AA Recovery Interviews with Howard L.

Courtney’s backstory is not dissimilar to those who grew up in tumultuous families in which alcoholism was present. The seeming frivolity and celebratory aspects of drinking cloaked the actual dysfunction that was occurring in the family. By the time she was drinking on a regular basis in her teenage years, Courtney’s budding alcoholism had become yet another family secret to bear. Though she was...

A "Man of the Cloth", Jimmy G.'s earliest aspirations were to be in service to the Episcopal Church. Though strict in many ways, when it came to drinking, Jimmy and his friends found plenty of opportunities to raid liquor cabinets across their neighborhood. By his teens, Jimmy was outdrinking his friends. His years in college and then seminary were rife with drinking as Jimmy wrestled with deep-se...

Matt J. describes his family tree as “littered with problem drinkers”, of which he became one all too quickly. As an only child, Matt grew up in a home where verbal and physical abuse reigned supreme. By the time his parents got divorced, his coping mechanisms included locking himself in his room with books and baseball cards upon which he could obsess. Such means of escape followed him into his t...

Today’s podcast is my interview is with Ron B., a man whom I’d just met  at a Friends of Bill W. meeting on an enormous cruise ship earlier this year. As we had both attended floating AA meetings before, neither of us was surprised when the two of us were the only attendees. After talking for a while, I asked Ron if he’d like to share his story of 43 years of sobriety. Seeing it as an opportunity...

Ray’s difficult road to sobriety was paved with many failed attempts to get sober over the years. Each attempt was thwarted by the belief that his situation was somehow different than the people he met in 6 different treatment centers and sporadic AA meetings. The similarities of his loneliness and wanting to fit in were eclipsed by the differences he saw in his social standing and material advant...

[This is an encore of Episode 84 originally released June 29, 2022] Alcoholism nearly ended Justin’s marriage and his career as an airline pilot. Then he found sobriety and recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous.  Raised in a family rife with alcoholics, Justin’s role model was a father who suffered with alcoholism and co-occurring mental health issues, and ultimately committed suicide. Though warned by...

Nadia's personal story was published in the 4th Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous in 2001. She’s the first AA member I’ve interviewed whose backstory can be read by anyone with a Big Book. Combined with today’s interview, Nadia’s story comes alive in many ways, beginning with her emigration from France after World War II with her mother who had suffered as a slave laborer under the Nazis. Landing in...

By age 15, Kristina had already been in treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, self-harm, and a suicide attempt. It took another 14 years for her to find lasting and contented sobriety in AA. Kristina’s struggles with addiction, alcoholism, and mental illness began with a difficult childhood. Though raised in affluence, her childhood was marred by a myriad of family chaos and conflict. By age five,...

Richard's life-long battle with alcoholism was abated for nearly two decades in AA. But he let up on his Program and ultimately relapsed on "thimbles" of moonshine in a Mississippi bar. His drinking resumed and he quickly found himself back in the same alcoholic quagmire that AA had extricated him from years earlier. Depleted physically, mentally, and emotionally, Richard found himself at the jump...

Welcome back my friends to AA Recovery Interviews. I’m your host, Howard L. and I’m an alcoholic, sober since January 1, 1988, one day at a time. I’m grateful you’ve joined us. AA Recovery Interviews is the podcast where Alcoholics Anonymous members from around the world share their timeless and extraordinary stories of experience, strength, and hope. There are over 180 interviews in this podcast...

Richard's life-long battle with alcoholism was abated for nearly two decades in AA. But he let up on his Program and ultimately relapsed on "thimbles" of moonshine in a Mississippi bar. His drinking resumed and he quickly found himself back in the same alcoholic quagmire that AA had extricated him from years earlier. Depleted physically, mentally, and emotionally, Richard found himself at the jump...

Nancy K. is an extraordinary woman whose 53 years of  continuous sobriety is a stunning achievement built upon the trials and tribulations of everyday life. Growing up in a home dominated by a violent alcoholic father, Nancy started drinking at age 12 to quell the constant fear and self-loathing she felt daily. Seemingly “rescued” at age 17 by her first failed marriage, Nancy continued to drink he...

Ever meet someone in an AA meeting for the first time whom you can just tell is working a good Program? My guest on today’s show, Susan D., is that kind of person. When she first attended a Tuesday meeting that I’ve been going to for the past 15 years, she showed up early with the countenance and confidence of someone who has attended many meetings. She comfortably introduced herself and was soon...

Marijuana was Vicki’s primary addiction along with alcoholism. Like a lot of us, she smoked pot much more frequently than she drank, but ended up in AA just the same. The hauntings of a painful childhood in a dysfunctional family, fractured by her parents’ divorce when she was young, created self-loathing, shame, and a sense of not belonging. Fortunately, she found marijuana at 13. That, plus what...

Jeff B. rose to very top of major league baseball, only to find alcoholism waiting to take him down. For years, his extraordinary achievements on the field thrilled millions of fans. Off the field, his growing consumption of alcohol set the stage for the disease to take over when a painful and career-ending injury forced him to retire years before he was ready. As Jeff experienced relentless daily...

Joining me from Copenhagen, Denmark, Sabine H. grew up in a culture in which alcohol is both ubiquitous and deeply ingrained in social life. She never considered drinking as the cause of her problems until well into her forties. By then, the ruinous effects of her drinking had supplanted Sabine’s diminishing ability to mask her growing alcohol abuse and other mental health issues. The fame, money,...

With his life in tatters, Sam's entrée into Alcoholics Anonymous literally came down to a coin flip. Heads, he’d go AA. Tails, he’d put a bullet through his head. Such an abject choice was the culmination of a life largely ruined by alcoholism. Sam was penniless, homeless, and suffering from untreated clinical depression. His options were running out quicker than the many quarts of booze he consum...

Jay’s foray into alcoholism stemmed from a difficult childhood in a home where his father drank, and fear and confusion reigned. By the time he started drinking in his early teens to quell the fear and ease his dissonance, he had set the pattern for a life of alcoholic behavior. Dishonesty and narcissism both isolated him and caused pain to those who cared about him. As his adult life was rapidly...

This is the 175th interview in the AA Recovery Interviews podcast series. This milestone episode celebrates the success of this podcast in touching so many peoples’ lives around the world over the past 4 ½ years. Its impact on listeners has been nothing short of astonishing. I invite you to revisit Episode 50, the interview in which I shared my personal story. I’ve sought to share parts of my sobr...

Lauren rose to the top of her profession as a prima ballerina and enjoyed international acclaim during her 23 years of thrilling audiences around the world. But the career she had built through years of intense training and dedication were absolutely no match for the alcoholism and drug addiction she encountered along the way. Her early forays with alcohol and marijuana were not unlike the experie...

[Program Note: Bud S. passed away shortly after the release of this interview in 2022 at age 94. He had 44 Years of sobriety when he died. This interview may be the last time Bud shared his extraordinary story, but it lives on in the hearts those who knew him.] My guest on today’s show is Bud S., a man of remarkable longevity and long-term sobriety. At 94 years old, his 44 years of sobriety is the...

Growing up in a home fractured by alcoholism, Bret B. had first-hand exposure to his father’s untreated disease. The physical and verbal abuse was a lot for child to handle. Unfortunately, any solace or comfort that might have been offered by Bret’s mother was extinguished by a stroke she suffered in her early 30s (when Bret was 8) which left her paralyzed and unable to speak.  Like many alcoholic...

Given up for adoption by his 17-year-old mother, Paul B. still describes his childhood as idyllic. Growing up on a rural English farm where beer and alcohol were a normal part of every day life, any alcoholism that Paul perceived in his family had little effect on his upbringing. In fact, his own drinking didn’t influence his behavior until his years at Oxford University where he rapidly became pa...

Terri S. first overdosed on pain meds when she was only six years old. Living in a Brooklyn apartment with an alcoholic father and chronically ill mother, who suffered from Crohn's disease, Terri had been given a tablet for stomach pain exacerbated by her dysfunctional home life. Reasoning that if one pill eased her pain, the whole bottle would be even better, Terri found and swallowed all her mot...

Celebrating 36 years of sobriety on the day of this interview, my guest Audie M. recorded this episode of AA Recovery Interviews during some free time between meetings at a men’s AA retreat.  Audie’s proclivity for drinking was influenced by his father’s alcoholism and his mother’s helplessness dealing with it. Audie took up the family gauntlet and became a regular drinker in his teens and early 2...