Everybody Glosses Over Steps 6 and 7 — Those Two Paragraphs Run My Entire Sobriety – Tom McN.

About This Speaker Tape

Tom tells his story at the Monday Night Blue Chip Speakers meeting at the NAP Club, tracing his path from a chaotic childhood in rural Gwinnett County to long-term sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous. The youngest of five in an Irish Catholic family with a long history of alcoholism, he was the class clown with no filter who got expelled from multiple schools and put on Ritalin. He started drinking young — his parents put whiskey in his baby bottle, and by 12 he was getting walking drunk at weddings finishing strangers' drinks. His using escalated into heavy drug abuse, paranoia, and total isolation, culminating in a psychotic break in Houston where he drove his brother's van into a bridge abutment at 50 miles an hour.

After compound fractures and a month in traction — during which he still managed to get a nurse to bring him pot — his parents brought him to a treatment center on Atlanta Road in 1986. He was so far gone he spent the first week thinking it was a witness protection program. He spent five days in the psych ward rubber room after a fight, then 34 days in a 28-day program. When AA members visited, the look in their eyes attracted him — they had depth, weight, and a peace he wanted.

Tom's early sobriety was messy but honest. He famously picked up four white chips before learning you only take another one if you relapsed, then returned three one at a time. He chose his first sponsor because the man drove a beer truck. He lost his license after getting sober, kept driving anyway until it became a felony, bought a motorcycle to outrun cops, and eventually went to military-style boot camp as an alternative to prison — where his sponsor told him if that's where he needed to carry the message, so be it. He finally did his fourth and fifth steps after his first year, and describes how Steps 6, 7, 10, 11, and 12 became his daily living framework. The talk closes with a reflection on never having to go through anything alone in AA, and the power of simply putting your hand out.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Mike Boatwright opens the Blue Chip Speakers meeting at the NAP Club and Chris Corder introduces the speaker
• 3:30 Tom opens with recovered vs recovering distinction and earliest memories of being different — class clown, no filter, youngest of five
• 7:00 School expulsions, breaking a kid's fingers playing Mercy, put on Ritalin — the shame of being the kid who takes pills
• 10:30 First drinks as a child, getting walking drunk at a wedding at 12 finishing strangers' champagne
• 14:00 Drug escalation and paranoia in Houston — drives brother's van into a bridge abutment, compound fractures, month in traction
• 19:00 Parents bring him to treatment center in 1986 — thinks it's witness protection, five days in the rubber room, 34 days in a 28-day program
• 24:00 The four white chips story — picks up extras for the applause, returns them one at a time after learning the rule
• 29:00 Lost license after getting sober, motorcycle chases, boot camp alternative to prison, carrying the message to hecklers
• 36:00 Finally writes fourth step after first year, does fifth step with a stranger from Triangle Club, discovers Steps 6 and 7
• 42:00 Steps 10, 11, and 12 as daily living steps — page 84 instructions, nightly review, never having to go through anything alone