AA Recovery Interviews with Howard L.

Sue C. is one of those rare people whose presence in my early meetings was an important factor in my willingness and desire to keep attending AA. She was not only welcoming to me, but the way she shared about the steps and traditions; sponsorship and meetings; and service to others and to God, was one of my first realizations that I wanted what another alcoholic had.  She exemplified how the promi...

After a difficult adolescence, prison sentence, and series of dead-end jobs, Jimmy finally hit the jackpot. He was hired by a California winery, where he worked for over 20 years. This dream job not only allowed him to drink while at work, but actually required it. His job as a wine salesman necessitated intimate knowledge of every bottle he sold and daily drinking with customers. Thus, Jimmy’s lo...

Lucy G. is one of those rare members of Alcoholics Anonymous who found the 12-Steps by participating in another program for many years before she came into AA. In fact, Lucy’s experience in Al-Anon was sufficient enough to help her deal with the alcoholics in her life, while her own use and then abuse of alcohol, continued completely unabated in the background. So, though she had gained lots of kn...

Would a court-mandated breathalyzer and the fear of going to prison be enough to keep Matt dry? Or should he embrace AA's spiritually-anchored Program of sobriety based upon proven steps of action, fellowship, and service? My guest today, Matt M., faced that choice. His life today reflects the decision he made. As my first Millennial guest, Matt has 5 years of sobriety and, at age 31, he demonstra...

Diana's love of AA is unmistakable. In her words: “AA is at the center of my life. It keeps me sane. It gives me structure, a sense of purpose. It teaches me about myself. It gives me fellowship.” When I first met Diana L. on a London AA Zoom meeting almost a year ago, the humility of that sentiment had me listening carefully every time she shared in that weekly meeting. I intuitively knew that su...

Diane G. first met her husband, John, in AA nearly 45 years ago. As uncommon as that is, what’s rarer still is that they stayed together utilizing the tools of AA to successfully raise their family, launch their careers, and help countless alcoholics along the way. John was one of my closest friends and I had a front-row seat to witness his remarkable ability to integrate AA into every facet of hi...

The term functional alcoholic generally refers to someone whose personal and work lives appear largely unaffected by their alcoholism and/or drug addiction. We’ve all known certain members of AA, like my guest Larry E., who’ve achieved notoriety and great financial success, even while their disease was growing in the shadows of their denial. And whether their turning point occurred at the top of t...

Imagine living most of your life as a normal drinker, then finding out in your early 60’s that alcoholism has slowly taken over your life. My guest today, Judy H., faced this realization that alcohol was killing her from the inside out when she finally came into Alcoholics Anonymous at age 65. Though the “what it was like” and the “what happened” part of her story occurred when she was considerabl...

Ever heard anyone say, “Getting arrested was the best thing that ever happened to me”? As crazy as that sounds to normal people, if you’ve been around AA long enough, you’ve heard it, usually expressed along with gratitude. I’ve heard my guest, George J, say it many times over the years. His arrest on federal drug charges at age 19, after seven chaotic years of addition and alcoholism, was truly a...

Maryann G., is one of those rare recovering alcoholics who has successfully implemented the tools of the Program to both stay sober and sustain a long, happy marriage to a fellow AA she met early in her Program. But, it wasn’t easy. Growing up in a constant state of fear in a home with an alcoholic father and mentally ill mother, Maryann sought relief from the family dysfunction by starting to dri...

Think back: If you had lost your eyesight—went blind—would you have stopped drinking? If an alcohol-induced stroke then paralyzed half your body, would you have stopped then? And, if, while being both blind and paralyzed, you had alcoholic seizures, would that been enough to give up drinking?      My guest, Chuck B., kept drinking through blindness, paralysis, seizures and lasting pain. The powerf...

Alejandra W. is a woman whose story will touch your heart. Originally from South America, she was raised from a baby by her grandparents while her mother’s alcoholism derailed her family. Later, after her mother got sober through AA, Alejandra accompanied her to meetings as a little girl. But that exposure to AA was not sufficient to keep her from becoming an alcoholic, and she ended up in AA hers...

At 88 years of age and 47 years sober, Bob B., is widely-known as one of the “elder statesmen” among the people in my AA community. Bob’s journey on the road of happy destiny has taken many turns along the way. He encountered hopelessness and desperation in the beginning, followed by teachability and humility as the years passed. Bob’s sobriety was challenged by pride, ego, and self-centeredness a...

"A head full of AA and a belly full of booze” describes that terrible feeling experienced by those who’ve been to AA, but chose to go back out and drink. My guest today, Sally G., thought that all the knowledge she had gleaned from a couple years of a half-hearted commitment to AA would be enough to keep her sober. But it wasn’t. She slipped rapidly back into an alcoholic abyss that consumed her l...

In the first seven episodes of this podcast, you’ve heard from recovering alcoholics whose continuous lengths of sobriety range from 16-42 years. My guest on today’s show, Chris G. offers the perspective of one who found AA over 15 years ago, but after the first year and a half, decided to go back out. Relapse for some is a sad and tragic story. Many alcoholics are claimed by incarceration, instit...

Thanks to the international reach of Alcoholics Anonymous, I’m pleased to welcome Margie D., whom I first met in a London-based Zoom meeting early last year. We've gotten to know each other in the many zoom meetings we’ve shared since then. She was among the first people to greet me in that meeting and we’ve mostly gotten to know each other during the 10-15 minutes of fellowship we both enjoy prio...

Jacqui's powerful perspective on Alcoholics Anonymous is the by-product of years of hard-earned experience fraught with adversity and despair. Even after finding AA, she struggled to stay sober in the Program in the midst of one relapse after another. Finally, nearly 28 years ago, Jacqui’s disease, and its physical ravages on her body, brought her to a dismal bottom from which only a true spiritua...

Tom's incredible story is one of a man whose life was turned inside out and upside down by alcoholism, drug addiction, and crime. From a difficult childhood, he emerged into a troubled adolescence, drinking at 14, shoplifting, and getting kicked out of high school. Hanging with the older boys, his drinking increased beyond sociable and his drugs got harder, culminating in ruinous heroin addiction....

Can someone be too smart or important to get sober in A.A.? My guest, Scott B. had his Ph. D. in neurobiology and an accelerating career in medical research to dispel any notions of being an alcoholic or drug addict. His superior intelligence, unflappable ego, and iron-will would shield him from the realities of a life rapidly falling apart around him. But his journey into the dark regions of subs...

Newcomers often find it amazing that someone with so much time would still attend AA meetings on a regular basis. Linda G got sober at age 22 and has more than 4 decades of sobriety as an active and engaged member of Alcoholics Anonymous. I greatly admire Linda because when I was new in AA, I found it hard to believe that people with 5 or 10 or 20 years were still going to meetings. In fact, I tho...

Question: If you were diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, would you stay sober or drink? Alex L., faced that tough choice during his sixth year of sobriety in AA when he was diagnosed with MS, an incurable and disabling disease that attacks the brain, spinal cord, and the entire central nervous system. His future would be one of certain pain, constant struggle, and debilitation of his entire body....

A shot of whiskey when he was 3, the folk-remedy for a sore throat, was Adam's first taste of alcohol, but not his last. Though he didn't start drinking until his teens, his horrible first experience with Tequila just made him want more. That began his odyssey of drinking and substance use that resulted in alcoholism and drug addiction,. A rapid decline into total despair followed until there was...

COMING SOON! AA Recovery Interviews, the podcast that explores the lives of people who have recovered from alcoholism through the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. In each one-on-one interview, my guests share their experience, strength, and hope of what it was like, what happened, and what it’s like now. But we also discuss the rest of the story by looking at the incredible challenges they’ve face...