Young L, Scarborough - An exploration of Step 2Young L, Scarborough - An exploration of Step 2
Alcoholics Anonymous
Young L from Scarborough shares his slow, honest journey through Step 2, moving from atheism and repeated detoxes to a lived trust in a higher power. His story focuses on hopelessness, fellowship, small spiritual shifts and the gradual rebuilding of life and family in sobriety.
42:34•23 Oct 2026
From Hopeless Drinker to Grateful Tortoise: Young L on Step 2 and Finding a Higher Power
Episode Overview
- Step 1’s recognition of complete defeat is what makes genuine openness to Step 2 possible.
- You don’t need to start with belief in God; beginning with trust in the AA group and its members can be enough.
- Self‑sufficiency and willpower alone cannot solve alcoholism when repeated attempts to stay sober have failed.
- Small acts of kindness and service, both given and received, can gradually shift thinking and support spiritual growth.
- Engaging fully with the 12 steps and helping others can lead to freedom from obsession with alcohol and a new sense of purpose.
“If an idiot like me who thought he was atheist and agnostic can grab hold of this, man, of course it’s available for anyone who wants it.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This 40‑minute share from Young L of Scarborough offers a raw, funny and heartfelt look at Step 2 of Alcoholics Anonymous, told by someone who once hated the very idea of God. Young describes arriving in AA as a “very grateful, recovered alcoholic” whose life had been “burnt…to the ground many times over”.
His first sponsor’s blunt warning – “Your thinking is going to kill you” – becomes a turning point, forcing him to see that sheer willpower, therapy and repeated detoxes couldn’t keep him sober. Step 1’s complete defeat is what opens the door to Step 2. Rather than a theological lecture, this is a story about slowly waking up.
Young talks about believing in his hopelessness long before he could believe in any higher power, and how AA members met him where he was: “You don’t have to use that word, man…is your way working?” The fellowship’s kindness, from old‑timers taking him for lunch to a German woman named Tanya pressing a small gold angel into his hand, gently shifts his outlook.
He traces moments where something seems to change inside him: staying sober on a three‑hour journey when “everything in me was screaming for a drink”, feeling unexpected peace in a mouldy bedsit, and realising he hadn’t thought about alcohol since his first Step 5.
His story also touches deeply on family repair, including the slow softening of his daughter’s hatred and a simple gesture with a child’s umbrella that felt like “God doing for me what I could not do for myself.” This episode speaks to anyone who struggles with the word God, yet longs for sanity, peace and a sense of purpose.
If you’ve ever wondered whether Step 2 could apply to you, Young’s tortoise‑paced, honest journey might make you ask: could a different kind of power be at work in your life too?
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