Sober Sunrise - AA Speaker Podcast

Wes H. from Denver, CO speaking at the Colorado State CA Convention in Denver, CO - September 2006 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Wes shares his journey with humor and honesty, reflecting on his years lost to alcohol and drugs, and how ego and fear nearly destroyed him. From early music career highs to homelessness and despair, he confused temporary relief from drugs with real spirituality...

Mike W. from Wilmington, NC speaking about steps 4, 5, 6 and 7 at the 25th Brazos Conference - October 19th 2002 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Mike shares his story with warmth and humor, grounding it in nearly five decades of sobriety since July 1970. He reflected on how love—not something to be earned, but freely given—became central to his recovery, alongside honesty and acceptance. Dra...

Peter M. from Union, NJ speaking about steps 1 to 7 at the Primary Purpose Group in Long Island, NY - August 3rd 2006 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Peter shared that simply putting down the drink is not recovery—true freedom comes from ongoing spiritual growth through the Steps. He warned against worshipping knowledge or intellect in AA, saying we must seek experience with the Big Book and...

Bart R. from Sedona, AZ speaking at the 68th Duluth roundup in Duluth, MN - September 22nd 2013 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com From sneaking alcohol in grade school to repeated detentions and juvenile jails, Bart describes how alcohol ruled every decision—costing him freedom, trust, and dignity. Even as an adult, he tried jobs, relationships, and sheer willpower, but the craving always retu...

Mary L. from Great Falls, MT at Inland Empire AA Convention - October 21st 2001 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Mary shares a tender, funny, and fearless arc from lifelong fear and people-pleasing to deep recovery and service: sober since January 15, 1972, she survived blackouts, repeated treatments, and a six-month institution, then spent 14 more months in a women’s halfway house where she...

James T. from Auburn, CA speaking at Sacramento Monthly Speaker meeting in Sacramento, CA - June 12th 2010 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com James shares how his life shifted from loneliness, denial, and failed attempts to control drinking into a life of faith, service, and love. He described how, after years of believing he only had a “drinking problem,” he finally admitted he was alcoholic a...

Lindsay M. from Atlanta, GA speaking at the Fellowship of the Spirit in Conyers, GA - April 6th 2014 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Lindsay shares openly about her struggles with alcoholism from an early age, the chaos it caused, and the grace she found in AA. She emphasized repeated spiritual awakenings, setbacks, and the humility of knowing all willingness and strength come from her Highe...

Dhulkti B. from Navarre, FL speaking at the 17th Annual Southeast Louisiana Spring Roundup in Covington, LA - May 28th 2006 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Dhulkti shares a powerful testimony of transformation, tracing a life once marked by chaos, trauma, and deep brokenness into one of recovery and spiritual rebirth. She spoke of a childhood filled with fear, shame, and early exposure to al...

Scott M. from Fort Worth, TX and Matthew M. from Forth Worth, TX doing a Big Book Workshop at the 24 hour group in Fort Worth, TX - July 22nd 2006 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Scott & Matthew share how deeply the Big Book and the Doctor’s Opinion shaped their recovery since November 28, 1997. They reminded everyone that sobriety isn’t just about abstaining but about studying and apply...

Peter M. from Union, NJ speaking at the Primary Purpose Group in Lynbrook, NY - August 3rd 2006 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Peter shares his experience-driven walk through AA’s solution—emphasizing that sobriety built on spirit, not mere abstinence, is what truly restores life. He challenged “plug-in-the-jug” thinking, urging seekers to rework Steps 1–9 repeatedly, live in 10–11, and car...

Ralph W. from Los Angeles, CA sharing on the steps at the "Spiritual Progress rather than Spiritual Perfection" convention in Oslo, Norway - October 30th 2015 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Ralph describes arriving in AA in 1986 after his double life as a respected businessman by day and a destructive “vampire” by night collapsed, leaving him broken and powerless. Through treatment, meeting...

Jay S. from Redondo Beach, CA speaking at the 26th annual Tumbleweed Conference in Hobbs, NM - September 15th 2006 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Jay shares a life reclaimed: a 1979 sobriety date, decades free from the “front drink,” and a journey from blackout living and DUIs to spiritual action, amends, and service. He frames alcoholism as allergy + obsession + soul sickness—and recovery...

Carl P. from Atlanta, GA speaking at the Fellowship of the Spirit in Conyers, GA - April 6th 2014 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Carl traces a restless childhood—constant moves, isolation, and a mind that never felt comfortable—into full-blown addiction where alcohol and cocaine became the only reliable relief and then the wrecking ball for every job, home, and relationship he touched. He s...

John K. from Primary Purpose Group in Dallas, TX speaking at the SW Kansas AA Conference in Dodge City, KS - January 2008 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com John shares his story of going from a straight-A, gifted athlete with everything on paper, to a hopeless alcoholic who cycled through jobs, relationships, treatment centers, and blackouts until Labor Day 1999, when he finally surrendered an...

Rick K. from Edmonton, Canada speaking at Parksville Rally in Parksville, British Columbia, Canada - June 14th 2008 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Rick shares a funny-raw arc from blackout drinking (early DUIs, a seizure, a marriage on the brink, dyslexia shame, and career chaos) to long-term sobriety (8/8/1985) built on service, sponsorship, and trusting God; he found purpose making coffee...

Joshua H. from Toronto, Canada speaking at the North Shore Roundup in Vancouver, Canada - April 12th 2009 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com From early chaos—drinking at 10, homelessness, jail, psych wards, and years of relapse—Joshua reached a bottom at 19 where alcohol stopped working and only AA remained. Guided by sponsors, steps, and service, he found freedom in admitting powerlessness, se...

Rick W. from Oxnard, CA speaking at the Old Town speakers meeting in La Jolla, CA - Oct 2010 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Rick W. from Oxnard shares a humorous, raw, and deeply grateful account of a life transformed by Alcoholics Anonymous: after early trauma, chaotic drinking, DUIs, accidents, and a low point at Camarillo State Hospital (lured first by coffee, cookies, and H&I Marlbo...

Tim T. from Brooklyn, OH speaking at the Edisto Roundup in Edisto, SC - April 13th-15th 2007 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Tim's share reflects pain transformed into purpose: the son of an alcoholic father who got sober in 1946, Tim grew up in chaos—cycling through step-parents, over 20 schools, jails, prisons, and failed marriages—before reaching his bottom on June 23, 1982, when loneline...

Don C. from Colorado Spring, CO speaking at the 4 Seasons Workshop at the 1st NM Indian AA Convention in Albuquerque, NM - April 1st 1994 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Don shares a deeply spiritual message blending Native tradition with recovery. He spoke of prophecies marking a new springtime for Indigenous people, a stirring where hidden gifts would surface and healers would emerge after...

Ralf S. from München, Germany speaking at the Men Among Men Group's first conference in Copenhagen, Denmark - August 8th 2009 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Ralf, a German mathematician, blends humor, intellect, and honesty. He described how childhood trauma left him people-pleasing and empty, and though he built success and wealth worldwide, he lived as an “empty suit,” disconnected from...

Kerry C. from Tannersville, PA speaking at Live At Pine Lake in Seattle, WA - May 2010 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Getting sober at just 18, Kerry spent her entire adult life learning to live through the 12 steps, guided by strong sponsors and a commitment to honesty. She recounted a chaotic childhood, early drinking, and destructive relationships, but also the miracle of willingness tha...

Valerie D. from Richmond, VA doing a workshop titled "The Spirit of the 12 Steps" in Santa Fe, NM - October 26th-28th 2007 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Valerie’s story is one of chaos transformed into purpose: raised in a violent alcoholic home, she always felt different and disconnected until her first drink at 14 gave her a false sense of belonging. From stealing toys as a child to juve...

Todd S. from Keene, NH speaking at Area 11 Soberfest in Bozrah, CT - June 5th 2015 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Growing up in a working-class family, Todd began drinking at 14 and eventually drank himself out of the Navy. His life spiraled into five DWIs across three states, countless arrests, and even a devastating crash after fleeing police. Yet the turning point came when, faced with h...

Gisli "Kort" K. from Minneapolis, MN speaking on the topic of "Working With Others" at The Firing Line Group of Alcoholics Anonymous in Saint Paul, MN - June 2008 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Kort shares how his sobriety, beginning in 1999, grew from despair into lasting recovery through working the Twelve Steps directly from the Big Book. He described failed early attempts to stay sober...

Vaughan Q. from Toronto, Ontario, Canada doing a 12 step seminar at St. Teresa's Church in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada - January 22nd 1994 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Vaughan shares his experience with humor and deeply moving accounts, blending his perspective as a Roman Catholic priest with his own recovery journey. He described how alcoholism left him walled off despite outward charm,...