Hey there! Hope your Monday morning is starting off right. We've got some incredible speakers lined up this week, including Chris S. talking about the Fifth Step in a whole new light and Pasha R. sharing her powerful story about hell vs. drinking history - plus don't miss our ICYMI spotlight on Peter M. that's already hit nearly 5,000 views!

This Week's Episodes

The Fifth Step Is Not a Confession - AA Speaker - Chris S.

The Fifth Step Is Not a Confession - AA Speaker - Chris S.

Chris S. - Winston-Salem, NC

1,026 views

Step 5 - Admission Step 4 - Resentments & Inventory Honesty

Chris thought his first Fifth Step meant reading someone every ugly thing he already knew about himself, until the Big Book showed him that inventory was supposed to reveal the pattern underneath it all. With blunt humor and no patience for overthinking, Chris makes the case that AA is not a debating society - it is a program of action.

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Do the Stitches and Leave the Patterns Up to God  -  AA Speaker  -  Tim H.

Do the Stitches and Leave the Patterns Up to God - AA Speaker - Tim H.

Tim H. - Vancouver, BC

836 views

Hitting Bottom Long-Term Sobriety Resentments

Tim left Louisville as an all-state basketball player with a college scholarship, then returned four years later carrying a lie only his mother knew. In this three-part Vancouver men's retreat talk, Tim shares how alcohol derailed a Kentucky basketball player who once dreamed of college, law school, Congress, and the White House, until an AA meeting directory in his desk became the way out on April 12, 1990.

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Peter M. - Deerfield Beach, FL

381 views

Peter's story moves from Brooklyn fear and family loss through repeated treatment centers to a Lower East Side hallway where willingness finally broke through. He shares how his father found him with compassion, how his first sober apartment held only a sleeping bag, a Big Book, and God above the door.

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The Big Book Never Made a 12-Step Call  -  AA Speaker  -  Don C.

The Big Book Never Made a 12-Step Call - AA Speaker - Don C.

Don C. - Garfield Heights, OH

338 views

Big Book Study Hitting Bottom Sponsorship

Don walked into a Cleveland AA meeting shaking too hard to sign a raffle ticket, until a man from the back of the room signed it for him and said the two words he had never found anywhere else: "we understand." In this rough, funny, old-school AA talk, Don remembers the people who fed newcomers, paid utility bills, and sat up all night with suffering alcoholics, teaching him that AA is action.

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I Didn't Have a Long Drinking History, I Had a Long Hell History - AA Speaker - Pasha R.

I Didn't Have a Long Drinking History, I Had a Long Hell History - AA Speaker - Pasha R.

Pasha R. - Miami Beach, FL

297 views

Sponsorship Step 3 - Surrender Big Book Study

Pasha opens this talk scared in a bathroom, trying to calm herself down before stepping in front of the room, then reaches back to the child who hid in a closet and dreamed of Vermont as a place where God might be waiting. Through structure, sponsorship, the Big Book, and the slow work of becoming herself, she shares how AA gave her the key to the prison she had been living in.

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In Case You Missed It

My Ego Wants Me Dead but Will Settle for Me Drunk  -  AA Speaker  -  Peter M.

My Ego Wants Me Dead but Will Settle for Me Drunk - AA Speaker - Peter M.

Peter M. - Minneapolis, MN

4,995 views this month

Peter went through seven treatment centers, lived on the streets of Lower Manhattan, and cursed God with everything he had - then begged Him for help from the same hallway a few weeks later. He got sober in Minnesota in 1988 and built a life on continuous step work, prayer, and meditation that goes far deeper than just not drinking.

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Step of the Month: Step 5

Step 5 is where the rubber meets the road -- you stop hiding from yourself and another human being, and something shifts. It's not about confession or punishment; it's about seeing the pattern underneath all those Fourth Step wreckage columns and finally getting honest about who you really are. Chris S. cuts through the noise: "Chris thought his first Fifth Step meant reading someone every ugly thing he already knew about himself, until the Big Book showed him that inventory was supposed to reveal the pattern underneath it all." Frank M. treats the steps like they're meant to be used: "A recovered attorney with 30-plus years sober, Frank still writes a full Fourth Step inventory every single year and walks through it column by column -- resentments, ego, and the amends that follow."

Related Episodes:

Chris S. - Show Notes

Shelly S. - Show Notes

Frank M. - Show Notes

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Upcoming AA Events

Gopher State Roundup

May 22-24, 2026 - Minneapolis, MN

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June 5-7, 2026 - Zadar, Croatia

23rd international convention

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June 11-14, 2026 - Indian Wells, CA

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