I Needed a Drink Long Before I Ever Got One - AA Speaker - Dustin B.

Dustin stayed sober on fear and meetings for more than a year, then relapsed harder than before. His AA recovery changed when a sponsor took him through the Big Book and put him to work helping other alcoholics before he felt ready. ☀️ 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 Dustin grew up in an alcoholic home in Cambridge, Minnesota, feeling uncomfortable in nearly every situation long before his first drink at 14 gave him temporary relief. Childhood trauma, the loss of his father, drugs, overdose, hospitals, and treatment followed. He once spent nearly a year moving through institutions, outpatient care, and as many as a dozen AA meetings a week, then remained sober for just over a year on fellowship and fear without taking the Steps. When that fear stopped holding him, the relapse was immediate and severe. Dustin spent the next five years pointing to the house, cars, job, marriage, and children as proof that he could not be alcoholic, until those outward markers began falling away and a violent, self-destructive bottom brought him back to treatment. This time, the Big Book gave him a practical solution. He wrote inventory, completed a Fifth Step, met a sponsor who insisted on real amends instead of vague promises, began daily inventory and prayer, and started taking other alcoholics through the book at barely two months sober. Dustin’s central message is the paradox he learned through the Twelfth Step: if he waits until he gets better before helping others, he will never get better. Recovery came when the Steps connected him to a power greater than himself and made it possible to be present as a father, employee, friend, and sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous. Dustin B. from Cambridge, MN speaking at the Isanti Saturday Night Live Group in Isanti, MN - October 21st 2006 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu