Step 6 and the Goals of Recovery – Deb H.

About This Speaker Tape

Mid-Winter Conference - 2007

A blue-collar kid from northeast Ohio Deb H. found a 'warm safe fuzzy feeling' in a bottle at age nine a relief from the terror and anger that made her a playground bully. By fifteen she was a high-functioning wreck—class president and volleyball star by day sliding down walls in dark houses on the wrong side of the tracks by night. After a failed suicide attempt and a stint in a psychiatric ward where the pajamas had no strings she was forced into a collision course with a group of no-nonsense old-timers. Through the tough love of her sponsor Jane and the bluntness of Max S. Deb was stripped of her arrogance and taught to listen. Now with twenty years of sobriety she navigates the anxiety of a husband deployed to Fallujah by leaning on the same spiritual maintenance that saved her from the wreckage of her youth.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Deb H. opens with the honor of being used by her Higher Power to help others.
• 4:15 Description of growing up in Rittman, Ohio, and the family history of alcoholism.
• 8:20 The first sip of alcohol at age nine and the discovery of the 'warm, safe, fuzzy feeling'.
• 14:40 The chaos of her parents' record-breaking divorce and her life as a high-functioning alcoholic.
• 19:10 The 'wrong side of the tracks' and the ritual of sliding down the wall to drink vodka.
• 25:30 The failed suicide attempt and the blackout that led her to Glen Bay Hospital.
• 32:10 The disruptive early days in meetings and the confrontation with Max S.
• 38:45 Sponsorship with Jane and the strict requirement to listen before speaking.
• 45:20 Learning the 'Four Absolutes' from the Oxford Group tradition.
• 52:10 The loss of Jane and Max S. to lung cancer.
• 58:40 Applying spiritual principles while her husband is deployed in Fallujah.
• 1:04:15 Closing thoughts on being uniquely qualified to save other alcoholics. Applause.