Betty M. AFG Female

Betty M. AFG Female

How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This speaker, Betty M., shares how living with alcoholism and addiction in her family pushed her towards Al‑Anon, faith, and some hard‑won boundaries. You’ll hear Betty talk about her 50‑year‑old son, now bipolar and schizophrenic after years of drugs and alcohol, and the stark fear she feels when his seizures strike in public.

She explains how becoming his payee and placing him in a group home forced her to lean on her Al‑Anon tools and the idea of "turning my adult children over to God" rather than trying to control every outcome. Betty mixes humour with painful honesty, describing her first husband’s alcoholism, Vietnam trauma, and eventual paralysis after being shot, followed by his return to drinking even as a quadriplegic.

She recalls searching for cars on motorways, being patted down at after‑hours joints, and realising she had to stop chasing chaos and start choosing a different life. Her story is rooted in Al‑Anon and AA culture: home groups, open AA meetings, big book studies, sponsorship and service. She reads a reflection comparing alcoholism to Alcatraz, with the line, "I've done time in the family disease of alcoholism.

But I do not have to serve a life sentence without parole," and describes how character defects can feel like prison bars. Family threads run through everything: a hardworking mother, brothers affected by addiction, an ex‑husband’s new wife she’s now friends with, and a daughter who struggles with anxiety and drinking. Betty talks candidly about resentment, learning that her son "did this to himself", and choosing to stay in her own "hula hoop" while still offering love and support.

She closes with a humorous "Dear God" letter resigning as a saint and applying to be human, capturing the heart of her message: you don’t have to run the universe; you just have to show up as a human and let your programme work. What part of your journey might you be ready to hand over today?