We Absolutely Insist on Enjoying Life

We Absolutely Insist on Enjoying Life

What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? For this RAW Recovery episode, the focus lands firmly on one simple promise from the Big Book: “we absolutely insist on enjoying life.” Dion, hosting with his trademark mix of honesty and cheeky humour, talks about how sobriety isn’t meant to be a grim, joyless march of self-fixing, but a chance to actually live.

You’ll hear him read from Alcoholics Anonymous and reflect on that old belief of being “an exception” who never quite belonged. He shares how even now, there are days he still feels out of place, and how meetings and fellowship help bridge that gap – most of the time, at least. It’s refreshingly real, with lines like, “Recovery is serious business, but that doesn’t mean we can’t laugh along the way,” setting the tone.

Dion keeps things light without dodging the heavy stuff. He jokes about Batman, chat gpt, and cats meowing mid-show, then swings back to core recovery themes: gratitude, service, connection, and the importance of laughter. He describes his habit of making one new person laugh every day, and how humour gives “distance from the problem” so it can be seen more clearly.

There’s practical talk about not carrying “the world’s troubles” on your shoulders, checking your decisions against your values, and letting both joy and pain exist side by side. He also highlights how fun and friendship – things like the “meeting after the meeting” – make recovery attractive to newcomers, because nobody sticks around if everyone looks miserable.

If you’re sober, sober-curious, or stuck in the idea that recovery has to be all doom and gloom, this conversation might nudge you to ask: are you just surviving, or actually living?