Oct-sober Recovery Podcast

Courtney agreed to come in and record after we met at on open speaker meeting of Recovery.   She is a woman who lives in the steps and clearly practices the principles on a daily basis.

SHAWN talks about alcoholism and addiction and says that it’s the 12 Steps of AA and Honesty that keeps him sober. He says that he has to put Recovery before ANY-THING. We discuss the spouses and family of addicts/alcoholics and the thin veil between going to meetings to stay sober and participating in family life.... and EGO. Shawn says he’s at the point where he does not care what anybody thinks about him. He shares his experience of being in and out of state and county prisons his whole life We talk a little bit about the fact that the business of recovery is a bit disturbing. Shaw is willing to do whatever it takes for him to stay sober. I’ve seen it first hand. I hope you enjoy this and hopefully it helps someone. It helped me.    

My friend Zack recently received his 1 year medallion and says he never thought that being sober was an attainable thing for him. He’s one of my younger friends in Recovery. The work he does in the program is directly linked to the quality of his sobriety. He tells his story about growing up and then hits on one of the most relevant topics with young people today, Adderall abuse. This drug scares the hell out of me and I appreciate the opportunity to talk about this subject with Zack. We have a conversation about gambling and gambling addiction which I find very interesting to discuss. Zack talks about essential parts of his early recovery which included getting multiple 24 Hour Chips at different meetings, being open to suggestions and attending 24 hour Alkathons during the holidays. Listen close...you can hear his JOY. I have fun talking to Zack...I hope you enjoy this  

Karen tried to quit drinking on her own before she came into AA...she knew there was a problem but she couldn’t stop.  Karen and I have a commonality...Alcohol energized us, it amped us up like caffeine does, or a red bull would would do.  She says she didn’t really drink in high school or college and didn’t really like it because she didn’t like to be out of control. But when she eventually started, she says she finally found “IT”...the way she wanted to feel. It was wonderful to sit and chat with Karen...I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Kenny has been sober 31+ years KEN says he grew up in a pool hall and has no regrets about that. He and friends got a hold of some liquor when he was 14/15 years old. He says “from that point, the koo-koo was out of the clock.”He says he had the mental obsession part of the disease right from the start. He couldn’t wait to do it again!Kenny says he drank past embarrassment. When he finally “got it”,  Kenny says “I got back to AA and someone would talk to me and take my mind off of ME !“Kenny says “take this disease out of the shadows”  I just love that!Some of Kenny’s notable lines include but are certainly not limited to:  -“Nobody comes into recovery on the wings of victory”-“The correlation between the number of meetings you go to and how you feel is not by accident”-“I’ve rarely seen anyone walk through the doors saying ‘I’ve got a pretty good life but I think I’ll get sober!”’Kenny is a luminary around the halls of AA. I love the guy. I hope you benefit from the content he provided us by showing up and recording.

Andrea is a friend whom I always enjoy listening to when she shares. This is the first time I’ve heard her story.  She started using alcohol and drugs in her late teens but up until that point she says she had a lot of unhealthy ways of dealing with life and a lot of depression and fear. She was screaming out for help and was suicidal long before she even drank. Andrea says she always had an obsession of some sort going on. Her parents and her doctors were trying every way they could to help her. By all accounts , Andrea’s parents are angels.  She says that today, for her, there is no chemical solution for what she has. I absolutely loved when she said that showing up to meetings is THE HEARTBEAT OF HER RECOVERY.  She picked up not because things were bad, at one point she picked up because things were good....baffling!   Andrea is such a strong woman...I’m so impressed with this young lady.  She is going to help a lot of people. You’re gonna be better off for listening to this.   Andrea spoke about the halfway house in Salisbury where she spent some time getting sober. Here is the link to The Maris Center

Paul is a good friend who has helped me get, and stay sober to this point on my journey. He has a really good way of getting across to the newcomer in sobriety. He’s helped many men and women by speaking the truth and not sugar coating anything.I love and agree with him 100% when he says “YOU ALONE CANNOT GET SOBER”We start our discussion talking about being new in sobriety, and coming back into the program after time away.

My wonderful friend Janine joins me on the podcast.  We start our conversation talking about how we met, which was at the first or second AA MEETING I ever attended. And Janine gave me my big book ! The only stipulation she gave me was that I “had to read it!”   Janine explains how her early foundation in recovery was built on old school speaker tapes. She says she experienced different fellowships early on but stuck with AA as her foundation.  Janine is a 15 year breast cancer survivor and says cancer sucks just like addiction sucks ...but there is a way out !   As it relates to her Cancer, Janine is aware of chemical extraction and separation of different foods, drinks and other products. She tries to avoid these types of things in hopes of reducing her chances of cancer relapse, much like she keeps drugs and booze out of her system to avoid a relapse of the other disease she lives with.  Janine says she never ended up in “jail” for some of the things she did in the past...but quickly adds that jail, for her, was in her own mind “Those too have went before me and have survived”    I love this woman. She is strong, honest and caring. And she makes me laugh all of the time!!!!  This is Janine’s Story...I hope you enjoy it as much as I did 

Glen is a friend from work who is a proud member of the NA fellowship. He is a small business owner and has a 2 1/2 year old little girl. He talks about his upbringing in the historic fishing town of New Bedford MA and what it was like growing up in his home and the community.  Glen uses the the principles of the Narcotics Anonymous program as a blueprint to guide him through life. He has an extremely powerful story...hopefully it helps one person. 

I really enjoyed my conversation with my friend Lauren. We start talking about sobriety dates and the hope that a newcomer may get by hearing other people’s sobriety dates. We also start talking about having fun times in sobriety.Lauren has been sober roughly 6 months and she has a very, very informative message to share with anyone who is struggling with alcoholism/addiction.Her story is clear and direct. She talks about how God has a GPS on us and waits for us to take the directions that are given...otherwise we ride around in circles our whole lives !!She had an intention to learn how to drink like a lady and that she would be able to control it as she got older.While living a sober life , Lauren says that she enjoys counting the hours and days of sobriety that she is accumulating...she looks at it as accomplishing a goal.She says that she had to have faith that there was something bigger than her and that she had to be honest and willing. Her obsession went away pretty quickly, and she refers to that as a MIRACLE.....but her hope slowly had to come back so that her life could improve. She realizes that she couldn’t learn, change, or get better until she stopped beating herself up for all the shit she had done.Lauren says she can’t do anything if she’s living in guilt and shame. She says she’s learning that the only real way to recovery is if you let go a little bit and trust that if you’re putting an honest effort in, and let all the other shit go, and just TRY to do the right thing.Lauren believes that sobriety is a gift from GOD which will enable her to reach and help people. She wants to be s positive influence in other people’s lives. Lauren wants to help others and there is no doubt that SHE WILL !This is Lauren’s story....enjoy

We start our conversation and Chris mentions her 10th year anniversary is coming up....big stuff!!! We talk about our drinking habits around our families and how at times they were happy to see us leave the house and go away.Something I identify with is when Chris says at the end she had no pleasure dinking whatsoever.We talk about the backwards practice (although the medically proper way to do it) of having a person who is about to enter a detox to not stop drinking beforehand.Unreasonable fears of the world were modeled and present in her life as a young girl and they stayed with her.We touch on the death of people today reported as “accidental or sudden” and we both agree that when a family reports these deaths as overdose that is so courageous and helpful to others who may feel ashamed to report it this way.Changing sponsors comes up and we chat about this....Chris started to do some work on herself and was paying close attention to the program. Her sponsor told her “patience and tolerance...and then acceptance” ....this is GOLD!!!!This is Chris’s Story.....

If you’re fortunate to have Jan as part of your recovery fellowship then you should be extremely grateful. Jan has helped many women and men including my sponsor. She says a good sponsor is someone who is not your pal. Someone who knows what they’re doing but not a control freak.We start our conversation with the topic of sponsorship.  She was attracted to one of her sponsors when he said things like “I was restless, irritable and discontent- Sober. I was a prey to misery and depression- Sober. I had a feeling of uselessness- Sober. I couldn’t control my emotional nature- Sober.”  Jan talks about her trip to rehab at Seminole Point and how she loves the term “allergy”....One was never enough, and an ocean was never enough.  She says if insurance companies are spending millions of dollars to pay for an allergy, then this was the simplicity she needed to understand and realize that this wasn’t her fault. She has an allergy to the booze.  We talk about inventory and Jan pulls this one out- “a solitary self-appraisal is insufficient “. In other words, you need to do this work with a friend, mentor, sponsor. “You need a guide. You need a light and someone who knows the way.”  I love that quote from Jan.  She mentions self seeking and explains very well how she understands that term.  On the topic of drugs for pain, Jan shares what her sponsor Mary taught her : “ Drugs make sick people well and well people sick.”  On self inventory Jan says : “I was beating myself up NOT doing inventory “   “The Steps are your ticket to freedom” -Jan   This is Jans Story ....enjoy  

SUICIDE BY ALCOHOL  We tear into this episode immediately talking about the cunning, baffling disease of alcoholism/addiction.  Walking to school when he was a kid, John would walk by bar rooms that were serving 3rd shift factory workers, and he remembers liking the smell... John worked in the bartending industry as a young adult and headed down a road to using drugs.  He got busted and said he was relieved because he didn’t want  to live that way any longer.   John shares a near death experience (NDE) that is mind-boggling.  We laugh when we talk about our first meetings and the feelings we have...”I hope someone talks to me but I hope nobody talks to me” Being in the middle so we don’t get picked off is a good place to be. He believes talking on the phone is better for him than texting because the person on the other end of the phone can read him better which could make a difference. We spend some quality time talking about sponsorship and I think a newcomer will get a ton out of our conversation.  This is Ep.10  John Green Tomato. Enjoy !

So Coryn and I have known each other for about 3 minutes of our lives and we sit down to have a trusting, meaningful conversation about life in recovery and it’s AWESOME!!    Ego is not your Amigo!  Coryn says she walks through life now with grace and dignity...sounds like values EVERY father hopes for his daughter to possess. I know that’s an image I have in my mind for my daughter.  Coryn lights up when she speaks about her brother Bryan...this dude seems like an awesome brother and I can tell how much she cares for him. She’s quite frank in saying  that service work helps her to stay alive...AMEN!  We both agree that Small groups are very important and meaningful to us. She says she is an alcoholic because she has an allergy to booze and she can’t take one sip of alcohol in safety...she TRULY BELIEVES THIS!!  We talk about our experience with drugs and being an addict and what it looks like for her.  Drugs are a part of both of our stories and hopefully someone out there can be helped by listening to the honest conversation we have about drugs during this podcast episode.  Coryn gracefully shares her story and she is really great at communicating. It’s truly a JOY to spend time with her.  This is her story....enjoy ! - - - Play until the Very End for a couple out takes from the recording

From the outset, the conversation rips right into the topic of anniversary’s because I wanted to tell everybody how good I am at remembering people’s sobriety dates

Steve and I met in a twelve step program and I really like how Steve nails it to start when he says everybody does this a little different and it’s ok. This is his story and opinion. He grew up in a family where alcoholics and alcohol was prevalent.  Steve says alcohol isn’t  his problem but it’s the disease of alcoholism that is the problem and the pit in the stomach that comes along with the disease which needs to be filled. He says he never had a social drink in his life....same!!He found cocaine at the age of 18 and says this sped up the progression and brought him to his knees much quicker. If it had to do with intellect or love, Steve says he would have gotten sober a long time ago. But it’s not about those things, It’s about the allergy to alcohol that we have. Substituting other drugs in an attempt to get “sober” didn’t work   He found a twelve step program for the first time when he was 21 years old. He kept coming but didn’t take any other suggestions and life got worse for him with stops in jails and institutions along his journey. Finally out of love for Steve, his parents filed  a Section 35 as a result of him not being harmful to himself and others. Ultimately Steve encountered his sponsor who told Steve to just try to go one day without a drug and if he changed his mind the drugs would still be around to find. Steve started to get honest and take suggestions along with working the steps of sobriety. He started to get better.

Tim joins me to talk about Recovery. His take on sponsorship, as we approach the final minutes of the podcast, is quite wise and insightful. However, at the outset he expresses how growing up the youngest of 4 kids affected him. I really like Tim's perspective on difficult stories of the past and how he finds humor in problematic situations. He talks about "the big3" which were the lies he told himself so he could continue drinking, like he had to, until he hit bottom. We discuss how, ultimately, Tim was able to stop drinking alcohol. He defines what Recovery means to him. We chat about asking for help and the way he looks at situations that can cause potential problems. Further discussion includes things like **Slip or Relapse?  **Moments when alcohol is calling the shots (even when we haven't taken a drink)  **Not being unique   **SPONSORSHIP

Steve starts his story with his first stay in a “nut-house”, his rocky relationship with  his father and his first drink of champagne. Steve went to his first AA meeting in 1958 at the age of 20. He had many stays in mental institutions and rehab facilities and has distinct memories of Beech Hill in Dublin NH and Dropkick Murphys at Bellows Farm.   http://alcoholicoutsiderartist.blogspot.com/2014/08/early-treatment-center-dropkick-murphys.html?m=1     He talks about having his liscense taken away and being labeled “an improper person” and shortly after that he addresses the first time he asked for help. A good point is brought up regarding a person trying to get sober and the environment in which they are living and who they are surrounded by.   Surrender- Steve believes there are two parts to this...admit and accept.   He carries an elevator key to the locked ward of the "nut house" that he stayed at, and a teaspoon from the Department of Mental Health,  as a reminder of where he came from!!!   We touch on the twelve steps and mention Bill and Dr. Bob, at which point Steve shares a historical story about hearing one of the original 100 members of AA speak. His name was Clarence S.  Dr. Bob was Clarences’ sponsor.....   Temporary sponsorship? Find out what Steve has to say about that. Also, commentary regarding medication as prescribed by a doctor and discussion of medications at AA meetings.   We end the interview with Steve giving some stats on how the types of meetings have changed over the years and that their tends to be more discussion meetings rather than speaker. Lastly, Steve shares his thoughts on what may be appropriate to say to a person who is drinking in a meeting...   Make sure to listen to the VERY end for a funny out take ;)

Hold on to your hat ‘cause we are about to be rocketed into a spiritual conversation  that goes from 0-60 almost instantaneously. Our conversation starts with Chris telling us about his sobriety journey which started in 2007. We chat about his upbringing, being one of 6 children and rough family times. The feeling of “being less than” occurred very early in life (Go Bots!!). Chris shares an intense hotel story that totally blows me away!!!!Our conversation settles in on spiritual observation and questioning. God as a concept doesn’t work for him. God needs to be a subject of experience not the object of belief!I love Chris’s perspective on what we are built for as human beings! I’m super attracted to Chris’s honesty and the way the truth allows him to live a sober life...not to mention his tireless service work but I will.     P.S. Bear with me as I continue to iron out the wrinkles with the sound quality. Volume levels, mic bumps and background noises are on course to improve with each episode. Progress not perfection! A.J. 

AJ welcomes his mentor, sponsor and very dear friend Gary to the show. Gary shares his experience in recovery as well as  his experience being a dad. He also shares some of the things he is doing to continue living a sober life, such as making anniversary candles and firing himself as General Manager of his life ! The conversation includes subject matter regarding sponsorship, fellowship and friendship. They talk about  mistakenly taking a sip of alcohol, drinking "non-alcoholic beer",,being a power of example,,life balance between home-work-recovery,,,prayer & meditation  and "time traveling". It is a privilege to have Gary on my podcast. He is such a huge part of my recovery and I will forever be grateful for him and his fellowship.

In this episode AJ tells his story and talks about addiction and the progressive disease of alcoholism. AJ talks about the importance of sponsorship and how it is beneficial to both parties. Fellowship is also a key to his sobriety today which gives him the ability to talk to people who are like him. If you or someone you know are suffering and need help you can find it here: recoverycentersofamerica.com  banyantreatmentcenter.com     

In this episode AJ introduces himself and gives some background about what he plans to discuss on the Octsober Recovery Podcast. Having a few years of continuous sobriety under his belt, AJ is passionate about sharing the gift of Recovery with his fellows who continue to struggle. AJ is clear to point out that he is not a certified counselor , just a man In Recovery who is passionate about spreading the good news that there is a solution to this disease.