Published by Sober Sunrise
Sober Sunrise brings you AA Speaker Tapes from around the world. Rather than an AA discussion podcast, Sober Sunrise brings you speakers who share step-work, workshops, and general fellowship discussion points. We are not affiliated with AA in anyway.
Listen on Apple PodcastsLila arrived at a basement meeting called the Hole in the Ground planning to stay for a few weeks; 25 years later, she is still learning that the hardest spiritual practice is sometimes to do nothing and wait. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Lila marks 25 years sober with a funny, spiritually direct AA talk from a smoke-filled convention in Reno. She remembers dressing up for the Hole in the Ground in Huntington Park, shaking so badly she could barely control her coffee, and expecting to stay only long enough to recover her health, clean up her surroundings, and put her life back together. Instead, old-timers who cared only whether she wanted sobriety taught her to keep coming back, read the Big Book and Twelve and Twelve, find God, and pay attention to the thinking that begins long before a relapse. Between jokes about casinos, near beer, missing jelly donuts, and long-term members surviving one another, Lila traces how the Steps moved her from fear and control toward honesty, hope, faith, willingness, humility, compassion, and service. Her point after a quarter century is simple but demanding: the outside life can look complete and something may still be missing, so recovery keeps asking her to stay present, make room, and trust that she never has to face life alone or take another drink. Lila R. from Santa Monica, CA speaking at We Are Family in Reno, NV - October 2nd 1994 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Pat’s recovery did not arrive as one tidy awakening. It unfolded through hard-won amends, fatherhood, sponsorship, 25 years of meetings, and a trip to Akron he finally bought as a gift to himself. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Pat, sober since September 17, 1981, gives a raw, funny, deeply personal AA talk about growing up in a multigenerational alcoholic home, carrying childhood trauma, and becoming convinced he would not live past 20. Alcohol and drugs shaped nearly every decision until a final morning of desperation led him to ask God for help, enter a psychiatric ward, go through detox and treatment, and reach Alcoholics Anonymous. Pat admits that he initially stayed sober while making up his own rules and waiting for everyone around him to change. Over time, the Steps, sponsorship, fatherhood, amends, and acceptance began changing him instead. He describes the final amends that helped him forgive his dying father, learning to love his sons without trying to control them, and discovering a God he could reach without borrowing anyone else’s definition. For his 25th sobriety anniversary, Pat canceled a large party and bought himself something he had almost never allowed: a gift just for him. That gift was a trip to Akron, where Dr. Bob’s home, grave, and hospital chapel turned AA history into a personal spiritual experience. His message is that recovery kept unfolding long after the first year. Pat L. from Saskatoon, SK, speaking at the Nipawin Roundup in Nipawin, SK, Canada - December 2, 2006 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
At 17, Eileen stood at the edge of AA waiting for someone to sell her on sobriety. The pitch never came. Instead, the people, the Big Book, and the work asked her to risk the one thing she already had: her misery. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sober-sunrise/id6770203116 If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Eileen, sober since November 24, 2002, shares how drinking at 11 became daily use, legal trouble, probation, a short stay in rehab, dropping out of school, and arriving in Alcoholics Anonymous at 17 certain she was too young and too different to belong. Meetings alone did not change her. After another drunk and a blunt conversation with a sober woman, she asked for a sponsor, read the first 164 pages of the Big Book in a day, and began taking the Twelve Steps. Eileen describes the obsession lifting, the honesty required in inventory and the Fifth Step, repairing relationships through amends, and learning that keeping people at arm’s length also kept love out. She talks honestly about dishonesty that returned in sobriety, the importance of telling a sponsor the truth, and the daily action that transformed her relationship with her family, AA, and God. The teenager who arrived nearly homeless and unable to stay in school became a trusted aunt, a sponsor, a longtime employee, a university student, and a woman beginning a new career. Her message is simple: she could not think herself into right living. She had to do the work. Eileen F. from Belleville, MI, speaking at the Thursday Night Speakers Meeting in Monroe, MI - May 15, 2008 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Scott thought the Twelve Steps looked like punishment until a sponsor showed him that Step Four was not a life story or confession, but a way to lay down what had been blocking him and discover who he was not. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sober-sunrise/id6770203116 If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Scott, sober since June 28, 1984 and a member of the Back Room Group in Nashville, turns an extended Fourth Step workshop into a funny, line-by-line tour of the Big Book. He begins with the first three Steps and the difference between intention and decision, then explains why Step Four is not about writing a life story or cataloging every bad act. In his reading, inventory is a series of lists, observations, and prayers covering resentment, fear, and sexual misconduct. Scott explains why he works down the page, limits each resentment cause to 19 words, uses three 30-minute sessions to defeat perfectionism, and treats writing as preparation for observation, responsibility, prayer, and forgiveness. Along the way, he connects fear to self-reliance, sponsorship to practical action, service to freedom from self, and spiritual growth to becoming God-centered rather than self-centered. Audience questions bring out additional lessons about long resentment lists, the Fifth Step, choosing a sponsor, willingness, and helping newcomers. This is a detailed and unusually approachable Big Book workshop about facing and removing the things that block us from the sunlight of the spirit. Scott L. from Nashville, TN speaking in Daytona Beach, FL - 1999 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
John came to AA expecting lessons in social drinking and discovered something far bigger: people who taught him how to live, stayed close when life became frightening, and gave him a place he never knew he had been searching for. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sober-sunrise/id6770203116 If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter John shares a fast, funny AA speaker talk about the stories an alcoholic mind can turn into truth. Sober since December 19, 1982, he looks back at ranch life, rock-band ambitions, morning barrooms, and the day he finally became willing to ask for help. He arrived believing Alcoholics Anonymous would teach him how to drink like other people, then met sponsors and old-timers who showed him that recovery was not just about quitting alcohol. It was about learning how to live, repair a marriage, accept direction, show up for others, and keep coming back. With his funny “Apples Anonymous” explanation of the physical allergy, John makes the obsession and first-drink problem easy to understand. He also speaks honestly about financial collapse in sobriety, the danger of trying to recover without a sponsor, a cancer diagnosis that brought him into the present moment, and the family member who corrected his thinking when he began minimizing his past at eleven years sober. This is a memorable message about humility, sponsorship, fellowship, one day at a time, and protecting AA for the people who will need it next. John S. from Montana speaking at the Northern Plains Group Second Anniversary in Fargo, ND - May 6th 2001 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Chris shares a fast, funny, and brutally honest AA talk about blackouts, fear, meetings, relapse, the Big Book, and what it actually means to be rocketed into the fourth dimension. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sober-sunrise/id6770203116 If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Chris shares his Alcoholics Anonymous story around the Big Book phrase “rocketed into the fourth dimension,” tracing the three dimensions of fear, alcoholism, and untreated recovery that came before real spiritual change. He talks about drinking from age 12, blackouts, craving, chaos, relapse after treatment, suicidal desperation, and coming back to AA still full of fear and self-centered anxiety. The turning point comes when he stops simply attending meetings and starts working through the Big Book, inventories, amends, and the practical mechanics of the Twelve Steps. Chris describes how the “scared kindergartner” inside him began to heal, how taking others through the book deepened his own recovery, and how Alcoholics Anonymous shifted his perception from selfishness and self-centeredness into love and service. This is a funny, sharp, Big Book-centered AA speaker tape about spiritual living, recovery, and the real meaning of the fourth dimension. Chris S. from New Vernon, NJ speaking at Acts of Recovery in Baltimore, MD - November 15th 2008 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Dennis shares a funny, honest, and deeply human AA story about drinking, drag, drugs, treatment, coming back to Alcoholics Anonymous, and finding a program he could rely on when life got real. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sober-sunrise/id6770203116 If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Dennis shares his Alcoholics Anonymous story with humor, honesty, and a lot of personality, starting in small-town Nevada, growing up feeling different, finding alcohol in high school, moving through Reno’s bar scene, drag shows, drugs, treatment, relapse, and finally giving AA one more real try. He talks about trying to separate drugs from drinking, not being able to imagine life without alcohol, walking into a small meeting in Reno, deciding to do what AA people told him to do for six months, and eventually having a spiritual awakening he cannot fully explain. Dennis also shares about being diagnosed with HIV early in sobriety, losing friends, relying on the program through more than just drinking problems, and carrying the message in his own way by showing others that it is possible to live, serve, laugh, and simply not drink anymore. Dennis M. from Reno, NV speaking at We Are Family in Reno, NV - October 1st 1994 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Bart R. shares about getting past meetings alone and actually living the program: taking the Big Book seriously, working the steps, making amends, practicing 10 and 11, and carrying the message to the next alcoholic. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sober-sunrise/id6770203116 If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Bart R. from the Primary Purpose Group in Long Island, New York speaks at the Vision for You group in Union, New Jersey, sharing his experience with alcoholism, relapse, the Big Book, sponsorship, amends, prayer, meditation, and service. Bart talks about drinking from a young age, feeling apart from people, getting sober through meetings without really taking action, and eventually finding the kind of recovery that came from reading the first 164 pages of Alcoholics Anonymous and doing what they say. He shares how his sponsor helped him see the truth of alcoholism, how the Third Step decision changed his direction, how amends kept showing up in real life, and why the first eleven steps make it possible to carry the message in the Twelfth. The heart of this AA speaker tape is simple and strong: this is a design for living, the book has not been wrong yet, and when one alcoholic carries the message to another, the fellowship can grow up around them. Bart R. from Long Beach, NY speaking at the A Vision For You group in Union, NJ - June 28th 2007 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Jack K. shares the kind of AA story that starts long before the first drink: lonely, separate, different, angry, and afraid, then drinking like it was the answer until it nearly took everything. What lands hardest is his description of AA’s power: people who can answer the question you haven’t even asked because they’ve been there too. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sober-sunrise/id6770203116 If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Jack K. from Los Angeles shares a powerful Alcoholics Anonymous story about growing up lonely, separate, different, angry, and afraid, finding alcohol at 16, and quickly discovering blackout drinking, rage, drugs, jail, and the desperate search for something that would fix him. He talks about Dr. Silkworth’s description of alcoholism, the simple truth that when he took a drink he wanted another one, and the way AA reached him when his wife called for help and another alcoholic named Bud picked up the phone. Jack’s story moves from hopelessness and self-destruction into identification, sponsorship, family healing, and the quiet miracle of sober members who had “been there” before him. The ending is especially beautiful as he reflects on the huge gentle eyes and loving hands that helped him begin to heal in Alcoholics Anonymous. Jack K. from Los Angeles, CA speaking at the NCC Summer Conference in San Jose, CA - June 11th 1982 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Perry shares a high-energy AA talk about early drinking, jail, desperation, sponsorship, working the Steps, and the joy of staying on the pink cloud for 17 years. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sober-sunrise/id6770203116 If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Perry shares his experience as an alcoholic, beginning with his first intentional drunk at 11 years old, blackout drinking, juvenile institutions, jail, burglary, repeated chaos, and the family wreckage that followed him into adulthood. He talks about the moment when a gun threat and his daughter’s fear gave him a sudden glimpse of what his life had become, the prayer that followed, and the people in Alcoholics Anonymous who took him in, sponsored him, worked the Steps with him, and showed him how to live. This AA speaker tape is funny, intense, and full of gratitude, moving from desperation and self-destruction into a recovered life of service, family, work, travel, prayer, and real joy. Perry’s message is clear: the program of Alcoholics Anonymous gave him a life beyond anything he could have imagined, and the best years are still ahead. Perry W. from San Jose, CA speaking at the Saturday Night Live, San Jose, CA - October 14th 2005 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Freddie’s story looks at AA as a matter of life and death, and at the responsibility that comes with being given a life back. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, save favorite speakers, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sober-sunrise/id6770203116 If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Freddie shares an emotional AA speaker talk about alcoholism, loss, gratitude, family, sponsorship, and the simple responsibility of keeping Alcoholics Anonymous available for the next person who needs it. He remembers coming in sick, hopeless, and unable to live the way he was living, then describes the people he watched die from alcoholism and addiction, the mother who prayed for him for years, the father who got his son back, and the wife and children who became part of his sober life. Again and again, Fred returns to the same question: what is the price tag for a life given back? This is a heartfelt recovery story about meetings, service, prayer, family repair, and why the doors of AA matter. Freddie G. from Cleveland, OH speaking at the Superior Group in Cleveland, OH - September 30th 2008 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Iron Mike shares a raw and funny AA talk about prison, violence, relapse, oddballism, grace, and the Alcoholics Anonymous life that gave him a home, a family, and a way to be useful. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 Sober Sunrise App - Apple App Store If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Iron Mike shares his experience as an alcoholic, from growing up around Pasadena and Houston, taking his first drink young, going to reform school and prison, living without an address, and cycling through jails, detoxes, relapse, and rough bottoms before finally finding a life in Alcoholics Anonymous. With humor and blunt honesty, he talks about violence, fear, feeling like an outsider, the meetings and old-timers that kept pulling him back, the Wheelhouse, the Legacy Club, sponsorship, working the Steps, and learning how to stay instead of run. This AA speaker tape also carries a powerful message about grace, service, family restoration, and becoming the son, brother, sponsor, and member of AA that he never knew how to be on his own. "Iron" Mike P. from Baycliff, TX speaking at the South East Texas Area Convention in Beaumont, TX - January 2006 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
This sponsorship workshop looks at what it means to help another alcoholic without becoming their therapist, lawyer, doctor, guru, or Higher Power. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, save favorite speakers, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 Sober Sunrise App - Apple App Store If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Myers shares a direct AA workshop on sponsorship, working with others, and keeping the work simple enough to actually do it. He talks about the fear many sober members carry around sponsorship, the temptation to overcomplicate the steps, and the danger of turning AA into therapy instead of action. Using Big Book passages, AA history, and his own experience, Myers lays out a practical view of sponsorship: qualify the alcoholic, move through the steps, help them become reliant on God rather than the sponsor, and get them carrying the message as soon as possible. This is a strong, old-school AA talk about responsibility, humility, service, and getting off the sidelines. Myers R. from Dallas, TX speaking at the Simple Not Easy group's 1st anniversary on Sponsorship in Cambridge, MN - June 17th 2007 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
This Step One talk looks at the difference between consequences, control, and the deeper problem of not being able to stay stopped. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, save favorite speakers, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 Sober Sunrise App - Apple App Store If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter In this AA step meeting, the speaker walks through Step One with a direct focus on powerlessness, the allergy, the obsession, and the difference between a hard drinker and a real alcoholic. He talks about being able to stop for a while but not stay stopped, hearing mixed messages in early sobriety, and finally understanding why the first drink was the real problem. Using plain examples from his own life, including the poison ivy comparison, he explains why consequences alone could not keep him sober and why the solution had to involve the 12 steps, spiritual change, sponsorship, and action. This is a practical, Big Book-centered talk for anyone trying to understand what it means to be powerless over alcohol. Brian B. leading a meeting on step one at the Bottom Line Group in Pomano Beach, FL - May 2nd 2005 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Chris R. shares a direct and powerful AA talk about why meetings alone did not treat his alcoholism, how the Steps changed everything, and why newcomers need more than slogans. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 Sober Sunrise App - Apple App Store ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Chris R. shares his experience as a recovered alcoholic, talking about alcoholism as a physical craving, a mental obsession, and a spiritual malady that meetings alone could not fix. After years of trying to stay sober in Alcoholics Anonymous without really working the program, Chris describes the suicide attempt, the Big Book meeting, and the people who finally carried a clear message of recovery to him. He talks about being pulled with a vision of what life could look like through the Twelve Steps, doing a Third Step Prayer, starting inventory, answering phones, being useful, and realizing two weeks later that the obsession to drink had been lifted. This AA speaker tape is funny, blunt, and full of urgency, with a strong message about carrying the actual solution, getting in the trench, and helping people recover instead of only telling them to keep coming back. Chris R. from Ingram, TX speaking at the Truro Roundup in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada - July 25th 2009 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Don’s sponsor handed him a card that said “Big Book Will Travel,” and that old AA spirit runs through the whole talk: show up, carry the message, and give away what saved you. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, save favorite speakers, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 Sober Sunrise App - Apple App Store If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Don shares an old-school AA talk that weaves early Alcoholics Anonymous history with his own story of drinking, lying, family damage, and final surrender. He talks about the first meetings in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the fragile beginnings of AA on the West Coast, and the people who kept showing up because they needed each other as much as the newcomer needed them. Then he turns to his own life: drinking through military service, hiding behind success and performance, sending two wives toward Al-Anon before he ever got sober, and reaching a January 15, 1985 bottom where he could not get drunk and could not get sober. In treatment, an old sponsor with a “Big Book Will Travel” card pointed him toward prayer, inventory, the ABCs, service, and the kind of life Don calls the fourth dimension: a place where God provides what is needed when we stay close and do the work. Don B. from Pleasant Hill, CA speaking in Oyster Point, CA - September 30th 2004 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Cliff says alcohol gave him eight minutes where the black rock in his belly went quiet, but AA taught him a different way out: service, laughter, and giving away what saved him. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, save favorite speakers, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 Sober Sunrise App - Apple App Store If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Cliff shares a sharp, hilarious, and painfully honest AA talk about being a “functioning alcoholic” who almost died while still going to work, winning speech tournaments, and looking nothing like the park-bench alcoholic he thought he had to become. From his first drink at 16 to blackouts, fights, daily drinking, teaching school while dying inside, a surf shop with 15-martini sunsets, hot vodka in the glove compartment, and a family pushed into chaos, Cliff’s story keeps circling one truth: alcohol gave him a few minutes of relief from the black rock in his belly, then took everything else. His bottom came when his teenage son told him life was beautiful without him in the house, and the surrender came later on a beach-house floor with the Big Book open to page 63. Through sponsorship, service, Al-Anon, laughter, and the Steps, Cliff found the promises coming true and learned that the feeling of uselessness and self-pity disappears when we see how our experience can benefit others. Cliff R. from Oceanside, CA speaking at Specific Group, Las Vegas, NV June 22nd 2000 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Robi shares a funny, honest, and deeply moving AA talk about untreated alcoholism, the spiritual malady, amends, sponsorship, and the miracle of being ready when grace shows up. ☀️ Check out the New Sober Sunrise App! Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 Sober Sunrise App - Apple App Store ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Robi shares her experience as a recovered alcoholic, beginning with the hopelessness, spiritual malady, and loss of choice that brought her to Alcoholics Anonymous. She talks about coming into AA sick, broken, and out of options, learning that simply removing alcohol was not enough, and finding freedom through sponsorship, truth-telling, inventory, amends, prayer, meditation, and working with other women. This AA speaker tape moves from raw honesty and humor into powerful recovery moments: being present with her mother at the end of life, walking through amends without unfinished business, and later having her daughters return to her life when she was finally spiritually ready to receive them. It is a strong message about not faking recovery, staying active in the Steps, and finding the kind of freedom where we no longer have to face life alone. Robi S. from Ventnor City, NJ speaking at the Absecon Speaker Group in Absecon, NJ - October 30th 2013 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Peter M. shares a powerful AA talk about being recovered, hitting the bitter end, and finding a solution far deeper than simply putting the plug in the jug. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 Sober Sunrise App - Apple App Store ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Peter M. shares his experience of alcoholism, recovery, sponsorship, the Twelve Steps, and the spiritual awakening that changed his life. Sober since June 23, 1988, Peter talks about the back hallway moment that became his bitter end, the pain his alcoholism brought to his family, the treatment centers that could not solve the real problem, and the people in Alcoholics Anonymous who carried a clear message of recovery to him. He challenges the idea that “not drinking” is the whole program, pointing instead to amends, prayer, meditation, service, sponsorship, and the power found through working the Steps. This AA speaker tape is direct, spiritual, and deeply personal, with a strong message about moving from untreated alcoholism into recovered life. Peter M. from Union, NJ speaking at the first annual Sobriety Omaha Style in Omaha, NE - June 23rd 2007 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Scott says alcohol made life switch from black and white to color, but 19 years later the effect he keeps coming back for is his mother’s respect, his son’s trust, and the Steps working in real life. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 Sober Sunrise App - Apple App Store ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Scott shares a raw, funny, and deeply alive AA talk about fear, blackouts, homelessness, jail, treatment, denial, and the long fight against the idea that he was different from everyone else in the rooms. He remembers the first drink changing everything, the obsession with that feeling, the lies he told himself before picking up again, and the day he finally saw that liquor had become his master. In recovery, the same man who once could not buy a soda starts rebuilding through sponsorship, inventory, amends, service, family repair, and the steady voices of AA people who told him the truth. With 19 years sober, Scott talks about his mother respecting him again, his son trusting him, sitting with his sister as she died, getting help from other alcoholics, and learning to love the effect produced by the Steps more than the effect produced by alcohol. Scott S. from Winston-Salem, NC speaking at the Unity Club Saturday speaker meeting in Winston-Salem, NC - March 24th 2007 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu