The Rottweilers That Kept Me in AA - AA Speaker - Don L.

At six months sober, Don had decided Alcoholics Anonymous did not work and was ready to quit; then two loose Rottweilers chased him down a hill, put him completely in the moment, and sent him back to his sponsor and the Steps.

☀️ 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

Don, 15 years sober, describes how alcohol once transported him to “the land of I don’t care,” bringing down the wall between him and the world before gradually destroying every plan, relationship, and opportunity he was given. By 25, he knew exactly what drinking was doing to him, but self-knowledge could not protect him from the daily “miracle of three o’clock,” when every promise to stop became a plan to have just a couple. A move from Los Angeles to Boston changed nothing, and the years that followed brought blackouts, jail cells, a missed Christmas flight, family wreckage, and a humiliating realization involving a highly accomplished police dog. Don initially entered Alcoholics Anonymous only to keep his family from throwing him out, but an assigned sponsor taught him that the actions work regardless of his motives. He was sent to 14 meetings a week, put to work setting up and cleaning up, placed on a framing crew, directed into court to face old warrants, and pushed toward the inventory he kept refusing to write. When two Rottweilers interrupted his plan to quit AA, Don finally moved from a program of distraction into the Twelve Steps. Through amends, service, sponsorship, paying back the IRS, rebuilding trust with his mother, and becoming useful in his new fellowship, he discovered that recovery is not merely being saved; its real joy is turning toward the next alcoholic and preserving what was freely given to him.

Don L. from Bellingham, WA speaking at the Aberdeen Wednesday Night Group's Quarterly Meeting in Aberdeen, SD - 2006 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu