The More I Tried to Stay Sober, the Sicker I Got - AA Speaker - Joseph G.

Joseph says the more he obsessed about staying sober, the sicker he became. His AA recovery changed when he stopped staring at the problem and committed himself to the Steps, amends, testimony, and service. ☀️ 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 Joseph drank from childhood and eventually reached a point where alcohol occupied nearly every waking thought. He remembers waking in jail, asking what time it was, and being told he should worry about what day it was because he had been asleep for three days. While serving time, Joseph first heard about Alcoholics Anonymous from another prisoner whose honesty, openness, and freedom from resentment gave him something Joseph wanted, even though the man fully expected to drink again after release. Joseph attended AA meetings inside but arrived certain that the sick people around him needed his help. He planned to take only the Steps he liked, rejected sponsorship, and later decided that AA did not work because nobody reached him the way he expected. Online recovery rooms and a New Year’s Eve alcathon brought him back. A small Step group followed, then a man he spoke with regularly finally asked whether Joseph had a sponsor and announced, “Well, you’ve got one now.” Much of that sponsor’s guidance only became clear after his death. Joseph’s deeper change came when he stopped making sobriety itself his entire focus and committed to working the Twelve Steps. He describes surrender, hope, and faith in the first three Steps; learning to live in the present through inventory; laughing through a Fifth Step in prison; discovering the Sixth Step as a state of readiness; making amends instead of spending another apology; taking a daily personal inventory; and hearing his higher power through the testimony of other alcoholics. His pathway is toward self-acceptance: getting outside himself, working with newcomers, and receiving through service what he once tried to manufacture with alcohol. Joseph G. from Royalton, IL speaking at the AA Downunder Group - July 20th 2007 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu