Fear A Soul Sickness (The Daily Trudge)Fear A Soul Sickness (The Daily Trudge)
RAW Recovery Podcast
Dion talks about fear as a kind of soul sickness linked to Step Four, showing how it shapes thoughts, behaviour and excuses in recovery. With humour and personal stories, he explains how writing fears down, sharing them and leaning on a higher power can help loosen fear’s grip.
27:20•4 Apr 2026
Fear as a Soul Sickness: Step Four, Courage and Letting Go of Excuses
Episode Overview
- Fear is described as a soul sickness that underlies many thoughts, actions and character defects in addiction and recovery.
- Step Four inventory work is framed as a way to write down and honestly face fears instead of using excuses to avoid them.
- Courage, drawn from a higher power, is presented as the practical opposite of fear, helping people walk through fear rather than wait for it to vanish.
- Self-worth influences how others treat us, and changing how we treat ourselves can shift relationships and resentment.
- Bringing fear into the open through sharing, humour and connection reduces its power and can lessen the drive to drink or act out.
“Fear is not just a surface emotion. As a soul sickness in its own right, then fear in turn generates more character defects.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? On RAW Recovery’s Daily Trudge, Dion takes a hard look at fear and calls it what he believes it is: a "soul sickness" that seeps into thoughts, decisions, and relationships, especially for people in recovery. Speaking openly about his own "emotional hangover," fear of being irrelevant, and even waking up with a fear of dying, Dion shows how fear can quietly run the show.
He links this to Step Four in the Twelve & Twelve, pointing out how excuses for avoiding a moral inventory often come straight from fear – fear of being exposed, fear of losing old comforts, or fear of not getting what we want. You’ll hear him walk through key passages from the 12x12, highlighting how fear can fuel character defects, resentment, control, people pleasing, and envy.
He doesn’t pretend his character defects vanished with sobriety; instead, he talks about gaining more courage through his higher power to walk through fear, rather than waiting for fear to disappear. The episode also brings lighter moments. Dion starts with “Dion’s daily funnies”, showing that recovery conversations can include bad puns and genuine laughter without losing depth.
Personal stories about his grandkids, his crocheted Spider-Man mic cover, and a treasured lighter from his niece ground the conversation in everyday reminders that "I am loved" and worth treating better. For those doing step work or feeling stuck in old patterns, this session offers a straightforward message: write the fears down, speak them out, and bring them into the light so they lose their grip.
If fear has been calling the shots in your recovery, this might be the gentle nudge to ask yourself: what would change if you stopped running from it and started facing it with courage?
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