Sarah’s remarkable story begins with a relatively happy childhood in a family with little connection to alcohol. While other addictive behaviors may have been present, Sarah experienced issues with anorexia and bulimia years before her first drink. It manifested into feelings of low self-esteem and negative body-image, causing further shame and fear. By the time she found alcohol at age 16, she was able to ease her negative feelings and fit in, but such escape lead to problems. With difficulties at home and a stint at college cut short by alcohol, Sarah set off on the road to destruction, adding cocaine and crystal meth to the deadly mix along the way. Fortunately, her exposure to recovery for her eating disorders many years earlier left her with a friend who encouraged Sarah to attend AA. After some fits and starts, she finally made it into the Program in 1996. From the start, she worked a Program of diligence and meaning. That early anchoring in AA allowed her to continue to work safely in a bar. She earned enough to pay for education that extricated her from that same tavern job several years later. As her life was steadily improving as the result of Alcoholics Anonymous, she was faced with a major crisis, her husband’s cancer diagnosis, just three years into her marriage. For the next three years, until he passed, Sarah worked two jobs and cared for her husband while amazingly finding time to attend AA meetings. She credits those meetings and her selfless service work as her means to survive those difficult years without slipping.

Sarah’s story points to the insidious nature of the disease which allows it to find its way into the lives of even those who enjoyed happy childhoods. In Sarah’s case, alcoholism did not discriminate. That she was able to survive a booze-soaked and drug infused lifestyle was most certainly by the grace of God. That she thrives today and enjoys a relatively contented life is directly correlated to her involvement in an active AA Program. The women she sponsors find solace and hope in the experience she shares with them, while she, in turn, bolsters her solid Program to withstand the ups and downs of long-term sobriety.  

There’s a lot to learn from Sarah M., and I invite you to tune in this especially poignant episode of AA Recovery Interviews. So, please enjoy the next 60 minutes with my dear friend and AA sister, Sarah M.

Check out Howard’s Big Book Podcast, the complete unabridged audio version of the First and Second Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Big Book Podcast is an engaging cover-to-cover, word-for-word reading of all 11 chapters and Personal Stories, many of which were left out of the Third and Fourth Editions. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Or listen on https://bigbookpodcast.com

[Disclaimer: AA Recovery Interviews podcast strictly adheres to AA’s 12 Traditions and all General Service Office guidelines for safe-guarding anonymity on-line. I pay all podcast production costs. No advertising is allowed. And no one receives financial gain from the show. AA Recovery Interviews and my guests do not speak for or represent AA at-large. This podcast is simply my way of giving back to AA that which has been so freely given to me. -Howard L.]