Yes, There Is a Substitute

Yes, There Is a Substitute

What remarkable journeys have people faced head-on against addiction? This RAW Recovery instalment drops you right into a very real, very human AA-based chat where sobriety, humility and service are front and centre. Host Dion talks candidly about how alcohol once felt like the answer to everything – relief, confidence, escape, comfort and belonging – and what steps in once the drink is gone.

Drawing on the Big Book, he reminds listeners of the promise: "Yes, there is a substitute and it is vastly more than that." For Dion, that substitute is a spiritual way of life, genuine fellowship and being useful to others.

You’ll hear him quote from Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions and reflect on why humility is non‑negotiable for staying sober: "Giving up centre stage for without some degree of humility no alcoholic can stay sober at all." He owns his own missteps, including deleting a pot‑stirring online comment, to show how learning, not perfection, is the goal.

There’s plenty of AA practicality here – keeping close to meetings, putting your spiritual condition first, and sticking with the Big Book for direction. Dion stresses that stepping away from whatever first helped you get sober puts "the unremitting danger of relapse" back on the table, no matter how much you think you know.

A warm family anecdote about helping his granddaughter face discomfort subtly mirrors early recovery: sometimes you have to get a bit uncomfortable to have any fun at all. From there, he shifts into service work, sponsorship and the need for more people to show up for newcomers, especially in treatment settings and programmes like Bridge the Gap.

The episode closes with gratitude for the origins of AA and a reminder that recovery is serious business but still allows room for humour, bad coffee and genuine connection. If you’re wondering what could possibly replace alcohol in your life, could this kind of fellowship and spiritual focus be your substitute?