Misoon W. AA Female

Misoon W. AA Female

Experience the emotional and inspiring tales of recovery as Misun shares a raw, honest account of life before and after Alcoholics Anonymous. Raised in Seoul under harsh discipline and labelled the "stupid" child in a high-achieving family, she explains that none of this "made" her an alcoholic.

For her, alcoholism is about what happens when she drinks: "the more I drink, the thirstier I get." Shipped to boarding school in North Carolina without English, she describes crushing loneliness, then that first drink in a park with the misfit kids. One beer turned into a "tingly sensation all the way down" and suddenly she could speak English, crack jokes and belt out Judas Priest.

From there, daily drinking, fake IDs, New York club life, blackouts and selling her soul "little by little" for the next drink became the norm. The story turns when she attempts to end her life with vodka and pills and wakes to her furious sister at the door, flown in from Jacksonville thanks to Al-Anon support.

A brutal detox, a blue uniform with a number on the back, and a cheerful AA visitor who simply says, "God loves you and AA works," mark the unlikely start of her sobriety on 27 January 1995. Sobriety, however, is far from a tidy success story. Misun talks about being "the hostile one" in meetings, firing sponsors, hating hugs, and sitting on a mountain of resentment, especially toward her parents.

Through sponsorship, the steps, and a deep look at her parents’ own traumatic childhoods, she gradually moves from rage to compassion, leading to tearful amends and healing words like her mother’s: "I am most sorry for how I treated you." Anyone who’s ever felt too angry, too broken or too resistant for recovery will recognise themselves here and might ask: if help could find her, could it be closer than you think too?