“Access The Power of Humility” 😎 – AA Speaker – Wayne B.
AA speaker Wayne B. explores how long-term sobriety reveals the power of humility and why the three-legged stool of fellowship, steps, and service matters for lasting recovery.
Wayne B. has decades of sobriety, and in this AA speaker tape, he talks about what years of staying sober one day at a time actually teaches you — and why humility isn’t something you find in a book, it’s something you access through living the program. He breaks down the three-legged stool that old-timers taught him: fellowship, steps, and service. Without all three, the stool falls over.
Wayne B., an AA speaker with long-term sobriety, explains that the spiritual knowledge gained from years of recovery is rooted in accessing the power of humility through daily living. He discusses the three-legged stool of AA — fellowship, the twelve steps, and service — emphasizing that each leg is equally essential and that neglecting any one, such as relying only on virtual meetings, compromises the foundation of recovery. Wayne B. illustrates how newcomers and the fellowship teach him to stay grounded in humility, and how this principle became central to understanding what sustained sobriety actually looks like.
Episode Summary
Wayne B. speaks from the vantage point of genuine long-term sobriety, and his message is refreshingly practical: staying sober for decades teaches you something you can’t learn in early recovery. That something is the power of humility — not as an abstract concept, but as an actual spiritual force that changes how you see yourself, other people, and the world.
He starts by talking about what most people in the rooms don’t talk about. When Zoom meetings became the lifeline during the pandemic, many people got sober. That’s real. But Wayne B. points out something harder to hear: we also don’t talk about the ones who went out. And a lot of them had access to only the virtual leg of the fellowship. They didn’t have the full stool.
This leads him to teach about the three-legged stool — a concept the old-timers drilled into him. The first leg is fellowship. Just the rooms. Just showing up, being present with other people in recovery, sitting in a chair next to someone who gets it. That’s the entry point to AA. But here’s the key: it’s only one leg. A stool with one leg doesn’t stand. It tips over.
The second leg is the twelve steps — the actionable work of recovery. Most people in AA talk about the steps constantly, and that’s right. But Wayne B. is careful to say that sometimes the steps get elevated in a way that diminishes the fellowship. He’s not saying steps aren’t crucial. He’s saying don’t let enthusiasm for step work overshadow the necessity of being in community with other alcoholics.
The third leg is service — carrying the message, helping others, showing up for the fellowship itself, not just taking what you need.
Wayne B. illustrates this through his own practice. When he talks with a newcomer or sits in a room like the one he’s in during this talk, he accesses the power of humility. It’s not intellectual. It’s relational. He learns from them. They learn from him. The stool holds.
He references someone named Clancy, an old-timer who used to say: “I’m here today, but I may not be with you tomorrow.” It’s a sobering statement. It’s also true. You don’t get to assume tomorrow. What you get is today, and the fellowship today, and the work today, and the service today. That’s the full stool. That’s what holds.
For anyone wondering why in-person meetings still matter, why service work matters, why you can’t just do the steps alone in your living room — this is the talk. Wayne B. isn’t being rigid or old-fashioned. He’s reporting what fifty-plus years of sobriety taught him about what actually sustains recovery.
Notable Quotes
There’s a benefit to long-term sobriety. I couldn’t possibly know what I know from my experience had I not stayed sober all these years one day at a time.
The power of that experience becomes a spiritual type of knowledge. It’s like accessing the power of humility.
I access the power of humility when I talk to a newcomer. And I don’t ever want to forget that.
We don’t hear about the ones who went out because they didn’t have this leg of the three-legged stool.
The old-timers taught me about the three-legged stool. The fellowship is the entry into AA, but it’s only one leg, and that stool can’t stand.
Topics Covered in This Transcript
- Long-Term Sobriety
- Fellowship & Meetings
- Sponsorship
- Step 12 – Carrying the Message
- Acceptance
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▶ Full AA Speaker Transcript
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Uh, there's a benefit to long-term sobriety. I couldn't possibly know what I know from my experience had I not stayed sober all these years one day at a time. And that the power of that experience becomes a spiritual type of a knowledge.
It's like accessing the power of humility. And when I was able to access that power, not only did my life continue to change, but my mind began to change. And I access the power of humility when I talk to a newcomer.
Or they talk to me. Or I'm in a room like this. Um, and and I don't ever want to forget that because uh, what Clancy always used to say was I may I'm here today, but I may not be with you tomorrow.
He's not the only one who said it, but it's a true statement. We don't know. You know, Zoom, a lot of people got sober on Zoom during the Zoom era.
And I don't mean to be a buzzkill, but we don't hear about the ones who went out because they didn't have this this leg of the three-legged stool. And before I get into the business of my story, I just want to talk about that for a minute. I want to I want to talk about that three-legged stool because we hear a lot about the 12 steps.
And sometimes I think we hear people diminish the fellowship a little bit to to raise up the idea of the the 12 steps. But it's a three-legged stool that the old-timers taught me about. And the first leg of that stool is the fellowship.
Our entry into AA. But it's only one leg, and that stool can't stand. The