Breakfast with an Alcoholic

Welcome to Episode 2 of Breakfast with an Alcoholic, Season Three: A New Beginning ? No one has really nailed what this enterprise ought to be called, but that’s ok. In Episode One, we discussed the role of the Big Book in our recovery and assigned some homework, which was to read Chapter One of the Big Book , “ Bill’s Story ,” all sixteen pages of it: In this episode, we go through Bill’s Story i...

Our plan is to march through the Steps, we’ll share some of our work and we would love it if you’d like to share some of yours. It’s also completely cool to follow along at home, or with some alcoholic friends and loved ones (I’ll include outlines to make that easier and also copies of some of the the templates for 4th Step Inventories, etc). For this first episode, here was the outline we followe...

Episode 32 of Breakfast with an Alcoholic: A Step One Roundtable : Sean, Daniel and yours truly discuss the First Step, what powerlessness means, ridding ourselves of that pesky and false belief that we will someday be able to control our drinking, the difference between sustainability and manageability, and how relapses helped us see exactly how true the First Step was in our cases. Head-to-Head...

It's the return of Breakfast with an Alcoholic!!!!!!! Here we are! Season 2 and Episode 31! We interview Sean about spirituality, relapses, and how working the Steps and studying the Big Book helped get him get and stay sober. Also, the return of the Alcoholic Lightning Round and 3 Things About Spirituality. Thanks for Letting Me Share. Get full access to Thanks For Letting Me Share at thanksforle...

Breakfast with Lindsay V. (@Linzer_pants) Well, not only is this the one-year anniversary of Breakfast with an Alcoholic (!!!) it’s also Episode 30! To mark such an occasion, we found a really great alcoholic and we talked about: * How great alcoholics are at ignoring obvious consequences * How she fought the state of Florida and WON to get her recovery counselor certification * How social media o...

Welcome to Episode 29 of Breakfast with an Alcoholic --Smorgasbord Edition Hopefully, there’s a little something for everyone today: * First , Jane and I discuss her chosen topic of the weekend: Fear. Uncertainty. Overwhelmed. Medication. Meditation. Next, it’s Daniel B reading a story from his bad old days: A Day with My Drug Dealer Last , if that’s not enough. It’s me reading: My First Alcoholic...

Welcome to Season 2 and Episode 28 of Breakfast with an Alcoholic ! It’s so great to be here and wait until you listen to this one—We get to talk to John West, the author of this fantastic book, Lessons and Carols. We talk about the power of ritual in sobriety, our love of the Big Book and how writing helped him recover. And we agree on our favorite alcoholic in history! All on this week’s episode...

Welcome to Episode 27 of Breakfast with an Alcoholic! This is the first installment of our Big Book Study .This episode covers the first half of Bill’s Story—which takes us through Bill’s pivotal dinner with his old drunk friend Ebby Thacher. Reading and really understanding Bill’s Story has been critical to my own sobriety. I tried everything for ten years to get sober—it was carefully studying t...

I think the story of how Bill W. got sober is the pivotal story of Alcoholics Anonymous. I find a lot of meaning in it--it's what helped me get sober after ten years of trying: Bill W. Gets Sober Get full access to Thanks For Letting Me Share at thanksforlettingmeshare.substack.com/subscribe

At one point in Episode 25, Jane and I were talking about keeping the plates spinning while drinking and I said something to the effect that being an alcoholic requires you to be leading at least two lives at the same time. That got me thinking about spies. Paul McCartney wrote one of the greatest spy movie themes ever. When I first heard “ Live and Let Die, ” I was 10 or 11 and I thought it was j...

Hey, Hey, Hey. It’s so great to be here with Episode 25 of Breakfast with an Alcoholic: The Anniversary Edition! The podcast isn’t having an anniversary, I am, or did! I celebrated three years of sobriety on October 22nd and Jane and I had breakfast at the Green Kitchen on 2nd Avenue. We talked about anniversaries, how being alcoholics is like being spies, keeping plates spinning and Jane works to...

Welcome to Episode 24 of Breakfast with an Alcoholic ! Daniel and I had breakfast at the Gracie Mews diner. Daniel is close to having six months of sobriety. He talks about relapses, intervention and what’s finally helping him stay sober. It’s a great conversation—you should definitely pour yourself a cup of coffee and join us! Get full access to Thanks For Letting Me Share at thanksforlettingmesh...

Wilkommen to Breakfast with an Alcoholic , Episode 23 , —the European Edition. As you know, we talk about addiction, recovery, how we got sober and how we stay sober, usually from the upper east side of New York. But this week, our guest, Tatiana Gallardo, is near Bilbao, Spain and I’m in Copenhagen—and through the wonders of modern technology—here is Episode 23 . Tatiana is the super talented for...

Welcome to Episode 22 of Breakfast with an Alcoholic! I’m so happy to be back and this is a humdinger of an episode! The premise here is pretty simple, I have “breakfast” with a friend and we talk about addiction, recovery, how we got sober and how we stay sober. Episode 22 features Paulina Pinsky, she writes the completely fantastic “Newly Sober” here on Substack. Paulina talks about her history...

Welcome to Episode 21 of Breakfast with an Alcoholic! Where the cool alcoholics meet to eat! Here are some reasons to listen: It’s Jane’s first episode (it’s really great, trust me) J tells us how she first tried Heroin (it was so she could better understand an addicted friend) and that’s she deathly afraid of suede The story of Bonnie and Clyde (told from a dog’s point of view) A random encounter...

Welcome to Episode XX of Breakfast with an Alcoholic! I want what he’s got. Surely, you remember Jane from Episode 9! The big news is that Jane is going to start doing interviews on Breakfast with an Alcoholic and I’m very excited about that. In fact, I believe her debut effort will be Episode XXI. To the extent there was an idea behind this other than finding a way to more thoroughly insinuate pa...

Welcome to Episode 19 of Breakfast with an Alcoholic ! This week I got to have breakfast with one of my favorite alcoholics and, coincidentally, my sponsor, Tommy. This is the button I mentioned in the conclusion. Oh wait….. Tommy became my sponsor sometime in the Spring of 2021 and as he mentions in our breakfast, he is an old-school Big Book Thumper. In our weekly sessions, I’d read the Big Book...

Welcome to Episode 18! If you’re looking for an insightful, interesting and sometimes even funny conversation about building a sustainable life, then you are in the right place! Breakfast this week is with Matt Andersen who writes The Spittoon right here on Substack: Matt talks about the evolving nature of his spirituality and how praying, even when you don’t yet believe, can play an important rol...

Welcome to Episode 17 of Breakfast with an Alcoholic! Between coming to believe there was a Power greater than myself that could restore me to sanity and then making a decision to turn my will and life over to the direction of that Power, I had to answer a lot of practical questions. For example, how do I establish and maintain communications with the Power that I’m now entrusting with my life? Ho...

Here we are! Episode 16 of Breakfast with an Alcoholic has arrived and this is another great one! My guest is Jamee Sailor Rowe who writes the Macrodosing newsletter on Substack: Here are the Liner Notes for this Episode. I understand that many people are saying that you should read the Liner Notes while you listen to the episode: I like “Breakfast with an Alcoholic” and I do have a lot of time on...

As promised, Episode 15 has arrived and just in time for your long, holiday weekend! Joanna is a lawyer, a mother, a horse lover and is just about to celebrate two years back! The Alcoholic Lightning Round has a new sound and I’m very excited about it. I’d love to hear what you think about this episode and I’m going to make it easy for you: To wring the most of this whole experience, I’ve heard th...

Welcome to Episode 14 of Breakfast with an Alcoholic and please meet today’s guest: Chris Dangerfield, a fellow “Substacker,” a comedian, writer and a great story teller. You can check out his writing, I think it’s really compelling. I try not to harp on this too much, but if you haven’t already subscribed, well, it would mean a lot to me if you did: I enjoy Breakfast with an Alcoholic and the Dai...

Welcome to Breakfast with an Alcoholic ! You’re really going to enjoy hearing Aviva’s story and her enthusiasm for Alcoholics Anonymous! She describes her journey from being unwilling to describe herself as an alcoholic to a proud card-carrying member of AA. And she did pretty well in the Alcoholic Lightning Round! Anyway, Aviva’s breakfast was really great. Pour yourself a cup of coffee and join...

Welcome to Breakfast with an Alcoholic ! We’re doing something a little different today. As you may have gathered, it took me a while to get sober and that did include some stints in rehab. There were some amazing moments, some really sad moments and some really, really funny moments. I’ve written stories about some of those moments and I wanted to share one of them with you today—it’s about our m...

I’ve been telling you all that you were in for a treat—and here it is: My breakfast with Olis. Olis has 35 years of sobriety and her love affair with Alcoholics Anonymous is beautiful and compelling. She discovered the key to her sobriety was finding God and ways to be of service and explains how the hardest lesson of sobriety is also the greatest gift. Don’t you want to find out? Pour yourself a...