Page 33 Said Young Drinkers Wouldn’t Want to Stop — Took Three Psych Wards Before I Did – Brandon S.

About This Speaker Tape

Brandon S. from the East Beaufort Group tells his story at the Monday Blue Chip Speakers meeting at the NABRA Club. A musician since childhood, he describes obsessive piano practice as his first addiction and an escape from things he couldn't name — including being taken advantage of by a piano teacher. When a hand injury in his junior year pulled him away from music, his friends' drinking and pot suddenly looked attractive. The disease progressed fast: using every day in school, sneaking into houses for booze, getting kicked out a week before graduation, and making terroristic phone threats to people during blackouts.

His roommates kidnapped him to Northside Hospital, where he was strapped down and transferred to the Ridgeview psych ward. After a short AA attempt with a first sponsor, he convinced himself at a Waffle House before a gig that he could have just one drink. A kitchen knife incident at work, cops at his parents' house that he ran toward excitedly, and booty juice sedation landed him in the ward for the third time. His sobriety date is September 18, 2018. In a halfway house, depressed and lonely, he finally took suggestions — a new sponsor drove him to a river, told him he knew about the pot and drinking, and said there was no point working the steps if he wasn't done.

The turning point came in the ninth step. His sponsor walked him through amends to the piano teacher and to a kitchen manager and a coworker he had wronged — face-to-face, looking them in the eye. When the kitchen guy forgave him with a hug, Brandon walked out knowing there was a Higher Power. The obsession to use lifted, and he calls that the biggest gift of many.

Sobriety opened up a life he wasn't going to have: solo road trips, languages, college, a semester in Ecuador where he ended up in a hospital at peace, dancing sober in the club, AA meetings in Spain. At around two years sober he moved back in with his parents — OCD as hell, principles before personalities, being a good house guest, learning to laugh at his dad's bad jokes. A burnout sales job at 70-80 hours a week put him back in a psych ward in sobriety, where a fourth step surfaced perfectionism as his core defect. Learning Spanish and getting laughed at has become his ongoing lesson in accepting that he doesn't have to be perfect. He took a GSR position, keeps calling people, and closes with page 33 on young people.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Chair Melissa opens the Monday Blue Chip Speakers meeting and reads the page 29 preamble
• 2:00 Brandon introduces obsessive piano practice as his first addiction and mentions writing weird things to his piano teacher
• 5:30 Junior year hand injury ends music; friends introduce him to pot and his first drink
• 10:00 Kicked out of school a week before graduation; terroristic phone threats during blackouts
• 13:30 Roommates kidnap him to Northside Hospital; strapped down, transferred to Ridgeview psych ward
• 18:00 First AA attempt collapses at Waffle House before a gig — 'I'll just have one'
• 23:00 Kitchen knife at work, cops at his parents' house, booty juice, third psych ward stay
• 28:00 Sobriety date September 18, 2018; halfway house; new sponsor drives him to the river and lays down the deal
• 34:00 Ninth step amends to the piano teacher and to the kitchen manager and coworker — the obsession lifts
• 41:00 Semester in Ecuador, hospital visit at peace, dancing sober in the club, meetings in Spain
• 45:00 Sales job burnout, psych ward in sobriety, fourth step surfaces perfectionism
• 49:00 Learning Spanish as acceptance practice; GSR service position; closes with Big Book page 33 on young people