Big Book Writing and the Lists She Kept in a Spiral Book – Sharon C.

About This Speaker Tape

Effective Mental Defense Conference - 2021

Sharon C. traces a life defined by a fierce surviving defiance that eventually led her to a total collapse in the desert. She maps out the wreckage of her drinking years—joining a carnival on a whim landing in a Louisiana jail with DTs and the agonizing silence between her and her father. She describes the 'victim cloak' she wore for years and the slow process of dismantling it through the Big Book and the guidance of sponsors like Clancy. The narrative shifts from the grit of living above a liquor store and sleeping on borrowed couches to the redemption of making financial amends to her father and the eventual peace of their reconciliation. She closes with a meditation on the 'ripples' of recovery illustrating how her father's own act of 12-stepping a town drunk created a circle of sobriety that eventually reached back to her.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Sharon C. opens with gratitude and a memory of childhood belladonna treatments.
• 5:15 Laughter: Sharon describes her early drinking days in Iowa and her 'trainer bra' on a '57 Chevy.
• 10:20 Sharon discusses the 'tap root' of her defiance and the heartbreak caused to her father.
• 16:45 Sharon recounts her time in a Louisiana jail and the moment her father found her.
• 22:10 The 'bottom': Sharon describes being left unclothed and broken in the desert.
• 28:30 Sharon describes her early days in AA, sleeping on couches and the guidance of her first sponsors.
• 35:15 Mention of 12 Steps: Sharon discusses the process of making financial amends to her father.
• 42:00 Sharon shares the story of her father's death and playing the accordion at his wake.
• 51:10 Sharon reflects on the 'ripples' of recovery and her father 12-stepping the town drunk.
• 58:00 Closing metaphor: The Aspen grove root system and the shared nutrients of the fellowship.