Sober Friends

Send us Fan Mail Mark S from the Recovered Cast Podcast at https://recoveredcast.com/ is the sponsor of this episode.  Mark bought us a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/soberfriendspod .  Matt used this episode to ask for help from his Sober Friends John I and Steve C.  Matt has a few things going on in his life: Burnout Struggles with his higher power Through the episode, Matt discovered, t...

Send us Fan Mail Step 12 says, having had a spiritual awaking as a result of these steps, we carried the message to the alcoholic still suffering and practice these principles in all of our affairs. Wait, I thought this was about stopping drinking?  So I have to use these principles in my life outside of drinking?  I'm not sure I signed up for that. What we've learned through the steps i...

Send us Fan Mail I'm not drinking anymore!  I'm sober! Well, not so fast. John, Steve and Matt tell their own tales of what sobriety means to them and how it differs from just being, "dry." For us, the feeling of being dry, is just the removal of alcohol with no treatment in place to become sober.  Dry means that our behaviors have not changed.  We continue to have the same cha...

Send us Fan Mail At 7 years old, Tanya's mum gave her a small glass of wine and told her to sip it.  Of course, this little girl gave it a chug.  Tanya's grand mother said, "this one is going to be a drinker."  Little did Grandma know that Tanya would attend her first AA meeting at the age of 18. Tanya has been sober since January 11, 2008.  Tanya's first meeting was in a...

Send us Fan Mail Gill Tietz picked up her first drink later than most.  Bullied in school, she avoided social gatherings and focused on academics.  But after starting Graduate School, she decided to live a little, experiencing love at first sight with alcohol. A Biologist by trade, Gill talks about getting bullied as a kid and isolating from others through the end of college.  Gill got into drinki...

Send us Fan Mail How is Dry January going for you?  With us getting closer to the end of the month, it's time to take stock.  Have you made it this far?  Or did you have a drink.  If so, did you get back on the wagon? These three alcoholics are just really hearing about Dry January and we dug in to learn more. Matt downloaded the app and took the alcohol use quiz.  Based on his days drinking,...

Send us Fan Mail Keeping up your physical health by exercising and eating right is difficult under the best of circumstances.  Just the act of stopping drinking or drugging and addressing root causes of substance abuse can be overwhelming, let alone starting the process of getting physically fit. Last week, we discussed how important maintaining your physical health was important.  This week, we s...

Send us Fan Mail Your physical and mental health take a beating during active addiction.  Recovery is a three legged stool of mental, spiritual and physical recovery.  Eating healthy, exercising and seeing a physician on a regular basis is part of staying sober and can easily be neglected. Though we find recovery, we always have an alcoholic mind and that "obsession," can come out in oth...

Send us Fan Mail Support the show 📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch , our weekly newsletter where we go beyond the podcast to share real strategies for alcohol-free living. Join our community by clicking here.

Send us Fan Mail Jeff was the good brother, so his sibling took the blame. Jeff got caught drinking by his wife, so now he could drink in the open Jeff's story changed when he was stopped, drunk at a DUI checkpoint, talking himself out of trouble by saying he was going to a meeting and being given directions by the officer.  He's been sober since. Jeff recently celebrated 10 years of sob...

Send us Fan Mail Gabe got sober 24 years old but lived  through a nightmare to get there. Gabe shares growing up in an alcoholic family with an abusive family and he fell into addiction too.  He then shares how a "Founder's Day" in Akron, Ohio changed everything and got him out of his shell.  Gabe shares how he's sponsored scores of alcoholics and after once turning his back on...

Send us Fan Mail This is one of the most powerful conversations about spirituality we've ever had.  Buddy chats with Matt J and Steve C about Taoism, his long path to sobriety, Eastern Spirituality, and overcoming personal tragedy and remaining sober.  He is the author of the book, Powerless But Not Helpless: A Meditation Book of 81 Verses from the Tao Te Ching that can help you live an alcoh...

Send us Fan Mail Sobriety during the holidays, especially when new can be overwhelming.  "How can I get sober with Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years coming?  I'll miss all the fun!" "How can I be sober at a work party?  Everyone will pester me!" There are some simple answers to these questions and John and Matt discuss everything from what to say when you are not drink...

Send us Fan Mail Kelly of East Coast Sober Squad is the guest on this week's show.  She talks her party girl life of drinking and how it masked the real her.  Kelly then discussed getting sober, how she's helped others in the Instagram Sober Community and the humble beginnings of East Coast Sober Squad, a woman's virtual group using Slack and Zoom to connect and stay sober.  You can...

Send us Fan Mail Emily B Part 2 We complete our interview of Emily B this week.  On this episode, Emily talks about the challenges of women in sobriety, her view of spirituality and a new creative product she's doing with her daughter. Leave a comment for the show at (860) 281-2303. Please help support the show by giving it a review and rating in Apple Podcasts.  Find Recovery Links, access t...

Send us Fan Mail You Are Not Alone - A Recovery Podcast is 1 Year Old!  Thank you for your support! Emily B is a woman in long term sobriety.  Emily got sober in 1985 at the age of 18 when she was faced with a choice of going to AA or going to jail.  In part one of two, she talks about her relationship with previous guest Tim G, how she got sober and what she had done to stay sober. Leave a commen...

Send us Fan Mail November is gratitude month in 12 step groups.  It can be easy to think about resentments and guilt over past actions, but it's so important to be grateful for all you have and all that's changed in life because you put down the bottle. John I and Steve C join the show to talk about their gratitude lists. Please help support the show by giving it a review and rating in A...

Send us Fan Mail hu·mil·i·ty /(h)yo͞oˈmilədē/ noun a modest or low view of one's own importance; humbleness. "he needs the humility to accept that their way may be better" John I wanted this episode because he felt he was being a bit too pompous and arrogant in his new job, but in doing some self inventory, Steve C and Matt J also needed this one too.  In this podcast, we talk about...

Send us Fan Mail Getting sober doesn't mean you won't face challenges in your life.  Getting sober means you don't have to drink when you have these challenges. The challenges faced in this podcast, are admittedly Cadillac ones.  Both Steve C and Matt J were given career opportunities.  With both, it involved a lot more money and responsibility.  Just because someone gets more money...

Send us Fan Mail The 12 Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous are the framework for how the groups work.  According to the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, "The '12 Traditions' of Alcoholics Anonymous are, we A.A.'s believe, the best answers to that our experience has yet given to those ever-urgent questions, 'How can A.A. best function?' and, 'How can A.A. best st...

Send us Fan Mail The 12 Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous are the framework for how the groups work.  According to the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, "The '12 Traditions' of Alcoholics Anonymous are, we A.A.'s believe, the best answers to that our experience has yet given to those ever-urgent questions, 'How can A.A. best function?' and, 'How can A.A. best st...

Send us Fan Mail Kelly Giannuzzi is a mom of three boys who "seemed" to have it all together.  Great husband, beautiful house and amazing kids.  She was the the picture of the American Dream.  What you didn't see was that she was silently battling postpartum depression, crippled by anxiety and relied far too heavily on "mommy juice." In January 2021, she reached her bottom...

Send us Fan Mail Part 2 of our conversation with Tim G.  Like almost everything Tim has done, it's happened kicking and screaming.  That includes his outdoor meeting, painting and gardening.  But once he's done it, he felt better.  We all can identify. Please help support the show by giving it a review and rating in Apple Podcasts.  Find Recovery Links, access to social media and email a...

Send us Fan Mail John I, Steve C and I have talked about our friend in recovery Tim G from time to time on this show.  Tim has been resistant to come on, but we wore him down.  Lots of things in his program has worn Tim down and we talk about the long list of things Tim never wanted to do and then when he did them, how his program got better. In the first of two parts, Tim shares his story, how he...

Send us Fan Mail The 12 Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous are the framework for how the groups work.  According to the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, "The '12 Traditions' of Alcoholics Anonymous are, we A.A.'s believe, the best answers to that our experience has yet given to those ever-urgent questions, 'How can A.A. best function?' and, 'How can A.A. best st...