I Was Stupid Enough to Follow the Instructions - AA Speaker - Ray M.

5,000 Meetings Before I Heard Step One - AA Speaker - Tom P.

Tom had years in AA, thousands of meetings, and still drank again. Then one Big Book talk in treatment finally explained what he had missed. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Track your sober time, take a daily pledge, listen to trusted AA speakers, use beautiful home screen widgets, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sober-sunrise/id6770203116 [https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sober-sunrise/id6770203116]   ☀️ 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 [https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter]   Tom shares a direct and hard-hitting AA talk about starting to drink at a young age, living restless, irritable, and discontent without alcohol, spending years around Alcoholics Anonymous, and still missing the core of the program. He talks about treatment centers, discussion meetings, slogans, “thinking through the drink,” long stretches of meeting attendance, and the frightening moment when all of that still failed to keep him sober. In treatment after his relapse, Tom finally heard the Big Book explained in a way he says he had never heard in thousands of meetings: the physical allergy, the mental obsession, the spiritual malady, and the need for a spiritual solution followed by carrying the message to others. He gets into why meetings are not the solution by themselves, why working with other alcoholics matters, why delaying the steps can be dangerous, and how taking the steps quickly changed his life into one built around service, sponsorship, and watching other alcoholics recover. Tom P. from Dallas, TX speaking at the Casa Group of AA in Dallas, TX - November 27th 2006 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Don’t Let Me Meet God With Alcohol on My Breath - AA Speaker - Grant P.

Grant hit the end of half-measures with one desperate thought: he didn’t want to meet God with alcohol on his breath. ☀️ 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 Grant shares a funny, painful, and deeply honest AA talk about growing up alone in a rigid military home, losing his athletic future to a brain tumor, taking his first drink at 17, and slowly crossing the line from controlled drinking into hiding beer in spare tires, wrecking cars, damaging his family, and trying to manage alcoholism his own way. He talks about white-knuckling, coming to AA, continuing to drink between meetings, and finally reaching the kind of pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization that made him willing to do whatever it took. Grant also shares powerful moments from recovery: hearing that God would not bring him into a room with the answer just to deny it to him, finding a sponsor, taking the steps, making peace with his father, discovering the truth about his childhood, and becoming a man who could love, forgive, and be useful. Grant P. from St. Paul, MN sharing his story at the St. Paul open speakers meeting in St. Paul, MN - January 2007 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

At the Christening of AA - AA Speaker - Paul K.

Paul says he was not there at the birth of Alcoholics Anonymous, but he was there at the christening. ☀️ 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 K. shares an old-school AA talk with 46 years of sobriety, reflecting on early Alcoholics Anonymous, Dr. Bob, the Oxford Group influence, the Four Absolutes, sponsorship, surrender, inventory, amends, traditions, and the spiritual simplicity he saw in the fellowship’s early days. He talks about coming into AA when it was already “in place and working,” being sponsored through direct action, taking the Third Step on his knees in front of the group, using honesty, unselfishness, purity, and love as guides for inventory, and learning through painful amends that restitution could become an act of love. Paul also speaks tenderly about his wife, their shared sobriety, and Dr. Bob’s final message to keep the program simple: love and service. Paul K. from Akron, OH speaking at the Deep South AA Convention in New Orleans, LA - April 8th-10th 1988 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

The Invisible Rowboat - AA Speaker - Arnor K.

Arnor says AA can feel like an invisible rowboat: it may not make sense at first, but you still have to get in and row. ☀️ 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 Arnor K. shares a sharp, funny, and unconventional AA workshop talk on carrying the message, working with newcomers, and why intensive work with other alcoholics became the missing piece of his own sobriety. He talks about coming into AA angry, defensive, and unimpressed, reading the Big Book to find loopholes, learning from people who did not want to do the work but did it anyway, and discovering that sobriety was not just about fixing himself. Arnor digs into Chapter 7, the practical meaning of “intensive work with other alcoholics,” the difference between sounding like an expert and gaining a drunk’s trust, why perfection is not required to help someone, and how the recipe of AA only comes alive when it is actually baked into action. It is a restless, funny, thought-provoking talk about getting off the receiving end of AA and becoming part of the work. Arnor K. from Oslo, Norway speaking about carrying the message at the June NOLA workshop in New Orleans, LA - June 28th 2015 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

The Dry Drunk Cometh - AA Speaker - Deandre M.

DeAndre thought he already knew enough about the first three steps. His sponsor heard two sentences and saw the dry drunk coming. ☀️ 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 DeAndre, sober since May 29, 1991, shares a funny and direct AA talk about sponsorship, connection, accountability, and the danger of trying to run the show alone. He talks about leaving psych rehab, meeting his first sponsor Dennis, thinking he had already handled the first three steps, and slowly learning that real sponsorship meant letting another alcoholic see through his fear, resentment, secrets, and self-deception. DeAndre gets into the “stomach steps” of four through nine, looking for cosigners instead of direction, drifting from a sponsor, coming back, sponsoring others, staying available without playing God, and why helping another alcoholic keeps his sobriety from feeling shallow. Deandre M. from Lancaster, CA speaking at the 12 suggestions meeting in Hermosa Beach, CA -  June 21st 2006 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu