Sober Sunrise - AA Speaker Podcast

Епизоди

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  I Thought I Was Empty, but I Was Full of Me - AA Speaker - Peter M. 20.08.2026 1ч 13мин

  In this Big Book workshop on AA Steps 10, 11, and 12, Peter explains how inventory, prayer, meditation, and intensive work with other alcoholics replace the noise of self with spiritual freedom. ☀️ Sober Sunrise AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Peter presents a deeply spiritual and practical Big Book workshop on Steps 10, 11, and 12 of Alcoholics Anonymous. He describes Step 10 as a continuing way of life built around immediate inventory, prayer, honest discussion, amends, and movement toward helping someone else. In Step 11, Peter explores meditation, breath, posture, daily review, and the silence that remains beneath internal dialogue and external noise. Step 12 turns that spiritual experience outward through intensive work with other alcoholics, clear sponsorship, service, and carrying the common solution. Peter shares personal examples of resentment being removed, learning to forgive, moving beyond fear, and discovering that recovery is not about acquiring more knowledge or constructing a better identity. It is a process of subtraction—less ego, less attachment, and less self—so that a recovered alcoholic can live presently, experience God, and help another person awaken. Peter M. from Union, NJ speaking about Steps 10, 11, and 12 at the Spiritual Awakenings Group in Bernardsville, NJ - August 8th 2006 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  5,200 Pages Before the Big Book Made Sense - AA Speaker - KC R. 19.08.2026 1ч 8мин

  After getting sober at sixteen and reading thousands of Big Book pages in treatment, KC discovers why information alone could not relieve the obsession—and what changed when a sponsor finally walked her through the Twelve Steps. ☀️ Sober Sunrise AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter KC delivers a funny, passionate, and sharply focused AA speaker talk about developing alcoholism as a teenager, reaching the point where she asks her mother to install an alarm on the windows, and entering long-term residential treatment at sixteen. Although she completes packets, attends meetings, studies recovery concepts, and reads an accumulated 5,200 pages of the Big Book, KC remains frightened by how badly she still wants to drink. After leaving treatment, she finds a sponsor who explains the physical allergy and mental obsession in language that finally matches KC’s experience. The Big Book changes from something she can quote into a set of directions she can follow. KC describes moving rapidly through inventory, confession, amends, daily spiritual practice, and work with other alcoholics, while explaining why the common solution matters more than personal opinions in AA meetings. Her story is a powerful message about young sobriety, sponsorship, the Twelve Steps, service, and the difference between knowing recovery language and experiencing genuine freedom. KC R. from Dallas, TX speaking at the North Eastern Conference of Young People in AA in Nashua, NH - December 30th 2007 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  I Spent Seven Years in AA Without the Program - AA Speaker - Chris R. 18.08.2026 50мин

  After seven years in and out of AA, Chris learns that attending meetings is not the same as working the Big Book, taking the Steps, and serving other alcoholics. ☀️ Sober Sunrise AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Chris delivers a passionate and often hilarious Big Book-centered AA speaker talk about the difference between attending Alcoholics Anonymous and actively participating in its program of recovery. For seven years, he moves in and out of meetings without owning a Big Book, finding a sponsor, working the Steps, or accepting a service commitment. As his alcoholism progresses into isolation, financial chaos, depression, and a life-threatening crisis, Chris hears a voice telling him to return to AA. At a meeting filled with people carrying Big Books, members share the miracles produced by recovery instead of trying to frighten him with more war stories. They ask whether he is truly finished, guide him rapidly into the Steps, and immediately give him ways to contribute. Two weeks later, sitting on the tailgate of his truck beneath a full moon, Chris realizes that the obsession to drink and use has been removed. His message challenges members to offer newcomers a vision, carry the solution clearly, participate in service, and help other alcoholics find the spiritual experience promised in the Big Book. Chris R. from Ingram, TX speaking at the Sacramento Spring Fling in Sacramento, CA - February 24th 2006 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  The Diamond Watch That Led Me to AA - AA Speaker - Stan G. 17.08.2026 1ч 9мин

  After losing an entrusted diamond watch during a blackout, Stan walks into his first AA meeting expecting lunch—and discovers the fellowship, sponsorship, and Steps that change his life. ☀️ Sober Sunrise AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Stan shares a candid and deeply personal AA speaker talk about growing up feeling different, searching for belonging through relationships and achievement, and watching alcohol gradually take control of his life. While building a successful career in luxury jewelry, his drinking progresses into nightly intoxication, blackouts, injuries, withdrawal, and a final weekend when an expensive diamond watch entrusted to him disappears. That loss forces Stan to recognize his alcoholism and make the phone call that brings him to his first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting—although he initially believes he is simply going to lunch. He describes receiving his first desire chip, finding the sponsor who guided him through the Steps, surviving grief and major career changes without drinking, and reaching ten years sober only to realize he needed to begin again. Stan’s story is a powerful message about belonging, humility, sponsorship, service, and why long-term sobriety still requires daily action. Stan G. from Houston, TX speaking at Houston Roundup in Houston, TX - November 23rd 2000 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  From Dirty Snow to Happy Destiny - AA Speaker - Ernie R. 15.08.2026 54мин

  A veteran AA speaker shares how one desperate morning beneath the U.S. Capitol led him from broken promises and financial chaos into sponsorship, the Steps, service, and a life he genuinely wanted sober. ☀️ Sober Sunrise AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Ernie delivers a warm and hilarious AA speaker talk about the respectable professional life he used to prove that he could not possibly be an alcoholic. Behind that appearance were repeated arrests, all-night drinking, punishing hangovers, broken promises, overwhelming debt, and a family preparing to leave. After a bleak morning beneath the U.S. Capitol, a chance conversation with another alcoholic brings Ernie to an AA luncheon, his first meeting, and a demanding sponsor who teaches him to follow directions. Ernie also explains how rapid material success allowed him to run past the Steps—and why pain eventually brought him back to the daily spiritual work of the program. His message is filled with Big Book wisdom, AA history, sponsorship, humor, service, and gratitude for the fellowship that taught him he was worth getting sober. Ernie R. from Potomac, MD speaking at the Sandlapper Roundup VII in Myrtle Beach, SC - December 1998 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  Stop Trying to Be So Cool - AA Speakers - Lindsey & Nate F. 13.08.2026 1ч 3мин

  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. ☀️ Sober Sunrise AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter 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 2012Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  They Said Don’t Come Back. You Said Keep Coming Back - AA Speaker - Don C. 12.08.2026 52мин

  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 AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://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 2011Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  The Woman I Didn’t Like Became My Sponsor - AA Speaker - Liz Y. 11.08.2026 48мин

  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 AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://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 2007Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  Bottom Is a Feeling, Not a Place - AA Speaker - Frank M. 10.08.2026 2ч 38мин

  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 AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://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 - 1989Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  What AA Gave My Mother Was Half a Quart of Milk - AA Speaker - Billy N. 09.08.2026 1ч 11мин

  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 AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://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 2010Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  God Wrote Himself Into My Story - AA Speaker - Norma A. 07.08.2026 51мин

  Norma says God wrote Himself into her AA story, turning three years of abstinence without the Steps into a life of surrender, service, and faith strong enough to meet devastating grief. ☀️ Sober Sunrise AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Norma, 24 years sober, shares how growing up with an alcoholic mother and a rage-filled father carried fear, loneliness, and despair into her adult life. A sober woman she met in a bar led her to Alcoholics Anonymous, but after three years of meetings without a sponsor, the Steps, or a spiritual foundation, Norma discovered that she had found relief rather than recovery. Following a relapse and an abusive marriage, she left with her baby and began rebuilding her life while moving from couch to couch, doing odd jobs, and trusting that the next right action would be enough for that day. The years that followed brought a loving marriage, family addiction, incarceration, her son’s serious head injury and time in foster care, painful estrangement, and repeated lessons in letting go. Speaking only days after the sudden death of her stepson, Norma describes how prayer, service, the Twelve Steps, and the arms of the AA fellowship carried her through circumstances she could never control. This is a moving talk about the difference between abstinence and recovery, surrender without resignation, and finding purpose, power, and peace even when life does not turn out as hoped. Norma A. from Austin, TX speaking at the monthly Austin Citywide AA group in Austin, TX - September 22nd 2007Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  The Captain Who Had to Start From the Ground Up - AA Speaker - Lyle P. 06.08.2026 1ч 12мин

  Lyle’s last drunk became national news, but the more remarkable AA story is what followed: treatment, federal prison, a repaired family, and an impossible return to the cockpit. ☀️ Sober Sunrise AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Lyle grew up Irish and Comanche in an alcoholic home, determined never to become like his parents. He built a distinguished career as a Marine Corps aviator and airline captain, but in March 1990 an alcohol-related flight ended with his arrest, national headlines, termination, revoked licenses, a federal conviction, and 424 days in prison. Treatment also forced Lyle to confront the pain hidden beneath years of anger, especially the rage that had separated him from his daughter and son. Through honesty, willingness, reconciliation, and the practical discipline of Alcoholics Anonymous, he began putting his family back together before facing prison one day at a time. After his release, Lyle started with a private pilot’s license and rebuilt every qualification from the ground up. He was eventually reinstated with full seniority, completed his career as a Boeing 747 captain, received a presidential pardon, and learned that his recovery story had been selected for the Big Book. This is an exceptional AA talk about accountability, acceptance, and watching the impossible become possible one step at a time. Lyle P. from Conyers, GA speaking at the 19th Annual Man-to-Man Conference in Lake Brownwood, TX - May 18th 2002 Lyle is the author of “Grounded” on page 522 of the Fourth Edition of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  I Belonged in the Universe Again - AA Speaker - Michael B. 05.08.2026 57мин

  At his first AA meeting, Michael looked past seven older men in polyester plaid pants and recognized in their eyes the peace he had last known as a five-year-old sitting in the high grass of the Andes. ☀️ Sober Sunrise AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Michael shares a funny, thoughtful Alcoholics Anonymous story about growing up gay in a loving and privileged family, spending his childhood in the Peruvian Andes, and becoming a periodic blackout drinker whose life narrowed into violence, loneliness, frightening situations, and serious mental health crises. He arrived at AA intending to get out of trouble rather than stop drinking, immediately judged the seven older men in the room, and then realized he was the most prejudiced person there. What kept him coming back was the unmistakable peace in their eyes. Michael describes the difference between reading about life and living it, memorizing the Twelve Steps and finally taking them, and gradually learning that prayer could mean putting his beliefs into action. With 21 years of sobriety, a writing career, enduring relationships, a young daughter, service in Madison’s AIDS community, and a fellowship that helped him face profound grief, Michael shows how AA returned him to humor, love, usefulness, and the feeling that he belonged. Michael B. from Madison, WI speaking at the 11th Gay/Lesbian Live & Let Live Roundup in Kansas City, MO - September 1st 1991 Recording note: The tape slows down near the end, causing Michael’s voice to sound deeper and distorted. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  From a Hospital Bed to a Ph.D. - AA Speaker - Dave D. 04.08.2026 57мин

  Dave returned to Alcoholics Anonymous at 22 from a hospital bed, unable to move and given little hope, then used the same AA actions that kept him sober to return to college and earn a Ph.D. in engineering. ☀️ Sober Sunrise AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Speaking with nearly 15 years sober, Dave uses the Big Book chapter “A Vision for You” to explain why hope without action remained only a delusion in his life. He first entered Alcoholics Anonymous at 19, looked around at members decades older than him, and could not imagine what their fellowship could offer a young man who still wanted bright lights and fast times. Three years of painful returns followed, including a relapse in Tijuana after completing only the first three Steps. Back in Maryland, Dave quickly returned to wrecked cars, jail, violent encounters, and the hospital injury that left him unable to move and uncertain whether he would survive. A sponsor carried AA to his bedside, took him through the Big Book and all Twelve Steps, and gave him a new foundation of action, commitment, fellowship, and reliance on God. When Dave regained his physical abilities, that same sponsor told him to return to college and apply the AA approach: arrive early, stay late, sit in front, ask for help, find the winners, and trust God. Dave eventually became the outstanding graduate in his department and continued through a master’s degree and Ph.D. in engineering. He also describes lifelong amends to the grandfather who raised him, learning about the father he lost in Vietnam, helping his mother and his father’s fellow servicemen heal, and becoming the husband and father he once dreamed of being. Dave’s vision of recovery is ultimately larger than education or outward success; it is the character built through consistent action and the willingness to stand near the door so the next suffering alcoholic can find the way inside. Dave D. from Severna Park, MD speaking at Acts of Recovery in Newark, DE - April 9th 2005Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  Match Calamity with Serenity - AA Speaker - Mary T. 03.08.2026 55мин

  At 19 years sober, Mary realized she knew the Big Book well enough to keep everyone away from her, and AA asked her to trade a God of reason for a God she could trust as a friend. ☀️ Sober Sunrise AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Mary, 34 years sober, traces her Alcoholics Anonymous story from a proper but emotionally distant New England upbringing through boarding school drinking, an abusive marriage, blackouts, single motherhood, and a move to Southern California intended to outrun her reputation. Her daughter’s babysitter lived with a woman in AA who quietly watched Mary’s drinking progress for a year and a half before inviting her to an open meeting. There, an old-timer’s story broke through Mary’s defenses, a hug and the words “welcome home” gave her permission to feel, and 17 yes answers on the 20 questions finally allowed her to recognize her alcoholism. Early recovery brought difficult withdrawal, constant meetings, Big Book study, sponsorship, and a woman who called herself Mary’s temporary sponsor for the next 25 years. After moving back to Maine with five years sober, Mary started a Big Book meeting and became deeply knowledgeable about the program, but eventually discovered that knowledge itself had become another barrier. At 18 or 19 years sober, she was more frightened than when she arrived because she could quote the book while keeping people at a distance. Mary describes how teachability, inventory, service, grief work, and an evolving relationship with God changed her recovery again. Her message is not that long-term sobriety prevents trials; it is that a growing spiritual life allows an alcoholic to meet those trials with honesty, trust, courage, humility, and enough reliance on God to match calamity with serenity. Mary T. from Santa Fe, NM speaking at The 42nd Annual New Hampshire Convention in North Conway, NH - April 12th 2008Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  The War Was Over. I Lost. Thank God. - AA Speaker - Rick M. 01.08.2026 44мин

  Rick reached Alcoholics Anonymous from a cable-equipped tent beside the Russian River, where even the town drunks had begun looking at him with pity, and discovered that losing the war was how he finally got his life back. ☀️ Sober Sunrise AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Rick grew up on a small farm in Fortuna, California, surrounded by drinking, family conflict, tremendous freedom, and a determination to grow up and escape as quickly as possible. Drinking and using gradually carried him through school trouble, bartending in the Russian River area, damaged relationships, police encounters, repeated upheaval, and a life in which cars, jobs, homes, and partners disappeared in a familiar cycle. By 1994, he was living in an elaborate tent at Johnson’s Beach with cable television, trying to maintain a job while even the local drinkers began regarding him with pity. A simple observation from someone close to him finally reached a place that years of warnings could not, and Rick asked to attend an AA meeting that night. Treatment counselors told his group of 18 that perhaps one person would make it, so Rick committed himself to meetings, service, sponsorship, fellowship, and a slow paragraph-by-paragraph study of the Big Book. The Steps helped him clean up old harm, reconnect with his family, build a loving long-term partnership, and exchange bitterness for a life he genuinely enjoys. Rick is equally honest that sobriety does not make every day inspirational or his behavior perfect; sometimes the spiritual victory is recognizing a broken filter, making the correction, and remembering that Alcoholics Anonymous asks for progress while insisting that life should still be enjoyed. Rick M. from Santa Rosa, CA speaking at River City Roundup - November 10th 2002Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  The Rottweilers That Kept Me in AA - AA Speaker - Don L. 31.07.2026 1ч 1мин

  At six months sober, Don had decided Alcoholics Anonymous did not work and was ready to quit; then two loose Rottweilers chased him down a hill, put him completely in the moment, and sent him back to his sponsor and the Steps. ☀️ Sober Sunrise AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Don, 15 years sober, describes how alcohol once transported him to “the land of I don’t care,” bringing down the wall between him and the world before gradually destroying every plan, relationship, and opportunity he was given. By 25, he knew exactly what drinking was doing to him, but self-knowledge could not protect him from the daily “miracle of three o’clock,” when every promise to stop became a plan to have just a couple. A move from Los Angeles to Boston changed nothing, and the years that followed brought blackouts, jail cells, a missed Christmas flight, family wreckage, and a humiliating realization involving a highly accomplished police dog. Don initially entered Alcoholics Anonymous only to keep his family from throwing him out, but an assigned sponsor taught him that the actions work regardless of his motives. He was sent to 14 meetings a week, put to work setting up and cleaning up, placed on a framing crew, directed into court to face old warrants, and pushed toward the inventory he kept refusing to write. When two Rottweilers interrupted his plan to quit AA, Don finally moved from a program of distraction into the Twelve Steps. Through amends, service, sponsorship, paying back the IRS, rebuilding trust with his mother, and becoming useful in his new fellowship, he discovered that recovery is not merely being saved; its real joy is turning toward the next alcoholic and preserving what was freely given to him. Don L. from Bellingham, WA speaking at the Aberdeen Wednesday Night Group's Quarterly Meeting in Aberdeen, SD - 2006Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  After 46 Years, the Prison Still Smelled Like Fear - AA Speaker - Johnnie H. 30.07.2026 50мин

  Johnnie returned to the Folsom cell where he had lived 46 years earlier, then crossed the old mess hall to carry the Alcoholics Anonymous message to 300 prisoners: you don’t have to live like this anymore. ☀️ Sober Sunrise AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Nearly 45 years sober, Johnnie delivers a funny, forceful AA talk about singleness of purpose, service, sponsorship, home groups, and promises that only materialize through action. He traces his path from drinking at nine, repeated imprisonment, a courtroom collapse, and solitary confinement to the desperate request for God’s help that eventually brought an AA member into his life. That man did not diagnose or condemn him; he said he understood and told Johnnie he did not have to live that way anymore. Although Johnnie studied the Big Book in prison, his sponsor taught him how to live it by arriving early, staying late, washing cups, sweeping floors, making coffee, helping newcomers, and showing up consistently for a home group. He also remembers losing a possible opportunity with the St. Louis Cardinals because drinking took over again, returning decades later to his former Folsom cell, and carrying the message to hundreds of men sitting where he once sat. Through family loss, business failures, depression, and difficult sober years, Johnnie found his safe harbor in meetings and service. His conclusion is that sobriety itself is not the final payoff; the payoff is watching another person return from the land of the living dead and seeing the light come back into their eyes. Johnnie H. from Los Angeles, CA speaking at "The Promises and Service" 2-day convention in Stockholm, Sweden - May 29th 2004Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  I Don’t Drink Alcohol, I Drink Life - AA Speaker - Lila R. 29.07.2026 58мин

  Lila arrived at a basement meeting called the Hole in the Ground planning to stay for a few weeks; 25 years later, she is still learning that the hardest spiritual practice is sometimes to do nothing and wait. ☀️ Sober Sunrise AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Lila marks 25 years sober with a funny, spiritually direct AA talk from a smoke-filled convention in Reno. She remembers dressing up for the Hole in the Ground in Huntington Park, shaking so badly she could barely control her coffee, and expecting to stay only long enough to recover her health, clean up her surroundings, and put her life back together. Instead, old-timers who cared only whether she wanted sobriety taught her to keep coming back, read the Big Book and Twelve and Twelve, find God, and pay attention to the thinking that begins long before a relapse. Between jokes about casinos, near beer, missing jelly donuts, and long-term members surviving one another, Lila traces how the Steps moved her from fear and control toward honesty, hope, faith, willingness, humility, compassion, and service. Her point after a quarter century is simple but demanding: the outside life can look complete and something may still be missing, so recovery keeps asking her to stay present, make room, and trust that she never has to face life alone or take another drink. Lila R. from Santa Monica, CA speaking at We Are Family in Reno, NV - October 2nd 1994Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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  Thank God It Didn’t All Happen in the First Year - AA Speaker - Pat L. 28.07.2026 55мин

  Pat’s recovery did not arrive as one tidy awakening. It unfolded through hard-won amends, fatherhood, sponsorship, 25 years of meetings, and a trip to Akron he finally bought as a gift to himself. ☀️ Sober Sunrise AppListen 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/appIf 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 ArchiveHundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merchhttps://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletterhttps://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Pat, sober since September 17, 1981, gives a raw, funny, deeply personal AA talk about growing up in a multigenerational alcoholic home, carrying childhood trauma, and becoming convinced he would not live past 20. Alcohol and drugs shaped nearly every decision until a final morning of desperation led him to ask God for help, enter a psychiatric ward, go through detox and treatment, and reach Alcoholics Anonymous. Pat admits that he initially stayed sober while making up his own rules and waiting for everyone around him to change. Over time, the Steps, sponsorship, fatherhood, amends, and acceptance began changing him instead. He describes the final amends that helped him forgive his dying father, learning to love his sons without trying to control them, and discovering a God he could reach without borrowing anyone else’s definition. For his 25th sobriety anniversary, Pat canceled a large party and bought himself something he had almost never allowed: a gift just for him. That gift was a trip to Akron, where Dr. Bob’s home, grave, and hospital chapel turned AA history into a personal spiritual experience. His message is that recovery kept unfolding long after the first year. Pat L. from Saskatoon, SK, speaking at the Nipawin Roundup in Nipawin, SK, Canada - December 2, 2006Music: Deep by KaizanBlu