Pat sits down with the Old Rucker, Jeremy, Tony, Ralph and RedBeard to shares his raw and uncensored recovery journey, tracing his path from a rebellious childhood and heavy drinking through the Marine Corps, combat in Iraq, multiple DWIs, career setbacks, broken relationships, isolation, and eventually the realization that his life had become unmanageable. Pat talks openly about using alcohol to stay numb, the consequences that accumulated without immediately stopping his drinking, and the turning point that led him into treatment and the recovery program. He also discusses the people who helped him along the way, the importance of sponsorship, service, faith, accountability, and simply continuing to take the next right step. The conversation ultimately becomes a story of transformation, showing how sobriety, community, and giving back have allowed Pat to rebuild his life, find purpose, and recognize that the future can become better than he ever imagined.

Cabot Group 44th Birthday August 21st 

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Thought to Consider…

At first, I thought the “God thing” was a crutch. Turns out to be stilts.
Take a walk with God. He will meet you at the Steps.
Joy is the infallible presence of God.
We honor the spirit in other people when we listen to them.

AACRONYMS

D E T A C H = Don’t Even Think About Changing Him/Her

Fact

“The explanation that alcoholism was a disease of a two fold nature, an allergy of the body and an obsession of the mind, cleared up a number of puzzling questions for me. The allergy we could do nothing about. Somehow our bodies had reached the point where we could no longer absorb alcohol in our systems. The why is not important; the fact is that one drink will set up a reaction in our system which requires more; that one drink was too much and one hundred drinks were not enough.”

Happy – When We’re Free

“For most normal folks, drinking means release from care, boredom, and worry. It means joyous intimacy with friends and a feeling that life is good. But not so with us in those last days of heavy drinking. The old pleasures were gone. There was an insistent yearning to enjoy life as we once did and a heartbreaking delusion that some new miracle of control would enable us to do it. There was always one more attempt – and one more failure.”

“We are sure God would like to see us happy, joyous, and free. Hence, we cannot subscribe to the belief that this life necessarily has to be a vale of tears, though it once was just that for many of us. But it became clear that most of the time we had made our own misery.”

Out of Self

It may be that problem drinking is, indeed, as some psychological experts say, an ailment characterized especially by egocentricity. Not all alcoholics are egotistical, although many of us have learned to see that tendency in ourselves. Others of us felt inferior most of the time; we felt equal or superior to other people only when drinking.
No matter which type we were, we realize now that we were excessively self-centered, chiefly concerned about our feelings, our problems, other people’s reactions to us, and our own past and future. Therefore, trying to get into communication with and to help other people is a recovery measure for us, because it helps take us out of ourselves. Trying to heal ourselves by helping others works, even when it is an insincere gesture. Try it some time.

It helped me a great deal to become convinced that alcoholism was a disease, not a moral issue; that I had been drinking as a result of a compulsion, even though I had not been aware of the compulsion at the time; and that sobriety was not a matter of willpower. The people of A.A. had something that looked much better than what I had.

Fellowship

“The fellowship I found in A.A. enabled me to face my problem honestly and squarely. I couldn’t do it among my relatives, I couldn’t do it among my friends. No one likes to admit they’re a drunk, that they can’t control this thing. But when we come into A.A., we can face our problem honestly and openly. I went to closed meetings and open meetings. And I took everything that A.A. had to give me. It was at that point I reached surrender.”

“Yes, there is a substitute and it is vastly more than that. It is a fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous. There you will find release from care, boredom and worry. Your imagination will be fired. Life will mean something at last. The most satisfactory years of your existence lie ahead.”

Dianne