and Bart watched him recover. That changed everything. Bart R. from Long Beach, NY speaking at the Airmont group's 13th anniversary in Airmont, NY - July 18th 2008 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

 Mickey spent 40 years changing his perception of reality any way he could - starting as a kid in northwest London who took a dump in a confessional, and ending as a blackout drinker who woke up walking down a street in Spain after a night out in London. We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Check out our lighthearted sober t-shirts and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch  Mickey B. breaks down the first three steps with the kind of clarity that made him one of the most quoted speakers in AA rooms worldwide. He draws a sharp line between admitting you're an alcoholic and fully conceding it, explains why "powerless over people, places and things" has nothing to do with the program, and walks through what hitting bottom actually is - an inside job, not an outside circumstance. This is a two-part workshop recorded in Copenhagen in 2009. Mickey B. from London, UK speaking about steps 1, 2 and 3 at the Men Among Men Group's first conference in Copenhagen, Denmark - August 8th 2009 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Frank quit drinking for 13 months without ever stepping foot in an AA meeting - by the end he was choking a stranger in an office and throwing groceries across a store before someone finally told him his problem wasn't drinking anymore, it was living. We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Check out our lighthearted sober t-shirts and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Frank grew up in small-town Illinois, joined the Marines at 17 because he was too scared to go to college, and spent the next two decades fighting, drinking, and walking through everyone's life. After the Marine Corps, the police department, and a real estate fortune he drank away, he ended up homeless and dying - and his parents had him committed. He white-knuckled 13 months with no meetings and had a nervous breakdown before someone finally told him drinking wasn't his problem anymore, living was. Frank J. from Sherman Oaks, CA speaking at the Chippewa Valley roundup in Eau Claire, Wisconsin - 2001 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Peter went through seven treatment centers, lived on the streets of Lower Manhattan, and cursed God with everything he had - then begged Him for help from the same hallway a few weeks later. We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Check out our lighthearted sober t-shirts and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Peter grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, lost his mother to the disease as a kid, and chased alcohol from age 14 through seven rehabs, the Brooklyn waterfront, and the streets of Lower Manhattan. His dad kept showing up - locking the door one day, coming back to rescue him the next - until the night he drove back from South Jersey on a gut feeling and found his son running the streets. Peter got sober in Minnesota in 1988 and built a life on continuous step work, prayer, and meditation that goes far deeper than just not drinking. Peter M. from Union, NJ speaking at the Gopher State Roundup in Minneapolis, MN - May 29th 2005 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Frank is a recovered attorney with 30-plus years sober who still writes a full Fourth Step inventory every single year - and he brought his latest one to the podium to read it out loud. We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Check out our lighthearted sober t-shirts and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Frank is a Colorado lawyer who stole from clients, blacked out through court appearances, and played bar games that made him sick to his stomach once the fog cleared. Decades sober, he still does the steps annually and walked the room through his latest written inventory column by column - resentments, ego, and the amends that came out of it. This is a nuts-and-bolts Big Book talk from a guy who treats the steps like power tools, not theory. "Big" Frank M. from Denver, CO speaking at Top O' Top Roundup - October 10th 1996 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu    

Chris walked out of a 28-day rehab with every reason in the world not to drink and didn't make it five minutes off the train before he was in a bar. We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Check out our lighthearted sober t-shirts and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Chris  spent 17 years drinking a fifth of vodka a day while climbing the corporate ladder in management consulting. After a blackout car accident that killed another person, he cycled through mental wards, detoxes, and rehabs - still unable to stop. It took getting dragged out of a hotel by fellow AA members, doing his steps in the back of a parking lot, and eventually working his program from inside a prison cell to finally build the spiritual foundation that keeps him sober today. Robert "Chris" P. from Newark, NJ speaking at the Spiritual Awakenings Group in Bernardsville, NJ - January 22nd 2008 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  

Jay P. spent a year and a half making coffee, cleaning ashtrays, and giving speeches he stole from other people's meetings - until someone told him he was a phony and about to get drunk. We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Check out our lighthearted sober t-shirts and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Jay grew up in Cleveland, bouncing between reformatories before his first drink at 13 changed everything. He burned through the Navy, the Merchant Marine, and a marriage before landing on a stranger's doorstep 1,200 miles from home. In AA he did all the right things for a year and a half - then a fellow member called him out, he cracked open the Big Book, and four days later his life was different. Jay P. from Myrtle Beach, SC at Northern Illinois Area Spring Conference - March 22nd 1997 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu