010: Did AA Save Your Life Or Did You?

In this episode, Liv and Tiffany explore the role of AA in their lives and whether they believe it saved them. So often we hear people say the phrase “AA saved my life,” or “if it wasn’t for AA I wouldn’t be alive.”

Liv has spent a long time dissecting this statement. She’s even written about it (link here). It is her belief that to be empowered and autonomous in her recovery, she would have to be the one to save her life — AA gave her the tools and framework to do that initial work, but only she could do that. Simply attending AA didn’t save her. AA was a touchstone for her: it was a place to land and to find sober community, and a framework to look into her substance use disorder. It then became an invitation to look deeper, and that work took Liv outside of AA. 

For Liv, the challenge we encounter when we praise a fellowship and program for saving our lives is that we create an unhealthy dependence upon it. And ultimately, we can end up believing that our recovery is incumbent upon continued attendance at meetings, involvement in fellowship, and continued step work. That hasn’t been the case for Liv or Tiffany. 

Tiffany believes that initially AA did save her life — she didn’t believe that she was capable of doing so herself. She also didn’t realize the scope of her substance use disorder. Later it became more of a habit to make the statement that AA saved her life, although she’s not sure what would’ve happened had she not gone to her first meeting. She now believes that the choices she makes on a daily basis lead her to where she is today.

We invite you to subscribe to our podcast, and tell us the ways in which you’re breaking free in our free Facebook community: Breaking Free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/breakingfreecommunity. 

#Recovery #Allpaths, #allpathways, #recoverypathways, #BreakingFree, #12steprecovery, #AlcoholicsAnonymous, #alternativepathways, #alternativesToAA, #sober, #sobriety,  diets dont work, anti-diet, Intuitive Eating, Diet culture, why cant I stop eating, help with overeating, binge eating, binging, life after 12 step recovery, body attunement, Disordered eating, eating disorders, sugar addiction, Alcoholism, addiction, how to live sober, sobriety, how to stop drinking, recovery podcast, sobriety podcast, what is Intuitive Eating, body respect, HAES, health at every size, body positivity, BoPo, food recovery, Breaking Free Recovery, Breaking Free Podcast, Breaking Free: Your Recovery. Your Way., recovery patchwork, eating recovery, recovery boundaries, eating disorder recovery, disordered eating recovery, Tiffany Thoen, Liv Pennelle, Liv’s recovery kitchen, Olivia Pennelle, Liv and Tiffany

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/breakingfreerecovery/message

Further episodes of Breaking Free: Your Recovery. Your Way.

Further podcasts by Liv & Tiffany

Website of Liv & Tiffany