Mike S. – Sober 34 Years

Sponsorship is essential to recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous. An effective sponsor can literally save the life of a fellow alcoholic by guiding him/her through the work that's necessary to stay sober. My guest on today's podcast is Mike S. He saved my life by being my sponsor for the past 32 years. Mike's AA story is so intertwined with mine that you may learn more about me in this podcast than any other. When we first met in late 1988, I’d been sober only about 10 months. Though I attended meetings and didn't drink, I also didn't have a sponsor and wasn't working the Program. I was miserable in AA, heading towards certain relapse because I didn’t have a sponsor to guide me and to whom I could be accountable. Mike had been in AA a year longer than I, but he’d gotten a sponsor at 3 months who worked him through the 12 steps very methodically, with an emphasis on the spiritual nature of our Program. The deep and collective wisdom that Mike imparted to me was gleaned from his sponsor. When Mike became my sponsor, he immediately put me to work on the 12 Steps. My Program took off. My life soon became much happier and very sober-centric. To this day, Mike’s guidance in AA has been indispensable to my sobriety. It's an integral part of my personal story. Interestingly, Mike hasn’t lived in my same city since 1994, yet we’ve remained quite close over all these years. Frequent phone calls, emails, texts, and Mike’s business visits to Houston, have made the miles between us irrelevant to our relationship. Mike's own story is both meaningful and intriguing. It's an exceptional account of the vital importance of having a sponsor and being a sponsor in the AA Program. To be sure, most of what I know about living an enriched sober life and carrying AA’s message to other alcoholics, I learned from Mike. So on this, the 27th episode of AA Recovery Interviews, please enjoy my good friend, sponsor, and AA brother, Mike S.