Step 5 and the Professional Victim – Tom S.

About This Speaker Tape

A surfboard a Land Cruiser and a pair of white skier sunglasses defined the image of a young Tom S. in Southern California but beneath the surf-rat aesthetic was a deep depression and a reliance on Benzedrine and beer. After a brush with a mystery hepatic disease that left him itching with a wire dog brush and facing his own mortality Tom S. stopped trying to white-knuckle his way through life

. He describes the shift from being a 'professional victim' to taking responsibility for the decisions based on self that put him in harm's way. Through a rigorous application of the steps he transformed from a mediocre student into a veterinarian eventually opening a practice in Newport Beach.

He views his career not as a business but as a way to serve the creatures of a Higher Power proving that commitment—doing the things he doesn't want to do—is the only way to stay out of the box his mind built for him.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Tom S. opens with a joke about his mind beating him to a frazzle before speaking.
• 7:15 Discussion on the difference between trust and faith, using the metaphor of the wheelbarrow on a tightrope.
• 12:40 Recounts his youth as a 'surf rat' in Southern California and his early drug use.
• 18:20 Describes the 'mystery hepatic disease' and the physical wreckage of his health.
• 21:10 Step 3: Describes doing the Third Step prayer with a friend and the immediate mental quiet that followed.
• 23:45 Step 4: Discusses the four-column inventory and the danger of being a 'professional victim'.
• 27:10 The 'thick or thin' envelope: receiving acceptance into veterinary school.
• 32:15 Reflections on the 'committee in the head' and the voice that dictates what is possible.
• 36:40 Describes his veterinary practice in Newport Beach and helping other addicted veterinarians.
• 39:10 Closing thoughts on Namaste and the paradox of giving to receive. Laughter and Applause.