Chad P FOTS South 2026Chad P FOTS South 2026
Mad Dog Recovery AA Speakers
Chad Payne shares a candid AA talk about his journey from chaotic drinking to long-term sobriety, highlighting the spiritual malady, step work and sponsorship. The focus stays on how service and a clear understanding of alcoholism shifted him from being merely sober to truly living the AA programme.
1:01:51•1 Sept 2026
Chad P on Being Sober, Sick, and Finally Finding Real AA
Episode Overview
- Meetings alone can leave someone “sober but sick”; the 12 steps are needed for real change.
- A spiritual malady and uncomfortable inner life are common, but they don’t by themselves make someone alcoholic; loss of control and obsession do.
- Working the steps can begin from belief in alcoholism rather than belief in God, with spiritual experience coming later.
- Self-will and trying to arrange life to avoid discomfort block the “flow of spirit”; reducing self-will allows God-consciousness to grow.
- Intensive work with other alcoholics and sponsorship can revolutionise recovery and make picking up a drink far less likely.
“I worked the steps because I believed in alcoholism. I had an experience with a God I didn’t believe in.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This AA speaker meeting from Mad Dog Recovery features Chad Payne sharing a raw, funny and straight-talking account of life before and after 2003, when his drinking stopped. Speaking at Fellowship of the Spirit South in Lafayette, Chad brings what the series promises: “a message of depth and weight” aimed squarely at Alcoholics Anonymous members and anyone wrestling with addiction.
You’ll hear Chad describe growing up in a chaotic alcoholic family, that relentless inner critic, and the moment alcohol made the noise in his head go quiet: “Alcohol shut that voice up… just not caring was the closest thing I had ever had to a spiritual experience.” He breaks down his own wrecks, failed attempts to quit, and a brutal intervention that landed him in treatment and then AA.
Rather than soft-pedalling things, Chad is clear that meetings alone didn’t fix him. He talks about staying “sober but sick” until a Las Vegas AA member sat with him for two hours and “gave me a fatal dose of alcoholism… a shot of hopelessness” that pushed him into the 12 steps. His humour about God and step two (“I worked the steps because I believed in alcoholism.
He explains how taking on more sponsees transformed his recovery from self-centred to outward-looking, saying the steps are there “so that I can live in a state of surrender and become a vessel… so that God can work through me to help another person.” If you’re in AA, thinking about AA, or stuck in that “sober but miserable” place, this one offers experience, AA language and plenty of laughs, all wrapped around a clear message: the real solution lies in the steps and working with others.
I had an experience with a God I didn’t believe in”) keeps the tone light while he’s describing some very serious stuff. The heart of the talk is service: sponsorship, panels, home groups and intensive work with other alcoholics. Where might service fit into your own recovery story?
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