S6 E9 Into Action with WedgetailS6 E9 Into Action with Wedgetail
That's NOT in the book!
Agent X and Wedgetail talk candidly about spiritual progress, fear, self-centredness and service within AA, using humour and the Big Book to frame their experiences. The conversation focuses on staying connected to God, redefining insanity, and embracing a smaller, steadier way of living in recovery.
52:10•30 Jul 2026
Spiritual Progress, Smallness and Course Correction with Wedgetail
Episode Overview
- Recovery is described as steering a ship that constantly drifts, requiring regular spiritual course corrections before reaching "a drink or death".
- Fear and misery often come from internal, self-created problems rather than external events, especially around body image, money and self-worth.
- Resentment may appear as indignation or self-pity, not just obvious anger, and needs to be shared honestly with others to be addressed.
- Service, including roles like area delegate, offers a powerful way to see minds change and to practise AA traditions in action.
- AA’s programme ultimately rests on a relationship with God, and the only "insanity" addressed is the compulsion to drink alcohol.
“Let no alcoholic say he cannot recover unless he has his family back. That just isn’t so… his recovery is not dependent upon people, it is dependent upon his relationship with God.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? In this chat between Agent X and Wedgetail, you'll hear two recovered alcoholics swap stories about spiritual progress, self-centredness, and the messy reality of living the AA programme day by day. The tone is funny, blunt and honest right from the start, with Agent X joking about her "spiritual gift" of non-memory and Wedgetail describing his recovery as steering a ship that constantly needs course corrections.
They speak openly about drifting off course into "unnecessary fights, damage to relationships, bad behaviour" and how AA tools help them avoid the final destination of "a drink or death". A big theme is fear and the idea that most problems are internally manufactured. Wedgetail admits, "If a problem has not arisen externally I will generate one internally," whether it's obsessing over his body or worrying about money.
Agent X shares how her anger usually masks sadness and how she’s learning to sit with quiet, internal pain instead of lashing out. Both highlight how resentment can show up as indignation or self-pity, not just rage. Service and the AA traditions get plenty of airtime.
Wedgetail talks about being an area delegate and watching people genuinely change their minds at the conference, describing it as "what a spiritual decision-making process looks like." Agent X jokes about starting a government based on the traditions, then brings it back to the "smallness" of God's will: get small, help someone, clean the bathroom, feed the cat.
They also clarify what AA means by "insanity"—the compulsion to drink, not every dodgy life decision—and stress that recovery rests on a relationship with God, not on sponsors, partners or family. If you’ve ever felt like you keep falling into the same ditch, their mix of humour, humility and hard-won experience might leave you asking: where could you course-correct, just a little, today?
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