Advertise on podcast: RAW Recovery Podcast

The Being Human Step Recovery gives us principles, tools, and a way of living—but none of that makes us stop being human. We still make mistakes, get angry, get scared, misunderstand people, say the wrong thing, and sometimes fall short of who we want to be. Today we’re talking about what it means to practice recovery while still being human: honesty, responsibility, making amends, being useful, and continuing to grow without pretending we have everything figured out. The goal is not to become some flawless version of ourselves. It is to become more honest, more responsible, and more willing to correct our course when we get it wrong. #TheDailyTrudge #BeingHuman #Recovery #AlcoholicsAnonymous #Sobriety #Honesty #Responsibility #Amends #Service #Growth

Black Sheep Or Lions Of Truth? Sometimes the person labeled the “black sheep” is simply the one who refuses to keep pretending everything is okay. They question the family rules, challenge unhealthy patterns, say the things nobody wants said, and often take the heat for it. Today we’re talking about the difference between being a troublemaker and being a pattern breaker. What happens when one person refuses to carry the same dysfunction forward? And why are the people who tell the truth so often the ones pushed to the outside? Maybe the black sheep is not the problem. Maybe sometimes they are the one trying to stop the problem from becoming the next generation’s problem. #TheDailyTrudge #BlackSheep #PatternBreaker #GenerationalCycles #FamilyPatterns #Recovery #Truth #Healing #BreakingTheCycle

Our Third Legacy: Service Recovery is more than staying sober. AA’s Third Legacy reminds us that service is part of how the Fellowship survives and how the message continues to reach the next alcoholic. Today we’re talking about what service really means—being useful, showing up, carrying the message, helping where we can, and remembering that service is not about recognition or control. It is about giving back what was freely given to us. Recovery, unity, and service work together. Service is where gratitude becomes useful. #TheDailyTrudge #Service #ThirdLegacy #AlcoholicsAnonymous #Recovery #Sobriety #Unity #CarryTheMessage #GiveBack

The Language Of The Heart Recovery has its own kind of language—the kind that happens when one alcoholic talks honestly to another and something finally gets through. We may come from different backgrounds, different places, and completely different lives, but somehow the experience can still connect. Today we’re talking about what Bill W. meant by “the language of the heart,” how identification can reach past differences, and why honest shared experience can sometimes say more than advice ever could. Sometimes the words are simple. What matters is whether they come from a place the other person recognizes. #TheDailyTrudge #TheLanguageOfTheHeart #AlcoholicsAnonymous #Recovery #Sobriety #BillW #Identification #Fellowship #ExperienceStrengthHope

Why did I create Solution Sessions? Because I know what it’s like to be stuck, overwhelmed, starting over, and trying to figure out what comes next. I’ve spent more than 20 years helping people in recovery, behavioral health, crisis situations, advocacy, and community work. I’ve also lived through homelessness, recovery, mental health challenges, and more than a few hard resets in my own life. Solution Sessions came out of all of that. This live is about why I’m doing it, what I believe people actually need when they’re struggling, why I keep the cost low, and why I’m asking for a little help getting the word out. Truth. Clarity. Hope. SolutionSessions.org

A Fragment Of History: The Origin Of The 12 Steps The Twelve Steps did not just appear out of nowhere. They grew out of the early experiences of Alcoholics Anonymous, the Oxford Group influence, spiritual principles, and what Bill W. and the early members were learning as they tried to help other alcoholics. Today we’re taking a look at that history—where the Steps came from, how the early ideas developed, and how those experiences were eventually shaped into the Twelve Steps we know today. Sometimes understanding where something came from helps us understand why it was written the way it was. #TheDailyTrudge #TwelveSteps #AlcoholicsAnonymous #AAHistory #Recovery #BigBook #BillW #SpiritualPrinciples

The Importance Of Prayer And Meditation Prayer and meditation are more than things we are told to do in recovery. They are ways of slowing down, getting out of our own head, seeking guidance, and creating enough quiet to hear something other than our own fear, anger, or plans. Today we’re talking about why prayer and meditation matter, how they can help us find direction, peace, and perspective, and why Step Eleven is about improving our conscious contact with God rather than trying to force life to go our way. Prayer is where we speak. Meditation is where we become quiet enough to listen. #TheDailyTrudge #Prayer #Meditation #StepEleven #AlcoholicsAnonymous #Recovery #Sobriety #HigherPower #SpiritualGrowth

Selfishness / Self-Centeredness The Big Book tells us that selfishness and self-centeredness are at the root of many of our troubles. That does not always mean being greedy or uncaring. Sometimes it looks like needing control, needing to be right, taking everything personally, or making every situation about what we want and how we feel. Today we’re talking about how self-centered thinking shows up in recovery, why it can be so hard to recognize in ourselves, and what happens when we begin looking beyond “me” toward God, service, responsibility, and other people. Recovery gives us a chance to live differently—not by disappearing, but by learning that the world does not have to revolve around us. #TheDailyTrudge #Selfishness #SelfCenteredness #AlcoholicsAnonymous #BigBook #Recovery #Sobriety #Service #SpiritualGrowth

Who Cares To Admit Complete Defeat? Step One in the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions opens with a hard question: who wants to admit complete defeat? For most of us, admitting powerlessness sounds like losing. But the 12 & 12 turns that idea around—admitting powerlessness becomes the beginning of liberation. Today we’re talking about why complete defeat can be so difficult to accept, the mental obsession and physical reaction that keep the alcoholic trapped, and why humility has such a direct connection to sobriety. Step One is not about convincing ourselves that we are worthless. It is about finally recognizing the truth about alcohol and what happens when we try to manage it ourselves. Maybe defeat is not the end at all. Maybe admitting we have lost the old fight is exactly what allows a completely different life to begin. #TheDailyTrudge #StepOne #CompleteDefeat #AlcoholicsAnonymous #TwelveAndTwelve #Recovery #Sobriety #Powerlessness #Humility

Grateful? Or Gratitude? There is a difference between being grateful and living with gratitude. Grateful can be recognizing what we have—a roof over our head, people who care about us, another sober day. Gratitude is what we do with those gifts. Today we’re talking about how gratitude becomes action: showing up, being useful, keeping our word, taking care of what we have, and turning the gifts of recovery into something that matters. Grateful is recognizing the gift. Gratitude is what we do with it. #TheDailyTrudge #Grateful #Gratitude #Recovery #AlcoholicsAnonymous #Sobriety #Perspective #Service #SpiritualGrowth

Rule #62 In the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Tradition Four gives us one of AA’s great reminders: “Don’t take yourself too damn seriously.” It came out of a group that overreached, learned from the mess, laughed at itself, and moved on. Today we’re talking about ego, control, self-importance, humility, and why learning to laugh at ourselves can be part of staying spiritually healthy. Recovery is serious business—but that does not mean we have to make ourselves the center of every problem. Sometimes the best thing we can do is admit we got it wrong, learn something, laugh a little, and keep moving. #TheDailyTrudge #Rule62 #AlcoholicsAnonymous #TwelveAndTwelve #Recovery #Sobriety #Humility #TraditionFour

We Absolutely Insist on Enjoying Life Recovery is not supposed to be one long exercise in fixing what is wrong with us. The Big Book reminds us that we are allowed to laugh, enjoy people, have fun, and actually participate in life. Today we’re talking about what it means to enjoy life in recovery without waiting for everything to be perfect first. Gratitude, connection, humor, service, and being present can all be part of a sober life that is actually worth living. We did not get sober just to survive. We got sober to live. #TheDailyTrudge #EnjoyingLife #AlcoholicsAnonymous #Recovery #Sobriety #BigBook #Gratitude #Fellowship #SpiritualGrowth

A Doctor's Opinion The Doctor’s Opinion gives us one of the clearest explanations of alcoholism in the Big Book: the physical allergy, the mental obsession, and why an alcoholic can sincerely want to stop and still find themselves drinking again. Today we’re talking about what Dr. Silkworth was trying to explain, why alcoholism is more than bad choices or weak willpower, and how understanding the problem can help us understand why a spiritual solution becomes necessary. Sometimes the first real relief comes from finally understanding that the problem is bigger than simply saying, “I just won’t drink.” #TheDailyTrudge #ADoctorsOpinion #AlcoholicsAnonymous #BigBook #Recovery #Sobriety #Alcoholism #DrSilkworth

What Happened to Our Recovery Community? Real Talk with Dion takes a look at what has happened to the recovery community—from AA and Twelve Step work to treatment centers, detox, sober living, recovery coaching, and the growing recovery industry. We’ve built more programs, services, organizations, and resources than ever before, yet too many people still leave treatment or detox without real connection, real community, or someone willing to walk beside them. This conversation isn’t just about what’s gone wrong. It’s about the solution: getting back to people helping people, rebuilding community, creating places where people belong, and remembering what recovery was supposed to be about in the first place. This is Real Talk with Dion.

The Spiritual Experience What does a spiritual experience actually look like? Does it have to be dramatic, sudden, and unmistakable—or can it happen gradually as our thinking, actions, and relationship with God begin to change? Today we’re talking about the spiritual experience in recovery: what the Big Book means by it, the difference between a sudden experience and a spiritual awakening that develops over time, and how honesty, faith, prayer, meditation, service, and changed behavior can become evidence that something real is happening. Maybe the spiritual experience is not about becoming somebody completely different overnight. Maybe it is about becoming willing to live differently one day at a time. #TheDailyTrudge #TheSpiritualExperience #AlcoholicsAnonymous #BigBook #Recovery #Sobriety #SpiritualAwakening #HigherPower #Faith