A Vigorous Attempt to Repair the DamageA Vigorous Attempt to Repair the Damage
RAW Recovery Podcast
Dion talks through Step Eight, reflecting on guilt, grief, relapse and spiritual growth while unpacking what real amends look like in recovery. The episode blends humour, honesty and practical guidance on repairing past harm and ending isolation through genuine change.
36:32•1 Aug 2026
A Vigorous Attempt to Repair the Damage: Step Eight Made Real
Episode Overview
- Step Eight begins with an honest look at who has been harmed, using earlier inventory work to build a thorough list.
- Amends are about cleaning one’s own side of the street, not about securing forgiveness or controlling others’ reactions.
- Simply being sober is different from being in recovery; long-term change requires spiritual growth and ongoing self-examination.
- Relapse can be understood as any time a promise to stop drinking is broken, even before formal recovery starts.
- Some emotional wounds may indicate PTSD rather than simple resentment, and may require professional support alongside step work.
“Step eight: made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? RAW Recovery Podcast brings that question down to earth in this candid session on Step Eight: making a list of those harmed and becoming willing to make amends. Hosted by Dion, this conversation-style episode feels like sitting in on a raw, honest home group chat.
Dion moves from sharing about a recently deceased friend and the grief and guilt that surface, into a deep look at what it means to repair damage in sobriety. He stresses that “the spiritual life is not a theory” and talks about living on spiritual terms without pretending that fear and flaws have magically vanished.
You’ll hear him unpack the difference between being sober and being in recovery, why “sorry” from an alcoholic often just means “I’m sorry I got caught”, and how true amends demand more than a quick apology at 30 days sober. He explains how Step Eight grows out of the earlier inventory work, why relapse often starts long before anyone enters a meeting, and how alcoholic thinking can still twist ideas like “I never hurt anyone but myself”.
There’s also a practical nod to modern recovery: Dion shares concerns about AI tools in online meetings and how anonymity can be compromised, keeping his Vegas-style rule of “what happens in your AA meeting stays in your AA meeting”. With some light humour, he encourages people to serve, show up, and stop procrastinating on both service and amends.
If you’re somewhere between writing a resentment list and actually facing the people you’ve harmed, this conversation offers company, clarity, and a reminder that cleaning up the past is “the beginning of the end of isolation from our fellows and from God.” Ready to start your own “vigorous attempt” to repair the damage?
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