Jimmy A. Five Big Delusions Workshop, Journey to Freedom Group 1/5/2022Jimmy A. Five Big Delusions Workshop, Journey to Freedom Group 1/5/2022
Mad Dog Recovery AA Speakers
Jimmy A. shares his journey from deep denial and untreated alcoholism to a spiritually grounded sobriety through AA. He talks about delusional thinking, hard-won surrender and why a relationship with a higher power became essential for his recovery.
24:12•22 Apr 2026
Jimmy A. on Five Big Delusions and Why Sobriety Alone Wasn’t Enough
Episode Overview
- Stopping drinking alone doesn’t fix the alcoholic mind; physical sobriety does not automatically mean soundness of mind.
- Denial can be so strong that even clear consequences and direct offers of help are dismissed.
- Untreated alcoholism in sobriety can leave someone “stark raving sober” despite active involvement in meetings.
- Real change begins with accepting the first step and recognising a “hopeless condition of mind and body.”
- AA’s main purpose is to connect members with a power greater than themselves, offering a daily reprieve based on spiritual condition.
“My alcoholism doesn't come in a bottle. It comes in my mind.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? For Jimmy A., it took years of chaos, denial and a few brutal wake-up calls before anything changed. Speaking to the Journey to Freedom Group, he shares how long-term sobriety didn’t magically fix his thinking, and how some stubborn “delusions” nearly took him out even after he stopped drinking.
Jimmy sets the tone with humour and honesty, joking that he’s been “paving the road” for his mate Harold for 34 years, then quickly gets into the serious stuff: the belief that “physical sobriety equates to soundness of mind.” He contrasts two AA members, Joe and Bob, at the same meeting to show how attitude, humility and service separate miserable dryness from real recovery. His punchline?
“I’ve been both.” Across the talk, Jimmy keeps returning to one central idea: “My alcoholism doesn’t come in a bottle. It comes in my mind.” He describes years of blaming parents, partners, bosses and neighbourhoods, convinced alcohol wasn’t the problem. Even when an Employee Assistance worker told him, “If you just said that you had a drinking problem, I could have helped you,” he still thought, “A drinking problem?
Are you kidding me?” You’ll hear how losing a marriage, jobs and family contact weren’t enough by themselves; it was hitting that “jumping-off place” and then hearing his story in the AA Big Book that finally cracked his denial. Jimmy talks about untreated alcoholism in early sobriety, being “stark raving sober,” and how the chapter *We Agnostics* led him into a real relationship with a higher power.
This one’s ideal if you’re sober-but-struggling, questioning whether you’re “really” an alcoholic, or feeling stuck on the edge of doing the deeper step work. It might leave you asking: are you Joe tonight, or Bob?
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