How to Work With Big Emotions in Recovery
How to Work With Big Emotions in Recovery

RAW Recovery Podcast

Dion talks candidly about handling big emotions like anxiety and anger in recovery, sharing practical tools and a four-step approach to emotional sobriety. The conversation blends humour, higher-power language and programme principles to show how feelings can be faced without drinking or harming relationships.

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38:42•27 Aug 2026

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Big Feelings, Sober Choices: Emotional Sobriety with Dion

Episode Overview

Name the emotion, accept it, take accountability, then choose a healthy action instead of reacting impulsively.
Use simple tools like breathing exercises and counting colours to interrupt anxiety in the moment.
Treat feelings as valid indicators of what needs attention, but don’t let them dictate behaviour or drinking.
Avoid making permanent decisions based on temporary emotions; speak to a neutral person before acting.
Own your triggers and emotional responses rather than blaming others, as this is where real change begins.

“Emotional sobriety is not learning how to stop feeling; it's learning how to feel everything without letting every emotion control our life.”

How do people cope with the challenges of staying sober? This RAW Recovery episode follows Dion as he chats live with his online recovery community about handling "big emotions" without reaching for a drink or blowing up relationships. You’ll hear him share a recent anxiety surge at a routine doctor’s appointment, showing how quickly things can feel overwhelming even in long-term recovery.

Instead of minimising it, he walks through what helped in the moment: simple breathing, counting colours in the room, and distracting the brain just enough to stop the spiral. From there, the focus shifts to emotional sobriety. Dion is clear that recovery doesn’t erase anger, fear, grief or anxiety.

As he puts it, "Emotional sobriety is not learning how to stop feeling; it's learning how to feel everything without letting every emotion control our life." Feelings are treated as indicators, not instructions — helpful signals that something needs attention, rather than orders to drink or lash out.

He talks through a practical four-step pattern: awareness (naming the feeling), acceptance (admitting it’s there), accountability (owning his part and his triggers), and action (choosing something healthy like prayer, connection, meetings, or helping someone else). There’s strong emphasis on not making major decisions from temporary emotions and on finding neutral people to talk to, instead of seeking agreement from equally upset friends. The tone stays light and human, with side stories about cats, Batman and G.I.

Joe, reminding you that recovery can include humour as well as hard truths. This episode will suit anyone in recovery who’s wrestling with anxiety, anger or overwhelm and wants practical, lived-experience tools rather than theory. If your emotions feel like they’re running the show, could this be the nudge to start handling them differently?

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