Workshop: Emotional Sobriety - The Next Step (Part 5 of 11)

Workshop: Emotional Sobriety - The Next Step (Part 5 of 11)

What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? This workshop-style episode drops you right into an AA emotional sobriety session recorded at Wilson House in 2002, where Dave F and Mark H use sharp humour and raw honesty to unpack why internal chaos so often pushes people back toward the bottle. Rather than theory, you’ll hear real inventory work being done live.

A woman in fresh heartbreak shares her pain, and Mark walks through how her “committee” of inner characters – the victim, the wife, the sex goddess, the businesswoman, the spiritual woman, even a fierce “Zena” – all fight for control of her emotions. He calls this the “theatre of the lie,” showing how these roles create wild mood swings and “the tragedy of the ego,” not genuine love.

Dave picks up the thread with stories about emotional bankers, traitors inside the wall, and that relentless “hamster on the wheel” of self‑talk.

He explains how resentments are really about playing God: “I have a resentment because I'm playing God, and in my act of playing God, it didn't go the way I want.” The pair show how inventory aims to expose insane belief systems like “I need a man to be okay” or “No one should see a man leave me,” and how fear always sits underneath. Despite the heavy themes – death, betrayal, ruined relationships – there’s lots of laughter.

Jokes about drunk behaviour, pink elephants, and parking spaces at the liquor store keep things human and relatable. The message is clear: if sobriety isn’t eventually fun and free, something’s missing in the step work. This session suits anyone in recovery who’s done some steps and suspects their real problem isn’t alcohol anymore, but restless, fearful thinking. Ready to see which “characters” are running your show today?