Episode Details

A little boy hid in a broken-down truck, covered in blood. Nobody came looking.

If AANP speaks to you, ⁠⁠⁠⁠follow the show⁠⁠⁠⁠ and never miss an episode.

Leo learned early that the world wasn't safe, that he was on his own, and that alcohol could make the pain disappear. By eight, he was drinking. By adulthood, years of unresolved childhood trauma, escalating addiction and destructive behaviour had brought him to a moment that nearly cost another person their life. He landed in prison, facing the consequences of his actions.

But getting sober wasn't the same as getting well.

In this powerful speaker share, Leo traces the road from childhood abuse and isolation to alcoholism, imprisonment and, eventually, a radically different way of living. He reveals how a lime-green Jeep unlocked memories he'd buried for decades, why he spent years avoiding the truth about his alcoholism, and how it took six years of sobriety before he fully accepted Step One.

His story is about more than stopping drinking. It's about confronting the past without using it to excuse the present, accepting responsibility, and discovering that life can become simpler even when it isn't easy.

And then there's the vending machine of sobriety: one dollar required, 99 cents won't do.

As Leo approaches eleven years sober (at midnight), he shares what changed when he stopped blaming everyone else and started doing the work.

Sometimes recovery begins when you stop running from the truth.