Episode #306 The Fix: Real Deal Speaker Meeting 10.17.206Episode #306 The Fix: Real Deal Speaker Meeting 10.17.206
The Recovery Guy Podcast
Robert shares his journey from despair to long-term sobriety, focusing on the AA steps, sponsorship and daily spiritual work that keep him “recovered.” His talk highlights honesty, amends and consistent practice as central to a sustainable life free from alcohol.
0:00•19 Oct 2026
Staying "Recovered": Robert’s 38-Year Journey Through AA’s Daily Practice
Episode Overview
- Staying “recovered” requires continuous action, especially daily work on steps 10, 11 and 12.
- Honesty is crucial; withholding the truth in early sobriety led Robert back to a drink.
- A sponsor is essential, both for guiding through the steps and challenging self-deception.
- AA literature such as the Big Book and the 12 and 12 is used as a primary manual for getting and staying well.
- Making amends and daily inventory help prevent present behaviour from becoming future wreckage.
“Make no mistake about it. I stay recovered by staying in recovery.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? Robert, known as The Recovery Guy, lays it all out with a mix of candour, humour and straight-up AA honesty. With sobriety dating back to 25 April 1986, he shares how he stays, as he puts it, “heavy on the word recovered” by living in the solution of steps 10, 11 and 12 every single day.
You’ll hear him talk about being broken enough to finally phone a treatment centre from the yellow pages, how honesty nearly cost him his sobriety, and why his sponsor’s simple question — “Are you ready?” — changed everything.
Robert reads from the Big Book and 12 & 12, grounding his story in AA literature rather than self-help trends, and he’s very clear: “The big book was written not to tell you what to do, but to tell you what we have done.” This speaker meeting is especially relatable if you’ve ever felt you didn’t fit in anywhere, long before alcohol showed up.
Robert describes drinking at 14 as “quieting the madness,” and talks openly about being unemployable, losing relationships, and being told by his parents, “We’re not going to watch you die.” There’s plenty here for newcomers and old-timers alike: the importance of sponsorship, why “we who are already here” must keep doing the work, and how daily inventory stops today’s mistakes becoming tomorrow’s wreckage.
He’s blunt, funny and affectionate all at once, reminding everyone that “if you’re in this room tonight, the miracle has happened.” If you’re wondering whether AA’s structured programme and sponsorship can really keep someone sober for decades, this talk might be exactly the nudge you need. Whose shoulders could you stand on next, and who might one day stand on yours?
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