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AA Recovery Interviews with Howard L.

AA Recovery Interviews with Howard L.

By: Howard L.
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 Alcoholics Anonymous members from around the world share their awesome stories of experience, strength, and hope with interview host Howard L.Copyright © 2020-2025 AA Recovery Interviews Hygiene & Healthy Living Personal Development Personal Success Psychology Psychology & Mental Health
Episodes
  • Justin M. – Sober Since June 2020 (Encore Episode)

    Justin M. – Sober Since June 2020 (Encore Episode)
    Oct 1 2025
    [This is an encore of Episode 84 originally released June 29, 2022] Alcoholism nearly ended Justin’s marriage and his career as an airline pilot. Then he found sobriety and recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous. Raised in a family rife with alcoholics, Justin’s role model was a father who suffered with alcoholism and co-occurring mental health issues, and ultimately committed suicide. Though warned by his mother about the family proclivity for alcoholism, Justin continued to ramp up his drinking throughout high school and college. By the time his career as an airline pilot took off, so did his drinking. To quell any concerns from fellow pilots and crews that he might be drinking too much, Justin became a solitary drinker. He never drank on the job, but his after-hours and days off were spent drinking in hotel rooms and at home. Still, he functioned well-enough to start a family and keep his job amidst umpteen promises that he would cut back and control his drinking. But those promises turned hollow as each attempt to stop inevitably ended with still more drinking. When Justin first found AA, he made a half-hearted attempt to get sober. But four months in and none of the work done, Justin figured he’d gotten all he could from AA. So naturally, he decided he could drink like a normal man. With that first drink, his disease re-surfaced with vengeance and his life went into a tailspin. Justin hit his bottom when his wife expelled him from their home. Fortunately, he turned to his pilot’s union and employer for help. He was immediately whisked away to an inpatient rehab facility followed by an intensive outpatient treatment and aftercare program. Though his medical certification was revoked and he could no longer fly, Justin persevered in treatment. He rejoined AA and began to seriously work the Program. His new commitment to AA was replete with sponsor, step-work, meetings, book study, prayer, and service. As sober days passed, his accountability to his wife, his Program, his employer and the FAA were re-established while he concurrently fulfilled the rigorous requirements to re-instate his certification to fly. Two years later, Justin has become firmly entrenched in AA and is a regular member of several meetings I attend. He does Zoom meetings and live meetings wherever he travels. He has a sponsor to whom he remains close, and sponsors other men to keep himself sober. The gifts that Justin has realized from the Program include getting his marriage back intact and being reinstated to his job as a trusted pilot for a major airline. Justin’s enthusiasm for AA and his infectious smile naturally draw newcomers and old-timers into his life. His story is timeless and continues to generate hope, especially for those in his profession, who reach out for his help. His two years of experience shared within the fellowship are invaluable to those who want it. It’s with real gratitude that I offer you this exceptional episode of AA Recovery Interviews. So please enjoy the next hour and ten minutes with my fine friend and AA brother, Justin M. If you’ve enjoyed my AA Recovery Interviews series, have a listen to “Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered From Alcoholism”. This is the word-for-word, cover-to-cover reading of the First Edition of the Big Book, published in 1939. It’s a comfortable, meaningful, and engaging way to listen to the Big Book anytime, anyplace. Have a free listen at Audible, Apple Books, or Amazon. I also invite you to check out my latest audio book, Lost Stories of the Big Book, 30 Original Stories Missing from the 3rd and 4th Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s an engaging audiobook I narrated to bring these stories to life for AA members who’ve never seen them. These timeless testimonials were originally cut to make room for newer stories in the 3rd and 4th Editions. But their vitally important messages of hope are as meaningful today as when they were first pub...
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    1 hr and 16 mins
  • Nadia S. – Sober Since August 1980

    Nadia S. – Sober Since August 1980
    Sep 24 2025
    Nadia's personal story was published in the 4th Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous in 2001. She’s the first AA member I’ve interviewed whose backstory can be read by anyone with a Big Book. Combined with today’s interview, Nadia’s story comes alive in many ways, beginning with her emigration from France after World War II with her mother who had suffered as a slave laborer under the Nazis. Landing in Canada after the war, her childhood was a wretched time in her life, during which her mother was beaten by her stepfather, while Nadia was abused both verbally and physically. By the time she left home at 18, her escape was aided greatly by the same excessive use of alcohol that had helped her survive her teenage years. University and a law degree steered her into becoming an attorney, where her first years were spent in heart-wrenching criminal cases, before she moved into corporate governance law. As with many of the attorneys I’ve interviewed, heavy drinking quickly became part of her life. Like many other lawyers, Nadia was able to confine her drinking to non-work hours while she continued to function and even succeed in her legal career. But inevitably, the effects of her blossoming alcoholism, including hangovers and declining performance at work, began to intrude upon her work life. After some half-hearted attempts at sobriety, Nadia rapidly descended into the darkness of despair, from which the faint beacon of Alcoholic Anonymous finally guided her toward the rooms. Thoroughly licked, and ready to do the work, Nadia found AA in 1980, and immersed herself in all aspects of the Program, including sponsoring other women and all manner of service work, both in Canada and around the world. Though Nadia’s personal story is well-told in the Big Book, it’s the 21 years since that story was printed that truly enhance the tale of life well-lived according the principals of the 12 steps. It’s a tale that runs the gamut from tragedy to triumph, replete with human foibles along the way. I am grateful to walk alongside people like Nadia on the road of happy destiny. Whether you read Nadia's Big Book story before or after listening to this interview, I think you’ll be doubly impacted by the power and grace in both versions. So please enjoy the next hour and five minutes of this episode of AA Recovery Interviews with my new friend and AA sister, Nadia S. [This is an encore of Episode 77 originally released May 11, 2022] If you’ve enjoyed my AA Recovery Interviews series, have a listen to “Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered From Alcoholism”. This is the word-for-word, cover-to-cover reading of the First Edition of the Big Book, published in 1939. It’s a comfortable, meaningful, and engaging way to listen to the Big Book anytime, anyplace. Have a free listen at Audible, Apple Books, or Amazon. I also invite you to check out my latest audio book, Lost Stories of the Big Book, 30 Original Stories Missing from the 3rd and 4th Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s an engaging audiobook I narrated to bring these stories to life for AA members who’ve never seen them. These timeless testimonials were originally cut to make room for newer stories in the 3rd and 4th Editions. But their vitally important messages of hope are as meaningful today as when they were first published. Many listeners will hear these stories for the first time. Lost Stories of the Big Book is available on Audible, Amazon, and Apple Books. It’s also available as a Kindle book and in Paperbackfrom Amazon if you’d like to read along with the audio. [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. 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
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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • Kristina C. – Sober Since August 2018 (Encore of Episode 74)

    Kristina C. – Sober Since August 2018 (Encore of Episode 74)
    Sep 17 2025
    By age 15, Kristina had already been in treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, self-harm, and a suicide attempt. It took another 14 years for her to find lasting and contented sobriety in AA. Kristina’s struggles with addiction, alcoholism, and mental illness began with a difficult childhood. Though raised in affluence, her childhood was marred by a myriad of family chaos and conflict. By age five, Kristina was already engaging in self-harm (cutting) and other behaviors to cope. By her adolescence, she had added alcohol and drugs to her escalating means of escape, and even attempted suicide. By 15, her parents had run out of conventional treatment approaches and put Kristina into a three-year program with other troubled youths. During that time, she first experienced AA meetings, albeit as a unwilling and reluctant attendee. Amazingly she stayed clean and sober for three years, though her ultimate plan to return to drugs and alcohol was fulfilled shortly thereafter. More failed attempts to help Kristina culminated in devastating crisis at age 22 when her boyfriend of two years suffered a fatal drug overdose. Crushed by the loss, she abruptly stopped using intravenous drugs. Instead, she turned solely to alcohol and cutting to deal with her grief and anxiety. Kristina’s odyssey over the next seven years was fraught with additional attempts at treatment and even some progress amidst her functional alcoholism. But it was debilitating depression and hopelessness that paved her way to the bottom. At 29, with seemingly no other alternative than suicide, Kristina was finally ready to accept help. That meant in-patient medical help for her mental health issues, intensive outpatient treatment, and a new willingness to work a God-centered AA Program. At nearly 4 years of sobriety, Kristina’s journey from the abyss to the center of AA is nothing short of a miracle. In addition to her arduous work in the Program to assure her own sobriety, her service work extends beyond AA into her professional life as a mental health therapist. It’s been amazing to watch Kristina’s rise from the depths of despair to the heights of true God-consciousness and reliance. Her story is an inspiration, especially to women of her generation who’ve struggled with alcoholism, substance abuse, and mental illness. In full disclosure, I’ve known of Kristina’s struggles and successes, largely through a close friendship I’ve had with her father for many years. I’m grateful he never stopped believing in her. But it also took his very well-worked Al-Anon program to help him support her in many ways that benefited and blessed them both. His is an remarkable Al-Anon story I hope to share with you in a future show. But for now, please enjoy this episode of AA Recovery Interviews as we focus the next 65 minutes on an extraordinary woman whom I am honored to call my friend and AA sister, Kristina C. If you’ve enjoyed my AA Recovery Interviews series, have a listen to “Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered From Alcoholism”. This is the word-for-word, cover-to-cover reading of the First Edition of the Big Book, published in 1939. It’s a comfortable, meaningful, and engaging way to listen to the Big Book anytime, anyplace. Have a free listen at Audible, Apple Books, or Amazon. I also invite you to check out my latest audio book, Lost Stories of the Big Book, 30 Original Stories Missing from the 3rd and 4th Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s an engaging audiobook I narrated to bring these stories to life for AA members who’ve never seen them. These timeless testimonials were originally cut to make room for newer stories in the 3rd and 4th Editions. But their vitally important messages of hope are as meaningful today as when they were first published. Many listeners will hear these stories for the first time. Lost Stories of the Big Book is available on Audible, Amazon, and Apple Books.
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    1 hr and 9 mins
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