October 20, 2026
Maybe Now It’s My Turn to Show Somebody Else
Sometimes helping a newcomer means saying less and simply being there. After thirty-eight years sober, I’m realizing that showing up still matters.
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I Used to Think Courage Meant Not Being Afraid
Real courage usually looks like being afraid, not knowing what happens next, and doing it anyway. On fear, faith, and moving your feet anyway.
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October 16, 2026
Not Everything Is a Character Defect. Sometimes We're Just Human.
After 38 years of sobriety, I've learned that not every mistake, bad mood, or moment of frustration is a symptom of alcoholism. Sometimes we're simply human.
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October 15, 2026
Success Is a Funny Thing in Recovery
When I first got sober, I wasn't worried about becoming too successful. I just wanted to stop throwing up. What success actually looks like when you stay sober long enough to live through it.
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October 13, 2026
Powerlessness Doesn’t Mean Helplessness
Admitting I was powerless over alcohol didn’t mean I was helpless. It meant I finally stopped trying to win a fight I had already lost a thousand times.
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October 11, 2026
You Are Allowed to Become Better Than the Worst Thing You've Ever Done
It's strange how easily I can forgive somebody else and how incredibly difficult it can be to extend that same courtesy to myself.
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October 6, 2026
Staying Teachable
One of the stranger things about getting older is realizing how much I still don't know. When I was younger, I was considerably more confident about knowing everything.
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October 5, 2026
Wherever I Go, I Bring Me With Me
Vacations, airports, and hotel rooms don't change the basic facts. My alcoholism doesn't care what ZIP code I'm in — and recovery travels too.
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October 1, 2026
One Day at a Time
My brain likes to live next Tuesday, or six months from now, or in a conversation from 1987. Recovery taught me there is only one place I can actually do anything: today.
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September 30, 2026
No Is a Complete Sentence
Recovery has taught me that people-pleasing and being helpful are not the same thing. One comes from generosity. The other usually comes from fear.
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September 29, 2026
I Wanted Credit for Changing Before Anyone Had Evidence
I stopped drinking and meant it — so why didn't everybody trust me right away? Because trust doesn't come back through speeches. It comes back through evidence.
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September 26, 2026
I Used to Think Secrets Kept Me Safe
Secrets once felt like protection. Guy writes about Step Five, shame, honesty, and the relief of no longer needing a secret life.
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September 20, 2026
Gratitude Isn't Pretending Everything Is Wonderful
Gratitude isn't a fake smile or a forced list. Guy writes about the quiet, ordinary gifts of sobriety — and why the boring things are the enormous ones.
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September 17, 2026
Getting Sober Didn't Automatically Make Me a Better Parent
Stopping drinking was enormous, but our kids experienced more than our drinking — they experienced us. Guy writes about Step Ten, prompt amends, and rebuilding trust one Tuesday afternoon at a time.
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September 16, 2026
Grieving the Life That Was Killing Me
In sobriety we can grieve the life that was killing us. Guy writes about losing his parents, mourning his old life, and carrying both with him sober.
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September 15, 2026
I Wasn't Particularly Concerned About the Twelve Traditions
The Traditions seemed like business-meeting material until I saw what happens when a room full of alcoholics all believe their idea is the most important one.
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September 14, 2026
There’s More Wrong With You Than Just Your Drinking
One of the greatest misconceptions I had as a newcomer in AA was believing that as long as I stopped drinking, I was all better. My sponsor had a different message: “There’s a lot more wrong with you than just your drinking. When you accept that, you’ll start getting better.”
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September 13, 2026
Life Doesn't Give a Shit How Long You've Been Sober
Life doesn't care whether you have one day or thirty-eight years sober. Guy writes about the moment he finally asked for help, and how sobriety gave him the tools to survive the punches that kept coming.
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September 11, 2026
We Cannot Do This Thing Called Life Alone
On September 11, a day of national remembrance, I am reminded that none of us is meant to face life alone. Sobriety taught me to stay connected, to ask for help, and to be there for others.
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September 10, 2026
Humility Doesn't Mean Pretending You Suck
Humility doesn't mean pretending I haven't accomplished anything. It means being honest about who I am—strengths, weaknesses, and all.
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September 8, 2026
Acceptance Doesn’t Mean I Agree
Acceptance does not mean I approve of a situation. It means I recognize reality as it actually exists — not as I wish it existed — so I can decide what is mine to do next.
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September 7, 2026
We Have Built-In Forgetters
AA repeats the same suggestions for a reason: we forget the pain the moment we start feeling better. On the thousand-pound phone, pride, isolation, and the night I spoke at a meeting the day my mother died.
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September 6, 2026
YOU'RE NOT GETTING MARRIED—JUST ASK SOMEONE
Asking for help in AA isn't a marriage proposal. You don't need the perfect sponsor—just another alcoholic willing to talk.
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September 4, 2026
You Can’t Apologize Your Way Out of It
Saying “I’m sorry” is easy. Changing the person who walked into AA is the real work — and the only amends that last.
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September 3, 2026
SUFFER WELL, MY FRIEND
Unfortunately, pain is the great motivator for many of us. For the most part, I didn’t learn much unless there was some pain involved. The suggestions of AA were given to us for a reason. They came from people who had already traveled the road we were attempting to walk.
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September 2, 2026
I HEARD MY BROTHER COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH
After 38 years of sobriety, my wife showed me something I still hadn't seen about myself. Real amends aren't just words—they're visible in what happens afterward.
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September 1, 2026
THE 500-POUND PHONE
A story about the fear that finally made me willing, the sponsor who hung up, and how a 500-pound telephone became one of the tools that saved my life.
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August 31, 2026
THE PROMISE I DIDN'T KEEP
A sober man reflects on the one promise he broke more than 25 years ago — and what making amends really means when the past suddenly reappears.
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August 30, 2026
THE KID WHO JUST WANTED TO BE LIKED
Growing up lonely and awkward, I drank to feel like I belonged. Nearly 39 years later, I’m learning that emotional sobriety means caring without being held hostage by other people’s opinions.
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August 30, 2026
How to Get Sober and Actually Stay That Way
There is no trick to it. There is a short list of unglamorous actions that work if you do them, and do not if you do not.
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August 29, 2026
SOMETIMES IT'S A BITCH BEING HUMAN
We make stupid decisions. Then, instead of taking responsibility, we blame someone else. It's easy. It's lazy. And we do it anyway.
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August 28, 2026
SMART Recovery and AA: An Honest Look From an AA Guy
I got sober in Alcoholics Anonymous and stayed there. That does not mean it is the only door. Here is a fair comparison of the two.
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August 28, 2026
WE FUCKED OUR FAMILIES UP
I wasn't married when I first got sober. I was 21 years old and living back home with Mom and Dad. Thank God they were willing to take me in.
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August 27, 2026
DON’T DRINK, GO TO MEETINGS, AND BE A GOOD HUMAN
I haven’t lived perfectly. What I have done perfectly, right up until this second, is stay sober — and that gives me the chance to keep becoming a better human.
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August 26, 2026
THE GROUP DEPENDED ON THIS 21-YEAR-OLD ANGRY PUNK
How ashtrays, coffee pots, hospital wards, and a blizzard taught me that commitments keep you sober.
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August 26, 2026
What Recovery Actually Looks Like on an Ordinary Tuesday
Recovery is not a moment of transformation. It is a set of small, unglamorous actions repeated until they become a life.
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August 25, 2026
AA RUINED MY ISOLATION
I sat in that circle while I was in therapy, but I had no intention of telling anyone how I truly felt or what I thought about myself.
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August 24, 2026
SHAME WAS EATING ME ALIVE
There was a time when I felt absolutely horrible about myself. The self-loathing and disgust I felt toward the person I had become were ripping me apart from the inside.
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August 24, 2026
What Sober Really Means (After 38 Years of Living It)
The dictionary says sober means not drunk. After nearly four decades without a drink, I can tell you it means a whole lot more than that.
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