Sober Sunrise - AA Speaker Podcast

Lindsey and Nate each came into AA trying to look cool and remain in control; recovery began when they became vulnerable enough to admit they were falling apart and ask another alcoholic for help.

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Lindsey and Nate share two candid Alcoholics Anonymous stories about pride, powerlessness, vulnerability, and the spiritual solution they found through the Twelve Steps. Lindsey was introduced to AA at 16 but remained convinced that she was different, eventually reaching an emotional bottom after blackouts, destructive behavior, broken relationships, and repeated attempts to control her drinking. A call to the woman she least wanted to contact opened the first small door to hope, and a sponsor helped her examine the fear, selfishness, secrets, and need for control beneath her alcoholism. Nate describes using alcohol, drugs, relationships, and excitement to escape the discomfort of being human until withdrawal, homelessness, detox, and isolation left him unable to continue. Even after entering AA, he tried meetings without honestly working the program and blamed the fellowship when his life failed to improve. Both found relief when they stopped pretending to have everything together, accepted guidance, worked through the Big Book, and became accountable for the harm they caused. Together, their stories show how honesty replaces delusion, vulnerability breaks through pride, and God becomes real through love, repaired relationships, sponsorship, and helping another person.

Lindsey F. from Portland, ME and Nate F. from Portland, ME speaking at the Portland Harbor Group in Portland, ME - November 28th 2012
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Don’s family once took him to the edge of the reservation and told him never to return; years later, Alcoholics Anonymous said “keep coming back,” and he knew he had found his tribe.

☀️ 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.
📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app
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
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

Don, a member of the Mohican Nation and sober since August 10, 1978, uses the story of a boxing match to describe his long contest with alcohol. Every round brought more pain, his family eventually left the arena, and each attempt to return with a new strategy ended with alcohol putting him back on his knees. At his first AA meeting, Don found himself surrounded by white people who openly admitted their weaknesses and laughed about their lives, two things he could not understand. Still, he felt a connection that made him return. A demanding sponsor used Don’s anger to break through his resistance, introduced him to the first 164 pages of the Big Book, and offered to remain his friend whether Don liked him or not. Through the Twelve Steps, Don confronted childhood trauma, disclosed the secrets that had controlled his relationships, learned the difference between apology and forgiveness, and began repairing the harm he caused. A later sponsor helped him place the Steps within the four directions, reconnecting Alcoholics Anonymous with the Native spirituality and culture he had lost. After 32 passes through the Steps, Don describes a sober family, grandchildren growing up outside the cycle of addiction, and a fellowship that welcomed him home when he believed he no longer belonged anywhere.

Don C. from Colorado Springs, CO speaking at the 53rd ICYPAA in San Francisco, CA - September 3rd 2011
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

At ten months sober, Liz hated AA meetings, hated the happy people in them, and was close to giving up; then the woman she couldn’t stand became the sponsor who led her through the Big Book and Twelve Steps.

☀️ 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.
📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app
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
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

Liz, sober since July 20, 1993, shares how a painfully shy and self-conscious child discovered at 13 that alcohol could immediately provide the ease and confidence she could not find on her own. What began with a few beers grew into drugs, legal trouble, repeated DUIs, unstable living, broken promises, and a pattern of changing jobs before her drinking could catch up with her. At her final law firm, Liz entered a conference room expecting to help select a copy machine and instead found the partners and an intervention professional waiting for her. Treatment removed the alcohol, but after ten months of meetings without working the program, her mind still felt like silverware spinning in a blender and she could no longer keep living that way. The woman whose honesty made Liz uncomfortable became her sponsor, led her into the Big Book, and took her through the Twelve Steps. Through inventory, confession, amends, daily maintenance, prayer, sponsorship, and service, Liz discovered the peace that abstinence alone had never produced. Fourteen years later, she describes a life of marriage, motherhood, restored family relationships, freedom from other compulsions, and continued dependence on the actions that keep her connected to God and recovery.

Liz Y. from Atlanta, GA speaking at the New Year’s Eve party at the Northside Alcoholics Benevolent Association - December 31st 2007
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

In this AA workshop, Frank says bottom is not a jail cell, divorce court, treatment center, or empty bank account - it is the moment an alcoholic realizes, “I can’t live drinking, and I can’t live not drinking.”

☀️ 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.
📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app
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
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

Frank, nearly 18 years sober, brings courtroom energy, blunt humor, and years of beginners-meeting experience to this two-part workshop on spirituality through the Twelve Steps. He challenges the idea that the purpose of Alcoholics Anonymous is merely to stop drinking, arguing that fellowship, meetings, slogans, and sober time can support recovery but cannot replace the actions in the Big Book. Through his imaginary test-tube exercise, Frank shows how alcohol initially appeared to dilute fear, shame, anger, loneliness, and the feeling of never being enough, before eventually intensifying everything it once seemed to relieve. From there, he describes bottom as a feeling rather than a location, explains why willingness must precede surrender, and presents the first three Steps as simple movements from honest recognition to accepting help. Frank also shares how outward success concealed family damage, secrets, and a deeply punitive idea of God, and how belief gradually moved from the AA group to a sponsor and finally toward a loving Higher Power. His central message is that whether someone has avoided the Steps for three days or 30 years, the grace to begin remains available.

Frank M. speaking on “Spirituality Through the Steps” at the Cajun Conference in Lafayette, LA - 1989
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Billy was told at 17 that he might be too cool to get sober; AA eventually carried him through jail and homelessness into Big Book service, family repair, and a life his mother could finally discuss with pride.

☀️ 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.
📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app
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
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

Billy, sober since January 5, 1990, grew up in a large Irish Catholic family where alcoholism, fear, and keeping up appearances were woven into ordinary life. His first serious drunk at 13 made him feel comfortable in his own skin, beginning years of violent drinking, repeated visits to Alcoholics Anonymous, legal consequences, a fatal impaired-driving crash, incarceration, and homelessness. Billy describes being the teenager who was too cool for AA, learning recovery language without taking the actions, and nearly walking away after hearing that sobriety earned in jail did not count. A speaker tape inside the correctional facility gave him enough hope to continue. Still an atheist or agnostic during his first five years sober, Billy gradually found a life in the Big Book, the Twelve Steps, corrections work, young people’s AA, and general service. He explains that recovery required more than learning a new way to live - it required unlearning nearly everything he had been taught about manhood, prejudice, pride, and asking for help. Ultimately, it was not the consequences that kept him sober, but the good life that returned a little at a time and allowed his family to heal.

Billy N. from Spring Lake Heights, NJ speaking at the 70th "Old Grandad" Conference in Hot Springs, AR - August 20th 2010
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu