Steps 1, 3, 5 and 12 – Don’t Sweat the Summer Big Book Workshop – Part 1 of 6 – 2025 – Nikoleta D.

About This Speaker Tape

Don’t Sweat the Summer Big Book Workshop - 2025

A payphone in a sober house in Dover New Jersey serves as the backdrop for Nikoleta D.'s early recovery where she encountered a sponsor who embodied a rare mix of confidence and humility. Nikoleta D. describes a spiritual surgery that stripped away her agenda and the noise of the mind replacing it with a raw open heart. She emphasizes that the Big Book is the only anchor she needs rejecting the 'fluff' of worksheets and extra literature in favor of the simple divine directions. For Nikoleta D. service is not a chore or a self-improvement project but a lifeline that has saved her 'bacon' during bouts of grief and heartbreak. She views the relationship between sponsor and sponsee as walking shoulder to shoulder a partnership of mutual rescue where the act of carrying the message is the only thing that has consistently kept her sober for over 18 years.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:45 Nikoleta D. discusses the difference between serving a Higher Power and serving an agenda of wanting to be seen as a 'good student'.
• 2:15 Laughter: The 'payphone series' and the cost of spiritual downloads in early recovery.
• 4:30 Nikoleta D. emphasizes the simplicity of the Big Book and the rejection of 'fluff' or worksheets.
• 5:45 A detailed account of the Third Step prayer and the 'pause' used by her sponsor to teach her about doubt.
• 7:20 Discussion of Step 1 and the tangible experience of powerlessness over the mind and life.
• 9:15 Nikoleta D. describes the 'spiritual surgery' that unblocked her from the world of spirit.
• 12:30 The shift from being a sponsee to carrying the message at nine months sober.
• 15:00 Nikoleta D. explains how service has saved her 'bacon' during grief and the loss of her father.
• 17:45 The moment her sponsor humanized herself by bringing her Fifth Step to Nikoleta D.
• 19:30 Discussion of the 'shoulder to shoulder' approach to sponsorship and the role of the newcomer.
• 22:15 Nikoleta D. reflects on the 'generosity of spirit' and the connection found in recovery.
• 24:00 Applause: Final reflections on the consistency of service as the only thing that ensures immunity from drinking.