Shirley shares her Experience, Strength and Hope as she approaches 8 yrs. of sobriety. Shirley was born in London to a dysfunctional family, with an alcoholic mother and workaholic father. There were lots of rules and expectations, which involved abuse and emotional neglect. The pain of childhood seeped into her teenage years which were extremely difficult for Shirley, specifically due to her dangerous and extreme eating disorder.

At 15 yrs. old Shirley discovered alcohol, and from the beginning went into blackouts, waking up in strange places. Nonetheless, alcohol became her escape, her freedom, her lifeline in a very rough world. Not long after waking from a blackout, covered in blood, she received a call from an old friend in sobriety, and she went to her first meeting.

Life is not always easy in sobriety, but Shirley is in her best years yet. She has a healthy relationship with her daughters and has a home, and the community and friends of the program. Shirley is no longer lonely and scared; she is loved and safe.

Quotes
“My first real addiction was food . . . it was something I could control.” 

“I never wanted to have 1 or 2 drinks, I always wanted to go to oblivion.” 

“Just keep coming back and don’t pick up that first drink.”

“I’m starting to like me, which is a big, big deal.” 
 

*recorded internationally, sound may vary.

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Ais shares her Experience, Strength and Hope as a young member of AA, not sure what part of her growth is recovery and which part is simply growing up.

Ais is from a small town in Ireland, where she loved escaping in books and relating more to adults than children. She was an obsessive, neurotic and opinionated kid, but not one her parents had to worry about. Until Ais found alcohol at 14 yrs old, at which time everything turned around. Once drinking began, she was skipping class, smoking, going to class hungover and hitting the bar after school at only 16 yrs. old.

Her first geographic brought her to NYC, where things only got worse, with shaking and hallucinations and misery. After a therapist’s repeated recommendation, Ais found herself in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous, and soon sober. Today Ais has friends and meetings and a life that functions very well, “AA rewired my brain.”

Quotes
“I have no control after the first drink, it’s just completely a coin toss what will happen after that.”

“I have no interest in having 1 drink or 3 drinks, I want 10.”

“The thing that made me feel better was the meetings . . . something changed in my heart.”

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Raelynn shares her Experience, Strength and Hope as she approaches 10 months of sobriety . . . after a couple relapses she’s able to see now that this is “a way better life.”

Raelynn grew up as a very involved student, with strong grades, lots of extracurricular activities, and supportive parents. After quitting softball 2 years into college Raelynn lost herself and slowly began her drinking career. After her divorce her drinking took a dark turn which led to anxiety attacks, a leave from work and an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP).

She initially had no intention of getting sober forever, the plan was to take a break and become a better drinker, however she found something in the rooms that filled the void far better than any drink. There is no more hiding and living in secret for Raelynn, today she enjoys life and says she owes it all to this program of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Quotes
“I knew that my drinking was not right . . . I knew there was something wrong with how much I thought about it.”

“Alcohol doesn’t make me feel good anymore, it’s the exact opposite.”

“The only way things are gonna work out is if I stay sober.” 

“I use to wake up fuckin’ dreading the day . . . now I wake up with hope every day . . . and it’s just such a better way to live.”

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Mike shares his Experience, Strength and Hope in this open and vulnerable share as he celebrates his 14th year of sobriety and his mother, who paved the way for him, celebrates her 34th year.

Right out of the gate Mike never felt a part of and learned early on about masks and pretending. He describes himself as an unteachable emotional kid that knew everything. Mike had a ferocious appetite for more—more of whatever it was and once he got it, he’d immediately want something else.

Before Mike found alcohol, he was a proud DARE member, HS Freshman President, on the Speech and Baseball team and even in plays. But by Junior year, he had been arrested 4 times and expelled. The disease continued to grow and take from Mike’s life. At 26 years old, he stopped fighting and was welcomed home into the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous. Today Mike knows how to be in the present moment, he has the courage to grow and the wisdom to Keep Coming Back.

Quotes
“You can get sober right now. Or you can wait, and if you wait, something really, really bad is gonna happen . . . and for some reason I listened . . . I don’t know why.”

“The opposite of addiction is connection.” 

“To name God is to limit God.”

“The war is over, welcome home.” 

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Jim shares his Experience, Strength and Hope with over 20 years of sobriety. Today Jim is a mindfulness coach and brings a lot of his healing experience and techniques to his calm share.

Jim was a blackout drinker, waking up regularly to gather the clues of the night before. He describes himself as altered all the time and at one point got terribly wrapped up in sports gambling which led to suicidal feelings and the psych ward. As the drinking got worse, his thoughts became overwhelming and his fear all consuming. One morning at 3am, while terrified and all out of tears, he laid on floor and whispered, “I’m done, please help me.”

Today Jim gets to choose how he spends his time, recovery has given him back choice. And as Jim says, nothing happens on accident; it’s Jim's experience that provides his foundation to help others on their path to mindfulness. To get more of Jim, check out his Fishing Without Bait podcast.

Quotes
“I could be anyone I needed to be to get what I wanted.”

“I was a ghost you could see.”

“Telling the truth improves your memory.”

“Acceptance is always the prelude to change and acceptance doesn’t mean defeat.”

“Faith is believing in something you don’t understand.”

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Jose shares his Experience, Strength and Hope by detailing his struggle and recovery as an alcoholic and addict. Jose grew up in a rough New Jersey neighborhood, where drugs were rampant and his family didn’t fit in. Though his dad found sobriety, he did not stick around the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous, which led to untreated anger causing over-the-top discipline with bats, sticks and constant bruises.

Jose never felt like he belonged, until he found other people like him, at which point he became rebellious and angry. Before long he was in nightclubs, partying around the clock, and taking whatever substance came along; always looking for something to take him out of self.

It all got very exhausting for Jose and in his 30’s he found relief in church and even gathered 5 years of sobriety. Until he randomly took a glass of wine, and that alcohol brought him immediately back into the thick of drugs and drinking. After enough darkness, Jose got the courage to go to an AA meeting and found a new source and brand of relief. His girlfriend today has never seen him drink—what a gift for them both. Today, Jose is happy, joyous and free.
 
 Quotes
“The next day is just such a horrible feeling, I would be so depressed . . . just a vicious cycle.” 

 “I said, oh man I need help . . . and the only thing I could think of was God.” 

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Josh shares his Experience, Strength and Hope as the very first atheist on Keep Coming Back. He is a fantastic example of taking what works for him, and leaving the rest. He also has his own podcast: An Atheist Reads the Big Book.

Josh had his first drink as a little tot, perhaps 2 or 3 years old. It became a family joke that Josh would grow up to be an alcoholic. His parents were teenage partyers, which came with constant chaos, fights and drama. Josh didn’t know when food would come, or bedtime, he only knew the feeling of being poor and dirty and full of unease.

Josh became a street kid and embraced the outcast life of not being welcome anywhere. It was a felony committed in a blackout that brought Josh to the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous – the rooms were behind bars, but I’ll let him tell you the story.

Today, Josh is happy, he is active with his secular homegroup and he is of great service to the fellowship and his community – today, Josh is sober and content.

Quotes
“I was scared to death of meth . . . I didn’t know to be scared of alcohol.” 

“I remember struggling with some aspects of the [Big] Book . . . but I didn’t have to believe every single word as it was written . . .  I just remember feeling better, being involved in AA and the book made me feel better.” 

“I feel happy, I feel genuinely happy, and not that weird manic happy where I think the rug is gonna be pulled out from underneath me, just mostly content.”

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CJ shares his Experience, Strength and Hope a dozen years into his sobriety. Abuse, fear and trauma are a theme in CJ’s story, primarily due to the verbal and physical abuse from his father. However, the story turns beautiful when CJ finds himself unable to stop drinking and reaches out to that same father for help, who at the time had decades of sobriety. CJ knew there was hope, because he witnessed his dad's recovery, and it was dad who told him when he called: “Replace that fear you have with faith and you can do anything you want in this life.”

Today CJ is embarking on a spiritual journey of change, through the program, the principles, the steps and the community. And, the Book . . . CJ absolutely loves the Big Book and describes it with passion as: One of the greatest pieces of literature known to man, I believe it has helped save millions of lives, and continues to.

Quotes
“My priority at that time was just to drink and to party . . . all the while I’m just getting sicker and sicker, both mentally and physically.” 

“I wanted to stop drinking, but I couldn’t . . . and I know that that is the disease of alcoholism: where I wanted to stop desperately, but I just couldn’t stop, no matter how hard I tried.” 

“I knew from that moment that I could no longer drink and that I had to turn my will and my life over to the care of God in order for that to happen.”

“A day tightly knit with prayer and meditation is hard to unravel.” 

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Chris shares his Experience, Strength and Hope as a real old-timer with old-wisdom from the heart of Alcoholics Anonymous: Akron, Ohio.

Chris grew up in a military family, with a father he feared, a new home every two years and the feeling of complete loneliness. He watched the calm alcohol brought to his dad and wanted to see what it was all about, and so at 9 yrs old Chris’ drinking career began. Soon he was in Juvenile Hall and then spent a few years in the California Youth Authority, leaving there unbelievably angry and determined to never listen to anyone ever again.

Chris came into the rooms with that same anger, throwing coffee cups and ashtrays and regularly getting kicked out of meetings . . . until the day he asked his sponsor why no one liked him, and thus began his true sobriety, years after his last drink.

In this story, Chris goes beautifully into the Big Book and some of the 147 promises written within those pages. The loneliness resolved and the forgiveness of his father long ago given and received. Today, Chris walks free of anger, with both peace and purpose.

Quotes
“I was probably the most angry human being you ever met in your life, I hated myself, I hated everybody around me.” 

“This book teaches us to walk with purpose.” 

“This program is not for the incredibly lucky or the chosen few, it’s for everybody who wants it.”

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Wes shares his Experience, Strength and Hope from the birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous: Akron, Ohio. 

An overweight, poor child growing up with alcoholic parents Wes never felt accepted or good enough. Raised by his housekeeper, Wes “knew” he was unwanted. Wes tried hard to fit in, and eventually alcohol did the trick. It was the 80’s: fast cars, money and a sense of entitlement took Wes over. After graduating college, he drank his way through a few years with no real direction and a lot of self-hatred.

After marrying into a party family, the drinking got worse and the coverup got heavier. It was a Big Book that randomly showed up in his bathroom that brought him to the rooms. Today, Wes has a homegroup, a sponsor and sponsors other men; being sober is the greatest blessing of his life.

Quotes
“It is the disease that tells you you’re fine right up to the moment that it kills you.” 

“The way that you feel right now can stop forever, if you want it to.” 

“At 50 years old I finally figured out that I am good enough, I am worthy.” 

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