Frank M. – Emotional Sobriety – The Second Frontier of Emotional Sobriety – 1998

About This Speaker Tape

Frank maps out a life defined by a 'counterfeit personality,' born in a mental hospital and raised by relatives he detested for their cautiousness. He describes alcohol as a tool to smash his five senses and access a version of himself that wasn't terrified, though it eventually led to blackouts so vast he forgot entire cities he'd visited. A pharmaceutical advertising executive, Frank used pills to medicate his acute alcoholism, masking his wreckage with a polished exterior.

He traces his collapse from the Waldorf A. to the Mustard S. in New Y., where he discovered that physical sobriety was merely the first step.

For Frank, the real work is emotional sobriety—dismantling the lifelong habit of overvaluing his sorrows and learning to exist in his own skin without the need for a disguise.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Frank opens with a joke about the rush hour airport pickup and the 'speaker's blazer'.
• 4:15 Frank discusses being born in Central Islip State Hospital and his 'generic inheritance' of manic depression.
• 10:30 Laughter: Frank describes the 'holy places' of 3 AM kitchens and the desire for loss of self.
• 18:45 Frank details his time in pharmaceutical advertising and using pills to mask the physical signs of alcoholism.
• 25:10 The story of waking up on 14th Street with four flat tires and a fabricated story to save face.
• 32:20 Frank describes the 'violence' of being flung into AA and the concept of 'overvaluing sorrows'.
• 41:15 Frank discusses the 'Mustard Seed' home group and the importance of being noticed and missed in a room.
• 52:10 Frank explains the ABCs of recovery and the realization that his Higher Power wasn't big enough for his problems.
• 58:30 Frank reflects on his mother's mental hospital visits and the shift from material intervention to emotional presence.