Sober Sunrise - AA Speaker Podcast

Episod

• Any Fool Can Quit Drinking - AA Speaker - Michael M. 16.06.2026 47min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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  
• Joe & Charlie AA Speakers - Part 5 - More About Alcoholism - AA Big Book Workshop 15.06.2026 34min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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 drinkJoe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Part 5: "More About Alcoholism"Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
• This Is Where Dead People Come to Life - AA Speaker - Daniel E. 15.06.2026 1j 4min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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  
• Joe & Charlie AA Speakers - Part 4 - There Is A Solution - AA Big Book Workshop 14.06.2026 54min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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
• I’m Not a Has-Been, I’m a Never Was - AA Speaker - Jerome S. 14.06.2026 1j 13min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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, 2000Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  
• Joe & Charlie AA Speakers - Part 3 - Bill's Story Explained - AA Big Book Workshop 13.06.2026 52min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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
• Joe & Charlie AA Speakers - Part 2 - The Doctor’s Opinion Explained - AA Big Book Workshop 12.06.2026 57min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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
• Joe & Charlie AA Speakers - Part 1 - AA History - AA Big Book Workshop 11.06.2026 1j 12min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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
• You’re Working the Program on the Wrong Guy - AA Speaker - Geoff C. 10.06.2026 40min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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  
• There Is No Door Number Three - AA Speaker - Chris S. 09.06.2026 1j 3min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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  
• My Wager Is Too High - AA Speaker - Scott L. 08.06.2026 1j 3min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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  
• God Came Crashing Into My Darkness - AA Speaker - Chris H. 07.06.2026 46min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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
• I Paid Half a Million Dollars for a Big Book - AA Speaker - Adam T. 06.06.2026 1j 11min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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 2014Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  
• We Know the Way In and the Way Out - AA Speaker - Peter M. 05.06.2026 55min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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 2012Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  
• My Sponsor Knows, But Not This Part - AA Speaker - Kane T. 04.06.2026 41min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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 - 2000Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  
• Sober Without a Solution - AA Speaker - Melanie S. 03.06.2026 54min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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 2008Music: Deep by KaizanBlu  
• I Wanted to Be Ordinary - AA Speaker - David B. 02.06.2026 51min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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  
• I Lived the Twelve Steps Backwards - AA Speaker - Tarek K. 01.06.2026 56min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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  
• The Window I Broke Cannot Be Replaced - AA Speaker - Terri K. 31.05.2026 50min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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  
• Seven Years in AA Before I Tried the Program - AA Speaker - Chris R. 29.05.2026 57min

  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 ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly 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 2009Music: Deep by KaizanBlu