Multiple Speakers: Christine 4 Years - Tom 2 Years - Dee 24 YearsMultiple Speakers: Christine 4 Years - Tom 2 Years - Dee 24 Years
Sober Cast: An (unofficial) Alcoholics Anonymous Podcast AA
Three AA members with 4, 2 and 24 years sober share personal stories of drinking, desperation and gradual change through the steps, sponsorship and meetings. Their shares highlight how simple actions, honest inventories and small prayers can support long-term recovery from alcoholism.
52:27•27 Mar 2026
Three Sobriety Milestones: Christine, Tom and Dee Share Their AA Journeys
Episode Overview
- Feeling different, restless and disconnected can be an early sign of alcoholic thinking, even before the first drink.
- Consistent meeting attendance, such as 90 meetings in 90 days, can provide stability when motivation is low and desperation is high.
- Following basic AA suggestions – getting a sponsor, a home group, commitments and working the steps – is presented as essential for ongoing sobriety.
- Making amends, especially to family, is described as a powerful way to remove long-standing guilt and pain and to restore relationships.
- Simple prayers like "dear God, come between me and the thought of a drink" and "turn your face to the light" are used as practical tools to avoid picking up the first drink.
“"Dear God, come between me and the thought of a drink."”
Interested in the personal battles against addiction? This Atlantic Group meeting from 2007 lines up three very different voices in sobriety: Christine with 4 years, Tom with 2, and Dee with 24. Christine opens by talking about feeling a lifelong sense of apartness, like there was "a glass pane" between her and everyone else. She relates to the idea of drinking "to get normal" and shares a stark blackout story where friends had to check if she was still alive.
Her early days in AA are full of honesty and reluctance: 90 meetings in 90 days done out of sheer desperation, a late acceptance of Step One, and the shock of seeing young people with years of sobriety. Her amends process – especially with her family – becomes a turning point, "melting away years of just utter pain" and showing her how much the steps can change a person.
Tom, fresh off his first thorough Step Four, brings a younger Manhattan story, growing up with an Irish drinking dad and a life that quickly centred on weekends, kegs and chaos. He recalls thinking, "I'm going to make a lot of money and drink all the time" as his life plan, and later realising, "you really got to hurt first" before real change happens.
Her story includes psychiatric hospitals, drinking alone with a shoulder bag full of whisky and pills, and a powerful moment of clarity: "you are an alcoholic." She shares practical AA tools, including a favourite prayer: "dear God, come between me and the thought of a drink," and a gentle reminder to "just turn your face to the light." If you’ve ever wondered whether AA can work for people with very different backgrounds and levels of desperation, this meeting might give you plenty to think about.
His message is simple: get a sponsor, do what’s suggested, and don’t confuse the noisy voice in your head with conscience – "it's alcoholism if you don't know it." Dee closes with the long view. Sober since 1983, she describes alcohol as her "medicine" and admits she once thought all her problems were solved by getting drunk.
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