ESH: Connie M - A drunk who enjoyed drugs and was a bit of a criminal

ESH: Connie M - A drunk who enjoyed drugs and was a bit of a criminal

Get ready to be moved by real-life accounts of what alcohol and drugs can do to a life – and what Alcoholics Anonymous can help rebuild. This speaker-meeting style episode shares the raw, often funny and painfully honest story of Connie M from White Rock, British Columbia, recorded at a women’s AA convention in Vancouver in 1993.

Connie talks straight about growing up in a violent alcoholic home, breaking her arm in a ringer washer because she couldn’t resist the one thing she’d been told not to do, and later chasing booze, glue and drugs for 25 years.

You’ll hear how she used her children as leverage during custody battles, why her first AA meeting actually happened in jail, and what finally pushed her to call AA: “I’ve lost my self-respect, and I couldn’t take the fear in my kids’ eyes anymore.” She shares the uncomfortable truth of getting sober as a woman, juggling kids, poverty and meetings, and how sponsorship and the AA Big Book changed the order of her priorities from social life first to sobriety first.

From running dope between the prairies and the coast to credit card fraud and boosting “hot goods”, she paints a picture of life as “a drunk who enjoyed drugs and was a bit of a criminal” with dark humour and zero self‑pity. Connie’s story also touches on parenting in recovery, including her son’s struggle with crack and her hard-won lesson of “learning how to close the door”.

She talks about long-timers like Dorothy T and George S, the power of simple Big Book-based sponsorship, and the freedom that came from real amends: “Amend means you change. And when you’ve made that change, the amend will be made.” If you’re looking for straight AA experience, strength and hope with plenty of grit and some laughs along the way, this one might be exactly what you need today.