SoberNotMature - Episode 239 (Fingering Our Switches)SoberNotMature - Episode 239 (Fingering Our Switches)
Sober Not Mature
Mike and Bill mix explicit humour with candid talk about higher powers, daily recovery habits and being atheist or agnostic in a 12‑step setting. They also spotlight Jim O’Connor’s award-winning recovery work and stress the importance of action, boundaries and peer support in staying sober.
1:43:27•19 Sept 2026
Dirty Jokes, Higher Powers and Why These Sober Blokes Still Pray
Episode Overview
- You don’t need a traditional belief in God to work a 12-step programme; what matters is taking consistent action and accepting you’re not the higher power.
- Simple daily routines like short prayers, readings and brief step ten check-ins can keep long-term sobriety steady without being complicated.
- Post-treatment support such as recovery housing, employment and peer communities is vital, as highlighted by Jim O’Connor’s Second Story Foundation work.
- Peer recognition can mean more than formal awards, especially when it comes from others actively involved in the recovery community.
- Having boundaries—saying no to poor-fit guests or pushy rehab marketers—protects both integrity and the people who rely on honest recovery conversations.
“It doesn't matter whether we understand electricity or even whether we believe in it. If we take the action to flick the light switch, it works.”
What remarkable journeys have people faced head-on against addiction? Here, two long-time sober blokes, Mike and Bill, prove you can be clean and still utterly filthy-minded. You’ll hear them open with trademark crude humour and a tongue‑in‑cheek celebration of winning a peer‑voted sober podcast award at Sands Bar.
They laugh at how uncomfortable it feels to talk about recognition, yet you can tell it matters because, as they point out, “it was a peer generated, a peer voted, a peer nominated thing.” From there, the chat swings into something many in recovery wrestle with: higher power stuff. Mike reads from *God Grant Me*, using the “light switch” analogy to show that action matters more than perfect belief.
Both men talk honestly about being atheist or agnostic in a 12‑step setting, how they reword prayers to make them workable, and why they keep saying them anyway. They stress one simple rule: the higher power just can’t be you. They also shine a light on their mate Jim O’Connor from The Second Story Foundation, celebrating his Illinois Association for Behavioral Health award and the Second Story Ranch project supporting people after treatment with housing, work and stability.
Rather than asking for donations for themselves, they nudge anyone with cash to spare towards projects like Jim’s. Alongside the laughs, there’s a serious thread about boundaries and accountability. They talk candidly about turning down high‑priced rehab founders as guests, getting ghosted by would‑be interviewees, and why “practice these principles in all our affairs” includes showing up on time and saying no when something doesn’t fit their blue‑collar recovery.
It’s sweary, irreverent and very human—perfect if you’re tired of polished perfection and want recovery talk that sounds like two mates in a smoke‑stained church basement, still doing the work one day at a time. How often do you get to laugh this hard while thinking about your own higher power?
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