That's Me! That's Me! Episode 26 with Elise A.That's Me! That's Me! Episode 26 with Elise A.
Recovery Radio Network
Monica and Julia talk with Elise A about getting sober young, what finally brought her back for a second AA meeting, and how sponsorship, spiritual experiences and amends have shaped her life in recovery. The conversation weaves humour with honest accounts of family chaos, parenting and learning to trust that she is being taken care of.
48:17•7 Aug 2026
“That’s Me! That’s Me!”: Elise A on Young Sobriety, Surrender and Second Chances
Episode Overview
- Coming back for a second AA meeting can hinge less on a magic sentence and more on a barrier finally dropping so the message can land.
- Trying to manage drinking with conditions, relationships or other substances often reinforces, rather than fixes, the problem.
- Sponsorship can provide the nurturing many people missed, while still directing them back to the Steps, service and responsibility.
- Spiritual growth may arrive as a sudden realisation that life has been cared for all along, even when fear screams that nothing is safe.
- Ninth Step amends are about cleaning up actual harms, not confessing to things you didn’t do, and sometimes the gift is simply humbling yourself and going anyway.
“I knew I was an alcoholic, and I didn’t want to live that way anymore, so I was willing to do whatever it took to not live that way anymore.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? This conversation on Recovery Radio Network’s “That’s Me! That’s Me!” brings together hosts Monica K and Julia J with long-time sober guest Elise A, whose sobriety date goes back to May 1990. The show focuses on a specific turning point: not the first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, but what made someone come back for the second, when it became a choice.
Elise shares how she was first introduced to meetings at 14, cycled through rehabs, court diversion, abusive relationships and chaotic drinking, and yet still planned to be “dead by 18”. Her honesty is raw and often darkly funny, like when she says she tried to pass a urine test by eating matches and drinking vinegar, and when she describes herself as a balloon-delivery gorilla in a French maid costume.
The heart of the episode lies in the moment she stopped trying to control everything. She explains how a single beer after signing a 30‑day no-alcohol agreement left her hallucinating and utterly defeated, saying, “I knew I was an alcoholic… and I didn’t want to live that way anymore.” From there, she talks about surrender, deep involvement in young people’s AA, and finding a sponsor who “put the onus back” on her and gently “took the rough edges off”.
Elise also offers moving stories about sober parenting, describing being present for her daughter through trauma and preparing for her to leave for university, plus a powerful Ninth Step amends to former employers who still believed she’d stolen from them. Her guiding question now?
“Am I willing to do whatever it takes to stay sober?” If you’re curious about early sobriety, young recovery, or how AA tools show up in everyday life – from panic in bed to peace on a kayak – this episode might leave you asking where your own “that’s me, that’s me” moments could be hiding.
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