Sober Talk SA - Ash

Sober Talk SA - Ash

How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? In this candid share from Sober Talk SA, Ash talks about going from angry, anxious and full of hate to living a life shaped by a spiritual programme and Alcoholics Anonymous.

Ash, 35, mentions being sober for “a little over four years, one day at a time” and even gives a shout-out to his rabbits, Milo and Bella, as symbols of how much life has changed: once, people wouldn’t have trusted him with a houseplant, let alone pets. Instead of running through a long list of drunken war stories, he focuses on what he calls his “spiritual journey”.

He describes growing up furious at everything, driven by fear and perfectionism — “Ash doesn’t get Bs, he gets As” — long before alcohol entered the picture at around 20. He talks openly about hating religion, the word “God”, and seeing any sign of fear or tears as weakness. Yet AA slowly “started screwing with [his] drinking”, even while he was still downing four litres of wine a day and stealing from family to fund it.

Ash shares his first 15 months dry, racing through the steps “to tick the boxes”, stopping meetings, then testing whether he really was alcoholic and crashing into another five-month hell. A turning point comes when his father notices his eyes and skin change after he licks out the last drops from an empty bourbon bottle. Ash later comes to see that moment as a message that ended his doubts about being alcoholic.

From there, he leans into meetings, sponsorship, step work, meditation, spiritual talks, and even church and baptism, while stressing AA as a spiritual, not religious, path. He talks about progress, not perfection: anger still appears, but now there’s a “longer fuse” and cracks in his high ego that let some calmness in. Anyone wondering if a spiritual path in recovery is possible without starting out religious may find Ash’s honesty and humour surprisingly relatable.