Sober Sunrise - AA Speaker Podcast

The Obsession Hit Me at 30,000 Feet - AA Speaker - Tom I. - Edisto, SC

Tom I. found Alcoholics Anonymous inside a Michigan penitentiary and built a recovery so powerful that the prison system hired him back — 44 years later he says this was his finest year yet.
We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober-Sunrise.com
Tom I. started drinking at 16 and tore through eight years of escalating chaos — demotions, firings, jails, blackouts, and a trail of overrated first impressions followed by spectacular self-destruction. It all came to a head when he struck and killed two people while driving in a blackout and woke up in jail not knowing what he'd done. Sentenced to 5 to 15 years in Michigan State Penitentiary, he walked in believing he'd never come out alive. A rookie social worker pointed him to the prison AA group, and a speaker named Shy Walker gave off something Tom had never encountered — a signal of life from a man who'd been where he was. Over three and a half years behind bars, Tom found the first power he ever believed in inside that group of 300 convicts, wrote his first inventory on the edge of his bunk, and conceded to his innermost self that he was an alcoholic. Two months after release he was back inside as a volunteer sponsor, then hired into the prison rehab system, and eventually offered the warden's chair — an ex-con running the institution. Now in his 44th year of sobriety, Tom says without a trace of cheerleader talk that this has been his finest year in AA.
Tom I. from Southern Pines, NC speaking at the Edisto Roundup - April 7th 2001
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

One Sip After Three Years and I Was Drunk That Night - AA Speaker - Larry V. - Cleveland, OH

After three and a half years without a single drink, one sip at a party lit the fuse — and a football coach's long losing streak against alcohol finally brought him to Alcoholics Anonymous.
We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober-Sunrise.com
Larry V. spent 41 years in the football business while alcohol quietly destroyed everything on the other side of the scoreboard. After white-knuckling three and a half years of sobriety on pure willpower, one sip of a friend's drink at a party set off a phenomenon of craving that sent him into the worst stretch of his life — fired three times, a double hit and run, a shotgun in the family room, and total isolation in an apartment with a barf bucket by the bed. A random picture of a former Brooklyn Dodger in the sports section of a newspaper led him to make a phone call that connected him to a rehab in small-town Wisconsin, where he surrendered for the first time and hasn't had a drink since November 1975. Today Larry stays close to his home group, keeps in weekly contact with his sponsor, and carries AA meeting guides from all over the world — because the same energy he used to find the nearest bar, he now uses to find the nearest meeting.
Larry V. from Cleveland, OH speaking at the Newburgh Group in Cleveland, OH - January 24th 2009
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
 

The Morning the Colors Came Back - AA Speaker - Joe M. - Joplin, MO

Joe grew up hitchhiking to a criminally insane ward to visit his alcoholic father — and left those visits having decided he didn't need God, people, or anyone's help.
We just launched our new Episodes page — search hundreds of AA speaker meetings by topic, speaker, or step ☀️  Sober-Sunrise.com
Years of drinking, fighting, and four rounds of divorce later, he hit his knees on a couch Sunday morning and made a deal. What followed — a resentment prayer, a traffic light, and tulips he'd never really seen before — changed everything. One of the great old-timer talks on Big Book history, soul sickness, and what it actually means to let God run the show.
Joe McC. from Tulsa, OK at the 19th Traditional Winter Holiday in Joplin, MO - December 10th-12th 1999
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
We spend a lot of time coming up with these descriptions & summaries, if you read these every day, drop a comment, or give it a thumbs up so we know these are being enjoyed! 🧡
 

I Relapsed After 17 Years Sober - AA Speaker - Tom P. - Plano, TX

Tom came to Alcoholics Anonymous at twenty-three, but it took a painful relapse years later for him to finally understand the real solution described in the Big Book.
Tom P. from Primary Purpose Group, Dallas, TX speaking at The Legacy Group in Plano, TX - July 14, 2007
Visit our merch and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch
Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com
Tom shares a powerful and honest story about coming to Alcoholics Anonymous at twenty-three after years of heavy drinking that began in childhood and spiraled into chaos by his early twenties. Although he stayed sober for many years through meetings and fellowship, he eventually discovered that he had never truly understood the real problem described in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. After relapsing following seventeen years of sobriety, Tom found himself desperate and convinced he might die from alcoholism. It was only when he was introduced to the program of recovery as outlined directly in the Big Book that things began to change. By understanding the mental obsession, the physical allergy, and the need for a spiritual solution through the Twelve Steps, Tom finally experienced the transformation he had been searching for. Today he carries the message that real recovery comes not just from meetings or fellowship, but from working the program of Alcoholics Anonymous and helping other alcoholics find the same freedom.
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

You Can’t Think Your Way Into a New Life: AA Speaker - Jeanette S. - Waitsburg, WA

Jeanette arrived in Alcoholics Anonymous convinced her life was manageable, but the steps showed her the truth and led her to a freedom she never thought possible.
Jeanette S. from Naches, WA speaking at the Waitsburg speakers meeting in Waitsburg, WA - February 28th 2009
Visit our merch and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch
Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com
Jeanette shares a candid and often funny story about growing up spiritually confused, drinking in blackouts from the age of twelve, and eventually losing control of her life despite believing she had everything under control. After multiple overdoses, treatment centers, and losing custody of her son, she was dragged into Alcoholics Anonymous where a strong Big Book sponsor guided her through the Twelve Steps. What began with very little willingness slowly turned into real change as she learned that recovery required action, not just thinking. Through inventory, amends, prayer, meditation, and helping others, Jeanette discovered a spiritual life and a freedom she had never known before. Today she carries the message of Alcoholics Anonymous and practices those principles in every part of her life.
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Five Notebooks and Mud Puddle Prayers - AA Speaker - George S.

After his teenage son told him exactly where every dollar went — up his nose, in his arm, or down his throat — George S. walked into Alcoholics Anonymous and met an old-timer who handed him a spiral notebook and two weeks to fill it.
George S. from Freehold, NJ talking about steps 3, 4 and 5 at the Carry This Message group in West Orange, NJ - June 13th 2002
Visit our merch and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch
Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com
George S. came into AA after his teenage son laid out the truth about his using and walked out of his life. His sponsor was old-school to the bone — charging him for every excuse, making him kneel in mud puddles for step prayers, and handing him a thick spiral notebook with strict instructions: two weeks for the Fourth Step, any shorter you're lying, any longer you're drinking. George filled five of those notebooks. The Fifth Step brought a relief he'd never felt from any substance, and he's been dragging sponsees through the same process ever since — because every time he takes someone through the steps, he goes through them too. The talk closes with a quiet gut-punch: his granddaughter just kissed him before he walked in the door, and she has never seen him drunk.
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

A Drunk Pilot’s Spiritual Awakening: AA Speaker - Scott L. - Nashville, TN

After years of flying drunk, Scott L. found sobriety through Alcoholics Anonymous and the Twelve Steps.
Scott L. from Nashville, Tennessee at Specific Group - August 24th 2000
Visit our merch and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch
Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com
Scott L. shares his journey from discovering alcohol in college to years of drinking through a successful career as an Air Force pilot, where the illusion of confidence and belonging alcohol gave him slowly turned into a cycle of craving, shame, and loss of control. Though his life appeared successful on the outside, he eventually reached a breaking point and entered treatment, where a deeply personal moment of surrender and a cry for forgiveness became the beginning of a real spiritual awakening. Through Alcoholics Anonymous, sponsorship, and working the Twelve Steps, Scott discovered that alcohol had only been his temporary solution to a deeper spiritual problem, and that lasting freedom came from spiritual growth, service, and learning to live life one day at a time.
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

I Was 18 and Already Dying From Alcoholism - Kellie L. - Athens, GA

At eighteen years old, Kellie L. walked into Alcoholics Anonymous broken, homeless, and convinced she had no future — and discovered a life she never imagined possible.
Kellie L. from Chicago, IL speaking at the Georgia State Convention in Athens, GA - 25 Oct 2002
Visit our merch and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch
Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com
Kellie L. shares a remarkable journey from a chaotic childhood in a Florida trailer park to finding sobriety at just eighteen years old through Alcoholics Anonymous. Raised by a mother struggling with addiction, she spent her teenage years living alone, dropping out of school, committing felonies, and spiraling deeper into drugs and alcohol while chasing relief from a constant feeling of being restless, irritable, and discontent. After arriving in Chicago sick, malnourished, and spiritually empty, a group of AA members who met regularly at the restaurant where she worked reached out and invited her to a meeting. Though she continued drinking for several weeks, their persistence and kindness kept her coming back long enough to hear a simple suggestion: pray for help in the morning and say thank you at night. From that moment forward she began building a new life through sponsorship, service work, and the Twelve Steps, eventually helping start a thriving home group and dedicating herself to carrying the message of recovery. Kelly’s story is a powerful reminder that Alcoholics Anonymous can transform even the most hopeless circumstances into a life of purpose, connection, and gratitude.
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

I Came to AA With No Underwear - AA Speaker - Joe A. - Louisville, KY

Joe A. shares how alcoholism took him from a promising young life to a roach-infested room on skid row—and how Alcoholics Anonymous gave him a new way to live.
Joe A. from Cincinnati, OH speaking at ICYPAA in Louisville, KY - May 24th 2002
Visit our merch and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch
Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com
Joe A. tells a powerful and often humorous story of how alcoholism slowly unraveled a life that once showed enormous promise. As a young man he was an Eagle Scout with a college opportunity ahead of him, but drinking and drugs gradually scrambled his judgment, destroyed relationships, and left him living in a filthy skid-row room with nothing but a mattress on the floor. When he finally walked into Alcoholics Anonymous at twenty-two years old, he didn’t understand what alcoholism really was or why he couldn’t stop drinking once he started. Through the guidance of a sponsor, honest work through the Twelve Steps, and a growing commitment to service, Joe began to experience the spiritual change the Big Book promises. Over time the obsession to drink was replaced with purpose, responsibility, and gratitude—allowing him to build a stable life with a family, meaningful work, and decades of sobriety. His message reminds us that AA doesn’t just stop the drinking; it teaches alcoholics how to live, grow, and find happiness right where they are on the side of the mountain.
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Drinking on Antabuse and Still Thinking I Was in Control: AA Speaker - David T. - Hilton Head, SC

David T. shares how losing the power of choice in drink led him to fully rely on the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.
David T. from Spartanburg, SC speaking at YANA on Hilton Head Island, SC - May 15th 2004
Visit our merch and help support the channel🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch
Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com
David T. shares a powerful and deeply honest journey from a frightened, insecure young man who found instant relief in alcohol to an alcoholic who discovered he had completely lost the power of choice in drink. Despite scholarships, graduate school, marriage, therapy, Antabuse, counseling, and even sheer willpower, nothing could stop the mental obsession that always led him back to alcohol. His turning point came not from fear of consequences but from a moment of surrender when something inside finally broke, opening him to the possibility of a Higher Power he did not yet believe in. Through sponsorship, a clear understanding of the Big Book, and a willingness to work all Twelve Steps thoroughly — especially Steps Three through Nine — David experienced the removal of the obsession and a transformation that reshaped his relationships with his parents, restored integrity to his life, and grounded him in consistent service. From cleaning clubhouses to carrying meetings into detox centers and helping build a Primary Purpose group centered on the solution, he discovered that real recovery is not about trying harder but about following a clear program of action that replaces self-will with faith, responsibility, and service to others.
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu