Sober Friends

Send us Fan Mail John I and Steve C join the show to continue our discussion of the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.  This week, it's Steps 10 and 11. Step 10 - Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. Step 11 - Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will f...

Send us Fan Mail Steve C and John I join the show for our continued work on the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.  We talk about why it's important to make good with those we've harmed and why it's critical to do this step with a sponsor. Step 8: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. Step 9: Made direct amends to such people whereve...

Send us Fan Mail Steps 6 and 7 have the shortest write up in the big book.  It does not make them any less important.  These are two steps Matt J says he puts into his daily life most frequently.  Steve C and John I join the program to wrap up Step 5 and talk about how to quickly get into being ready to let go of our defects of character and then asking our higher power to remove them. Step 6 - We...

Send us Fan Mail Steps 4 and 5 go together, much like Steps 8 and 9.  One step is the inventory of our wrongs and the other is when we actually speak them out loud.  They separate the men from boys and can derail someone in early sobriety.  Much like Steps 8 and 9, they cause anxiety in the new person in recovery but can be the path to moving past things that tripped us before.  They are the steps...

Send us Fan Mail John I and Steve C join the show to talk about what each step is and how it's implemented in the 12 steps of recovery. Step 1:  We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. Step 2: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Step 3: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God...

Send us Fan Mail Each week we've focused on the alcoholic but the family is affected by this disease too.  For this episode, I invited my old friend Gerri who has been surrounded by alcoholics in her life.  Alcoholism affects more than just the alcoholic, it affects family and friends too. Support the show 📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to T...

Send us Fan Mail The number one killer of alcoholics is a resentment.  Steve C and John I join the program to talk about what a resentment is and why it's so dangerous. Check out our website at https://notalonerecovery.com/ to listen to the show, find our social media links and find helpful recovery links. Support the show 📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbo...

Send us Fan Mail John I joins Matt J to talk about Living Sober.  This is not about the book "Living Sober," but what it means to put the plug in the jug and change yourself where being sober, happy and free is a reality.  First, Matt J talks about his latest sobriety anniversary and talks about how his life changed.  Then they give their definition of what living sober really means and...

Send us Fan Mail Matt J's father passed away at the end of January.  He had not seen him since December 25, 1982 at the age of 7.  Matt's father had untreated alcoholism and it led to his parent's divorce.  It also led to Matt's obsession with never becoming an alcoholic and yet failing.  Matt wanted to share this story to talk about two paths, the eventual end that alcoholism...

Send us Fan Mail Hannah got sober after COVID shut down the planet, including most AA meetings in early 2020.  She came to her first AA meeting on Zoom and has only started attending 12 step meetings recently.  Hannah is in her early 20's and talks about her brief run with alcohol, what made her think she had a problem, how she found her first meeting and what she feels she's missing wit...

Send us Fan Mail John I and I continue the conversation from last week about the history of AA.  The theme for these two episodes are the unsung heroes of Alcoholics Anonymous.  The talk moves to Ebby Thatcher, who Rowland Hazard helped avoid jail.  Through the Oxford Groups, Ebby "found religion," and went to spread the message to those sick and suffering.   Ebby shares the concept of G...

Send us Fan Mail John I joins me to talk about the early history of AA.  But first, we celebrate another year of John's sobriety (his anniversary date is Feb 14, 1990).  I this podcast, we focus on the unsung heroes of AA, like Rowland Hazard, who had the resources to consult with Dr. Carl Jung in an attempt to treat his alcoholism.  Although Rowland Hazard never joined Alcoholics Anonymous,...

Send us Fan Mail Author Gigi Langer, the author of the book, 50 Ways to Worry Less Now is the guest on this week's podcast.  She's also a guest on one of my favorite podcasts, Recovered with Mark S. (Highly Recommended). You can purchase Gigi's book at https://gigilanger.com/ where she also has a recovery blog. In this podcast we hear Gigi's story of sobriety, her challenges at...

Send us Fan Mail There is nothing more divisive to the newcomer than the role of "God" in in AA.  Is AA a cult?  I had someone reach out to me who said their General Practitioner said they were.  Will you be forced to kneel as soon as you walk in and give yourself to Christ?  I never had to.  I asked John I and Steve C to join me to tell their perspective on a "Higher Power." ...

Send us Fan Mail Greg (Gig) is a friend of mine from my old podcast.  He has a Youtube Show talking about life in Maine.  Greg has been sober over 2 years and talks about his journey.  He has not attended a 12 step meeting and we talk about what he does to remain sober. Find us online at notalonerecovery.com Find us on social media: Twitter - @notalonepodcast Instagram - @notalonepod Facebook - @n...

Send us Fan Mail Greg (Gig) is a friend of mine from my old podcast.  He has a Youtube Show talking about life in Maine.  Greg has been sober over 2 years and talks about his journey.  He has not attended a 12 step meeting and we talk about what he does to remain sober, Support the show 📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch...

Send us Fan Mail It's not uncommon for alcoholics in recovery to gather at someone's home after the first of the year to start their Joe and Charlie meetings.  But what exactly are Joe and Charlie and why do some people in recovery do these workshops.  John I joins the program to talk about Joe and Charlie and the other Joe.  It's a history of the big book and AA and we've drop...

Send us Fan Mail Jon from Scranton is my old friend from my old podcast.  He hosts the Mintel Intel Podcast and does shows on the Kirk Minihane (Barstool Sports) Youtube Channel.  We've done shows together a number of times over the past 2 years.  What I did not know was that Jon had a story of recovery from cocaine use and how it affected his job and his life with his family.  You might find...

Send us Fan Mail Jennifer M found recovery at 24 and has over 30 years sobriety.  Jennifer tells her story of running away at 15, traveling with her dad to Carson City and hitting bottom working at a casino.  Through the years, she married, divorced and re-married and dealt with what life had to offer, all without having to take a drink.  Join us for this inspiring story and we hope you identify w...

Send us Fan Mail Matt gets schooled by Steve C, who explains it's important to tell the story of what it's like before finding recovery, aka the drunkalog.  Steve joins the podcast to tell his story of growing up in Waterbury, CT and the experience of an alcoholic family.  He discusses his two stints of recovery and how he lost one marriage and almost another. Find us online at notaloner...

Send us Fan Mail One of Matt J's business heroes has been Tony Hsieh of Zappos.  Hsieh started his own business, cashing it out for millions to start a company that sold shoes on the internet.  That company, Zappos, because not only the leader in online shoe sales, but the word class customer service emulated by business of all types.  But Hsieh hid a dark side, an addiction to alcohol and la...

Send us Fan Mail I have not talked to my friend Glenn W in many months, so what better excuse to chat with someone I want to talk to, than inviting him on a podcast.  Glenn got sober in 1997 and this story focuses mostly on what happened to his life after he got sober.  Glenn is heavily involved in service work from the group level through his local area.  This is a conversation about how life get...

Send us Fan Mail It's another John on week 3 of the show and this time it's John B, or Mr. B as our circle of friends call him.  Mr. B tells his story of recovery from a childhood in the hills of Pennsylvania to teaching music in a privileged town in Connecticut.  Though, to outward appearances, John's life seems to be perfect by suburban standards, he hid a secret and that was a gr...

Send us Fan Mail From November 26, 2019.  This is the show Matt J did on his old Minifan Show as "DEC."  Matt lost his mother to pancreatic cancer on November 26, 2018. He tells the story about how his mom had to raise him alone, going from a small apartment, living on food stamps to having a high paying position at an insurance company, being able to buy a house in her home town and put...

Send us Fan Mail Join us on episode two of "You Are Not Alone," a heartfelt recovery podcast hosted by Matt Jay. In this episode, Matt sits down with John, his grand sponsor and a beacon of hope in the journey of sobriety. Johnny shares his powerful story of addiction, recovery, and the relentless pursuit of balance. Discover John's remarkable 30-year journey of sobriety and gain in...