AA Recovery Interviews with Howard L.

Imagine trying to get sober in a country without AA meetings or the Big Book. That's what faced Ksenija when she got sober in 1992. That, plus Croatia's viscious War of Independence. Though she had grown up in a Soviet country that paid little heed to the disease of alcoholism, the rest of Kesenija’s back-story is similar to those told by AA members around the world. She was raised in a culture in...

Jennifer S. had a rough journey getting to AA recovery. She was raised in a home where her mother’s alcohol abuse was neatly ignored while frequent family parties gave Jennifer ample opportunities to sample alcohol as a child. But it was the drinking she did as a teenager and young adult to cope with family dysfunction and escape reality that turned alcohol into an unappeasable adversary. Working...

Larry got sober at age 65, finally claiming his chair in AA after drinking his entire adult life. As a life-long bachelor, he was also a loner. For decades, his daily routine consisted of working long hours, then putting in a shift at the bar, literally drinking until closing time several days a week. Whatever little social life Larry had was confined to occasional barroom acquaintances. Drinking...

Mike’s story is classic tale of a life dragged to the brink of ruin by alcoholism. Brought up in a mostly normal home, his introduction to booze in was similar to many of us alcoholics who started drinking in our teens. Mike liked the effects produced by alcohol and continued to drink through six years in the Navy and for years after. Negative consequences, including two failed marriages piled up...

Max grew up in a horribly alcoholic home with a mother who later died of cirrhosis and organ failure from drinking. To deal with the madness, Max began drinking at 13 to escape the feelings wrought by the dysfunction of her alcoholic family. Her own alcohol use escalated through high school and college well into her twenties. She admits that, at the time, she knew intellectually that drinking was...

Joe's abuse of alcohol was a big part of his teenage and young-adult years growing up in Liverpool England. By the time he moved to Australia in his early twenties, he was a full-blown alcoholic. Joe was raised in a tumultuous home, where verbal and physical abuse were a regular occurrence. Even after his parents divorced, his drunken father continued to wreak havoc on the family. Not surprisingly...

[This is an encore of Episode 26 originally released May 13, 2021] Some alcoholics go to AA meetings even though they haven't stopped drinking. They may fulfill AA’s only membership requirement, expressed in the 3rd Tradition, by having the desire to stop drinking. But, for whatever reason, they just cannot stop. Though it may be unusual to have someone in a meeting who's actively drinking, their...

Jeff S. got sober in 1998 after years of alcoholism and addiction to crack cocaine. Coming from a tough upbringing, he started drinking as a teen. Jeff spent five years in the U.S. Army which he enjoyed mainly because it allowed him to drink with alacrity and few consequences. But the boozing followed Jeff out of the service into a series of dead-end jobs with few prospects for success. As a funct...

When Beth finally got sober less than four years ago, she had made it to middle age as an active, but functional alcoholic. She grew up in a family where alcoholism was present, but largely unaddressed. Beth moved nine times with her military family while still in elementary school, casting the die of a lonesome outsider. When she found alcohol early in her teens, Beth found the key to coping with...

Born and raised in London, Leigh's love affair with alcohol began in neighborhood public houses, or pubs. These establishments were and still are the centers of gathering in the town where Leigh grew up. Despite the fact that he was underage, having a pint or two of beer at the local pub was an unremarkable occurrence largely ignored by those around him. But, as he came of age, Leigh’s drinking in...

[This is an encore of Episode 24 originally released April 29, 2021]. As the daughter of a Louisiana bar-owner, Teska’s father would spike her Coca Cola with whiskey when she was a child. But, though her family was rife with alcoholism within a culture where drinking was a way of life, Teska lived most of her life as a normal or social drinker. It wasn’t until she retired, after a long and success...

My guest today is Ryan M., who was given tequila at age nine by his father to induce an aversion to alcohol. But Ryan actually liked it, especially the warm and wonderful feeling of being drunk. That set the ball rolling in a life in which the pursuit of ease and comfort would morph into serious addiction to alcohol and drugs. Raised as an only child, Ryan describes a happy childhood and adolescen...

In his late teens, Bruno R. initially attended Alcoholics Anonymous to satisfy the terms of probation after his first DWI. His half-hearted attempts resulted in short stints of sobriety. But he wasn’t ready to do what AA suggested. Even after violating his probation with another DWI, Bruno remained resistant to AA recovery and continued to drink. Facing felony charges after his third DWI in Texas,...

[This is an encore of Episode 61 originally released January 19, 2022]. It was 1996 when Brent first attempted to get sober. But like so many others, it took him several attempts to fully embrace AA and do the work necessary to achieve solid and contented sobriety. Those earlier attempts at sobriety included significant stints in AA over the years, during which time he went to meetings and actuall...

Claire H. arrived in America from Great Britain 32 years ago as a full-blown alcoholic. It took her another three years before she got sober in AA. Growing up in England, the ubiquity of social drinking found in countless local pubs lead her to start drinking at 14. That constant exposure to alcohol, plus her father’s untreated alcoholism at home, seemed to predestine Claire’s future addiction to...

[This is an encore of Episode 45 originally released September 22, 2021]. Jason's moment of clarity materialized with the barrel of a cocked revolver resting against his head. That he didn’t pull the trigger, and managed to un-cock the hammer of the pistol while still drunk, gave him a singular pause to ask his higher power for help. That he’s still sober some 27 years later is proof positive that...

[This is an encore of Episode 100, originally released November 9, 2022]. Paul's award-winning achievements in the music industry are beyond compare. His work has woven itself into the fabric of 20th and 21st century popular culture. His memorable songs have touched multiple generations around the world. But, as with many alcoholics, Paul’s genius grew out of a Dickensian childhood, full of family...

Mike's story is an inspiring testament to the critical importance of having an AA sponsor. In fact, my story is so intertwined with Mike’s that you’re likely to learn more about me in today’s podcast than you have in any other interview. When we first met in late 1988, I’d been sober only about 10 months. I had all but given up on AA and was headed towards relapse. You see, though I attended meeti...

Alcoholism’s tornadic sweep through Brian’s life laid waste to his prospects for a happy future. Brian was raised in a family deeply rooted in alcoholism, a disease that ultimately took his father’s life. Brian’s his childhood and adolescence were further complicated by a severe skin allergy that physically and emotionally isolated him from others. By the time he started drinking at age 13, Brian’...

Wes’ love of writing songs as a kid grew into a hectic, alcohol-infused career in the music business. Whether it was writing, performing, or producing, daily drinking was just part of the gig. For a while, alcohol was unobtrusive and often served his creative endeavors. However, by the time alcohol turned on him, its debilitating effects on his body, psyche, and spirit had pushed him to the brink....

Cody’s story is a tragic tale rooted in a family rampant with alcoholism and drug addiction. Both of his parents were hard-drug users who sadly never attempted to get sober. Cody used drugs with them on a regular basis in addition to his drinking, further complicating any notions that he might be an alcoholic. As booze and heroine addled Cody’s decision-making and behavior, he was whipsawed into t...

Originally from New England, but having lived in Great Britain for many years, Margie has over 45 years of sobriety. Having faced countless obstacles to getting to AA and subsequent challenges to sobriety during her 4 decades in the Program, Margie has remained as passionate and committed to the AA as one can be. In all those years, the longest she’s ever gone without a meeting was 10 days (during...

Mike's qualification for AA was honed by years of alcohol and drug abuse. Like so many others in our Program, Mike’s experience with alcohol started as a young teenager who drank to overcome feelings of being “less than”, despite his being raised by his grandparents in a strict, but loving home. Mike’s grandfather was the local Baptist minister. Any abhorrent behavior Mike engaged in was quickly a...

Laura B. got sober at age 17 after 4 years of intensively developing her alcoholism into qualification for AA. In that first meeting, she picked up a desire chip that initiated her 37 years of sobriety as an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous. A compelling aspect of Laura’s story is that her father was in AA and her mother was in Al-Anon. They used the tools of their respective Programs to effe...

As the frontman for a British band that was among the vanguard of punk rock in the late 1970s, my guest, David P., rode the New Wave of that musical genre as both writer and performer. Like many rock stars, his alcohol and drug use preceded, then accompanied his career. Both in good times and bad, David’s life was soaked with the same booze and cocaine that went with him when he moved from England...