Story ShannonG 20260529
Story ShannonG 20260529

The Pink House Chronicles

Story ShannonG 20260529 by Anonymous

AuthenticHonestInspiringInformativeHopeful

46:38•11 Jun 2026

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From Blackouts to Big Book: Shannon’s 11-Year Sobriety Story

Episode Overview

Frequent meetings, especially in early sobriety, can provide structure, safety, and the chance to hear what you need to hear “from bell to bell.”
Finding a sponsor who has the kind of sobriety and spirituality you want is key; then follow their direction with humility and consistency.
Checking attitude, pausing before reacting, and talking honestly with another alcoholic are simple tools that can defuse many problems.
Spiritual growth can start with very practical requests from a higher power and build into a deep sense that “God has my back.”
The AA Promises may appear gradually, but the message is that they “will always materialize if we work for them.”

“If your God does not give you money, you get a different one.”

What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? In this raw and funny AA speaker meeting, Shannon shares 11 years of sobriety with a mix of brutal honesty, dark humour, and spiritual growth that many in recovery will recognise instantly. Shannon introduces herself as an “addict alcoholic” whose drinking started with hidden vodka in orange juice and quickly escalated into 20 years of blackout binges, bar fights, arrests, and waking up in ditches and bushes.

She talks openly about childhood trauma, foster care, her mother’s murder, and later PTSD from the 2015 Wimberley flood, tying it all into how alcohol and drugs became her escape. As she jokes, “I don’t think in my 20 years of drinking and drugging that I have ever had only two drinks.” The heart of the story is how AA, the Big Book, and sponsorship gave her a way to live.

She describes her first meeting at Cherry Creek in Austin, sitting in the back, sobbing through the whole first half, then being surrounded by women offering phone numbers and a free book. Early sobriety was “insanity” – four to five meetings a day, legs shaking, constant tears – but also where she learned the basics: get a sponsor, show up on time, wash the cups, move the chairs, and keep coming back.

Her “step three moment” comes through a deeply personal story of shouting at God in a car park and then receiving unexpected cheques, leading her to say, “If your God does not give you money, get a different one.” Anyone facing shame, self‑hatred, or fear of early recovery may find comfort in her message that “they will love you until you know how to love yourself.” If you’re wondering whether meetings, sponsors, and a higher power can actually change a life, this story might give you something to think about.

Shannon shares quotes from the Big Book that helped her accept she was alcoholic, plus practical tools like checking her attitude, pausing before reacting, and talking to another alcoholic when feelings become overwhelming.

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