Step 1 with Tina, Tony, Trina AA WKS

Step 1 with Tina, Tony, Trina AA WKS

How do individuals turn their lives around after addiction? This AA workshop recording from Recovery Radio Network brings together three speakers – Tina, Tony and Trina – each sharing how Step 1 changed everything for them. Tina, 21 years sober, talks with raw honesty and humour about the day she realised she was an alcoholic.

She remembers hearing someone describe the “sense of ease and comfort” alcohol gave them and thinking, “Oh, my God, I'm an alcoholic.” From there, you’ll hear how she learned that acceptance doesn’t mean liking reality, just admitting “this is how it is” so she can act on the truth. Her story shows how daily inventories, a sponsor, and regular meetings help keep her “cray-cray” mind from dragging her back into chaos.

Tony brings an Al‑Anon perspective, shaped by 30 years in the military and a lifetime of trying to fix everything. He jokes that as a marine, words like surrender and submission simply “aren’t in our vocabulary”, yet Step 1 forced him to admit he couldn’t control alcoholism, his wife, or anyone else.

You’ll hear how he narrowed his focus to the only two things he can actually manage – his reaction and his response – and how that shift began to save both his sanity and his marriage. Trina rounds things off with a deeply emotional AA story of shame, loss and a final, desperate surrender.

From homelessness and drinking in a u‑haul trailer to running up an airport escalator with severe COPD, she describes the moment she said, “God, just take me. I don’t care if I live or die. I’m just done. Please help.” Her journey from that point into treatment, sponsorship, and a new relationship with a higher power offers hope to anyone who feels too broken to come back.

If Step 1 feels scary, this workshop shows you’re not alone – and that admitting powerlessness might be the first real relief you get. What part of your life are you still trying to control on your own?