Kim C. – Steps 1-3 – Steps One Two and Three Workshop – 2014

About This Speaker Tape

Charles P. and Kim I. map out the first three steps of recovery, moving from the wreckage of active addiction to a fragile, hard-won sanity.

Charles traces his path from a childhood of poverty and family displacement to the paranoia of early sobriety, arguing that honesty was a necessity for survival rather than a choice. He uses the image of a dentist's needle to describe the pain of the steps—necessary and frightening, but the only way to stop the ache. Kim focuses on the mental traps of the disease, describing the 'insanity' of thinking she was in control while living 'pillow to post' on the streets.

Both speakers emphasize that the Basic T. is a cookbook for success, and that recovery is a lifestyle, not a language. The tape concludes with a newcomer's brief account of finding powerlessness while locked up and isolated from family.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Introduction of Charles P. by Sheila.
• 2:15 Charles discusses the necessity of honesty to cure his paranoia.
• 6:40 Charles uses the dentist's needle metaphor to describe the pain of the steps.
• 8:15 Charles reflects on childhood poverty and being thrown out of his house with eight siblings.
• 12:30 Charles describes the insanity of his addiction through the story of the car going off the cliff.
• 16:10 Charles's story about the road-rage incident and the 10th Step apology.
• 19:40 Kim I. begins her share, discussing the 'season' she was in when she found the rooms.
• 22:15 Kim describes the freedom of surrender and the 'pillow to post' lifestyle of homelessness.
• 26:40 Kim discusses the 'insanity' of the addict's mind and the danger of complacency.
• 28:50 Kim shares her experience with surgery and the fear of anesthesia while in recovery.
• 31:10 Kim discusses the concept of a spiritual relapse.
• 33:20 A newcomer shares about completing Step 1 while locked up and isolated from parents.