AA Tomorrow
AA Tomorrow

RAW Recovery Podcast

Dion reads and reflects on Bill W.’s "AA Tomorrow", talking about willingness, service, and AA’s responsibility to future alcoholics. The conversation mixes humour, lived experience, and concern about complacency while stressing respect for newcomers and the value of all meeting formats.

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39:19•9 Nov 2026

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AA Tomorrow: Willingness, Service, and the Future of Sobriety

Episode Overview

Willingness is described as the starting point for honesty, open-mindedness and spiritual growth in recovery.
"Fake it till you make it" is framed as acting in healthier ways until genuine change takes root, rather than pretending.
AA’s main responsibility is presented as staying sober and helping other alcoholics, with a warning against complacency from success.
Respect for newcomers, especially those returning after a slip, is emphasised as a core attitude within meetings.
Multiple formats, including Zoom and in-person meetings, are seen as valuable channels for carrying AA’s message worldwide.

“If you have done the work and you are a part of what we do, you are a co‑founder.”

Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This RAW Recovery Podcast instalment, titled "AA Tomorrow", centres on Dion reading and reflecting on Bill W.’s 1960 article from *The Language of the Heart* while chatting with a small online community. You’ll hear Dion mix humour, personal health updates, and bad-coffee jokes with serious talk about responsibility in Alcoholics Anonymous.

After a light-hearted start about minor medical procedures, football scores, and being easily distracted, he turns the focus to a key spiritual tool: willingness. He calls it "the beginning of everything", linking it to honesty, open-mindedness, and the often-misunderstood phrase "fake it till you make it". As he puts it, "be willing to be willing – if you’re willing to pray for willingness, you already got it." From there, the reading of "AA Tomorrow" anchors the conversation.

Dion highlights Bill W.’s concerns about AA’s future: complacency, success becoming a problem, and the need to keep AA’s primary purpose at the centre. He stresses that "our responsibility is still the same – to stay sober ourselves and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety," and challenges the idea that AA can simply wait for people to show up. The episode touches on sobering statistics about global alcohol use, the influence of pioneers like Dr.

Bob, Sister Ignatia and Dr Silkworth, and the vital role of Al-Anon and Alateen for families and young people. Dion also talks about respect for newcomers, the dangers of complacency in service work, and how different formats – in-person and Zoom – are just more ways to carry the message. Throughout, he returns to AA’s "language of the heart" and its inclusive spirit: not caring about background, creed, or identity, as long as someone is trying to stay sober.

If you’re thinking about your own part in AA’s future, this episode might get you asking: what responsibility are you willing to take on today?

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