Out of Dirt Comes Flowers - AA Speaker - Vaughn Q.

No Obsession to Roll in Poison Ivy - AA Speaker - Brian B.

This Step One talk looks at the difference between consequences, control, and the deeper problem of not being able to stay stopped. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, save favorite speakers, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 Sober Sunrise App - Apple App Store [https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sober-sunrise/id6770203116] If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ 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 step meeting, the speaker walks through Step One with a direct focus on powerlessness, the allergy, the obsession, and the difference between a hard drinker and a real alcoholic. He talks about being able to stop for a while but not stay stopped, hearing mixed messages in early sobriety, and finally understanding why the first drink was the real problem. Using plain examples from his own life, including the poison ivy comparison, he explains why consequences alone could not keep him sober and why the solution had to involve the 12 steps, spiritual change, sponsorship, and action. This is a practical, Big Book-centered talk for anyone trying to understand what it means to be powerless over alcohol. Brian B. leading a meeting on step one at the Bottom Line Group in Pomano Beach, FL - May 2nd 2005 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

More Than “Keep Coming Back” - AA Speaker - Chris R.

Chris R. shares a direct and powerful AA talk about why meetings alone did not treat his alcoholism, how the Steps changed everything, and why newcomers need more than slogans. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 Sober Sunrise App - Apple App Store [https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sober-sunrise/id6770203116] ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Chris R. shares his experience as a recovered alcoholic, talking about alcoholism as a physical craving, a mental obsession, and a spiritual malady that meetings alone could not fix. After years of trying to stay sober in Alcoholics Anonymous without really working the program, Chris describes the suicide attempt, the Big Book meeting, and the people who finally carried a clear message of recovery to him. He talks about being pulled with a vision of what life could look like through the Twelve Steps, doing a Third Step Prayer, starting inventory, answering phones, being useful, and realizing two weeks later that the obsession to drink had been lifted. This AA speaker tape is funny, blunt, and full of urgency, with a strong message about carrying the actual solution, getting in the trench, and helping people recover instead of only telling them to keep coming back. Chris R. from Ingram, TX speaking at the Truro Roundup in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada - July 25th 2009 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Big Book Will Travel - AA Speaker - Don B.

Don’s sponsor handed him a card that said “Big Book Will Travel,” and that old AA spirit runs through the whole talk: show up, carry the message, and give away what saved you. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, save favorite speakers, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 Sober Sunrise App - Apple App Store [https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sober-sunrise/id6770203116] If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ 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 Don shares an old-school AA talk that weaves early Alcoholics Anonymous history with his own story of drinking, lying, family damage, and final surrender. He talks about the first meetings in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the fragile beginnings of AA on the West Coast, and the people who kept showing up because they needed each other as much as the newcomer needed them. Then he turns to his own life: drinking through military service, hiding behind success and performance, sending two wives toward Al-Anon before he ever got sober, and reaching a January 15, 1985 bottom where he could not get drunk and could not get sober. In treatment, an old sponsor with a “Big Book Will Travel” card pointed him toward prayer, inventory, the ABCs, service, and the kind of life Don calls the fourth dimension: a place where God provides what is needed when we stay close and do the work. Don B. from Pleasant Hill, CA speaking in Oyster Point, CA - September 30th 2004 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

The Eight Minutes That Got Me Here - AA Speaker - Cliff R.

Cliff says alcohol gave him eight minutes where the black rock in his belly went quiet, but AA taught him a different way out: service, laughter, and giving away what saved him. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, save favorite speakers, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱Sober Sunrise App - Apple App Store [https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sober-sunrise/id6770203116] If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ 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 Cliff shares a sharp, hilarious, and painfully honest AA talk about being a “functioning alcoholic” who almost died while still going to work, winning speech tournaments, and looking nothing like the park-bench alcoholic he thought he had to become. From his first drink at 16 to blackouts, fights, daily drinking, teaching school while dying inside, a surf shop with 15-martini sunsets, hot vodka in the glove compartment, and a family pushed into chaos, Cliff’s story keeps circling one truth: alcohol gave him a few minutes of relief from the black rock in his belly, then took everything else. His bottom came when his teenage son told him life was beautiful without him in the house, and the surrender came later on a beach-house floor with the Big Book open to page 63. Through sponsorship, service, Al-Anon, laughter, and the Steps, Cliff found the promises coming true and learned that the feeling of uselessness and self-pity disappears when we see how our experience can benefit others. Cliff R. from Oceanside, CA speaking at Specific Group, Las Vegas, NV June 22nd 2000 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

The Miracle Is: I Was Ready - AA Speaker - Robi S.

Robi shares a funny, honest, and deeply moving AA talk about untreated alcoholism, the spiritual malady, amends, sponsorship, and the miracle of being ready when grace shows up. ☀️ Check out the New Sober Sunrise App! Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 Sober Sunrise App - Apple App Store [https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sober-sunrise/id6770203116] ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Robi shares her experience as a recovered alcoholic, beginning with the hopelessness, spiritual malady, and loss of choice that brought her to Alcoholics Anonymous. She talks about coming into AA sick, broken, and out of options, learning that simply removing alcohol was not enough, and finding freedom through sponsorship, truth-telling, inventory, amends, prayer, meditation, and working with other women. This AA speaker tape moves from raw honesty and humor into powerful recovery moments: being present with her mother at the end of life, walking through amends without unfinished business, and later having her daughters return to her life when she was finally spiritually ready to receive them. It is a strong message about not faking recovery, staying active in the Steps, and finding the kind of freedom where we no longer have to face life alone. Robi S. from Ventnor City, NJ speaking at the Absecon Speaker Group in Absecon, NJ - October 30th 2013 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu