Expect A Miracle!! Oil Industry Alcoholic, 34 Years in Recovery, Michael Talks Steps, Fellowship, Oil Fields and Newcomers

The phrase “expect a miracle” can sound like a platitude—until it becomes the lifeline that pulls you out of a bottle. We sit down with Michael, 34 years in Recovery, to trace a path that runs from Houston meeting rooms to international flights, heavy-drinking business dinners, and quiet moments of prayer that kept him grounded. He shares how the Twelve Steps brought him to a deeper faith, why the fifth step unlocked the real reason he drank, and how the tenth step helps him catch fear before it derails his day.

This story isn’t abstinence wrapped in willpower. It’s a playbook for surviving and thriving in cultures where alcohol is the default—corporate lunches, client events, and long-haul flights where drinks flow. Michael walks through practical sobriety tactics that work anywhere: keep a nonalcoholic drink in hand, check in with recovery peers before and after travel, and find a local meeting to anchor the week. He also opens up about learning powerlessness by painting water in watercolor—an unlikely practice that mirrors the humility and patience recovery demands.

Along the way we dig into the core tension many feel at the start: wrestling with the God-language in the program. A chance meeting with a priest who introduced himself as an alcoholic gave Michael the mustard-seed permission to move forward. From there, faith grew into a daily habit that reframed everything: fear sits beneath selfishness, dishonesty, and resentment, and love—lived through service and step work—is the antidote. Whether you’re a newcomer, a traveler, or a professional in a drinking-heavy industry, you’ll leave with simple tools and a fuller sense of what long-term recovery can look like.

If this conversation helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Your words help someone else expect their own miracle.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome & Recovery Mindset
• 0:45 Free Growth Tools & Brain Healing
• 1:15 Meet Michael: 34 Years Sober
• 1:36 Watercolors, Powerlessness, And Challenge
• 3:14 Early Sobriety In Houston & Expect A Miracle
• 5:20 Steps, Faith, And The Fifth Step Breakthrough
• 7:20 Navigating Drinking Culture At Work
• 9:30 Travel, Prayer, And Meetings Worldwide
• 11:20 Global AA: Argentina, Australia, Cairo
• 12:28 Staying Connected When You Relocate
• 12:58 Has Oil Industry Culture Changed
• 14:44 Steps Vs Fellowship: Finding Balance
• 16:20 Fear, Faith, And The Tenth Step
• 18:20 Serenity, Peace, And Inner War
• 19:35 Sponsorship And Hope For Newcomers
• 21:05 Miracles, Faith, And Closing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Today, we're going to be talking alcohol. We're going to be talking recovery here in Houston. Welcome again to another episode of the 1% in recovery podcast, where we encourage you to laugh every day. Work hard. Work hard in recovery. Work hard in your relationships. Work hard in your business, job, school. Just work. And to love unconditionally, put much more love out there in the world and watch that much more. Love return. Remember, recovery is beautiful. Your EQ is your IQ, and you cannot outthink an emotional issue. Now, we encourage people to go to the website lifeiswonderful.love, L-O-V-E, and download the free. I repeat, the free recovery growth scorecard. Different ways to start, jumpstart, move your recovery always in the right direction with natural dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, oxytocin. You've got to heal the brain. You've got to do healthy activities and change that neuroplasticity. Today, we are going to welcome Michael, 34 years without drinking. How are you feeling, Michael? I'm feeling really good today, Ugo. Thank you very much. Excellent. Michael will be off camera, just in case you are just wondering, but you will hear his voice, you will hear his experience. Michael, tell the audience something you love.

SPEAKER_01: 1:40

Well, these days, Ugo, I'm really loving uh painting with watercolors. My daughter gave me for Father's Day, and she's a superb artist, uh, she gave me a set of Windsor Newton watercolors, and I have been trying to pick up an old hobby from way back in time. If you want to learn the meaning of powerlessness, try painting with watercolors, Hugo.

SPEAKER_00: 2:08

Did you have a specific I guess uh interests? I mean, like landscapes, like objects, like either fruit, or you know, when you go to a lot of museums, you see a lot of different paintings and different mediums. Do you focus on something?

SPEAKER_01: 2:25

What I've been focusing on uh really since Father's Day is first I did a few architectural uh type uh paintings, and then lately landscapes, and what I find most challenging is water. Water is incredibly hard to paint, and uh you know, so that's the challenge is to try to become more proficient at painting water. That's what I'm working on right now.

SPEAKER_00: 2:53

I love that. Always challenge yourself. Look, I got 28 years, Michael's got 34 years, and the one thing I always try to tell people each year of recovery, you've got to challenge yourself in some form or fashion. That is what just keeps the juices flowing. But let's jump into question number one. Michael, it's been 34 years since your last drink. You've been in recovery. You've also are in the oil industry, and you've lived abroad. You've had a deal keeping your recovery going, not only stateside, but in other countries, dealing with other people. Oil industry is notoriously known, like a lot of industries. I mean, let's just, they always say, well, oil industry is a lot of heavy drinkers. Well, I mean, I have yet to meet an alcoholic in recovery that doesn't tell me that their industry isn't a uh part of the heavy, heavy drinking industry or their culture. But tell us how these 34 years have been in terms of just recovery, other steps, uh, our other countries. How has it been?

SPEAKER_01: 4:06

So, Ugo, my sobriety date is November 16, 1991. And uh I started my recovery here in Houston, in Houston, Texas. And uh I have to tell you, I've spent a lot, a lot of time, hours and hours and hours in meetings all over town, but especially at Holy Name Passionist Retreat Center for the meetings and the retreats. But my first meeting was at the Spring Branch Club. And they had a sign on the podium there, uh, which is the thing I remember best from that first meeting. It says, Expect a miracle. And I thought, that's what it's gonna take. I'm not gonna get out of this bottle unless there's a miracle. And then I saw all the God things in the steps on the wall, and I was deeply concerned because I I really didn't have a good relationship with God at that time. So, anyway, I I became like an AA monk for that first year. And yes, the oil industry is a heavy, heavy drinking industry. Certainly my circle was, and I had to just withdraw uh from spending time from them with them. But I can tell you when I first moved to Houston, the very first lunch I had with my very first supervisor was uh at a restaurant where he ordered a mixed drink and I ordered a mixed drink, and I was off to the races until you know many, many years later. I was I was drinking in the industry uh uh as an employee for more than 14 years regularly, and it was really hard to escape that and give myself time to recover. I didn't go to treatment, but I was able to, with really with meetings, meetings and and uh staying very close to other alcoholics. I did some therapy, uh, which helped uh tremendously, actually. Um but in the end it was the steps, it was working the steps that it was it wasn't until really I completed the fifth step that I was able to connect with what it was that I was pouring the alcohol all over. And that was such a relief. Uh I didn't expect that out of the steps. I didn't expect to understand why or what I'm drinking about. The mystery of the steps. The mystery. And so much uh was revealed. The other my biggest concern about tackling the steps, as I mentioned, was was faith. And um I met with uh I went to a meeting, and our priest from our church walked in, and I thought, oh boy. Well, then he announced himself and introduced himself as an alcoholic, and I thought, what a relief. So so I asked him, you know, about this God of my understanding that I didn't understand and faith, and how am I gonna do this? And and he asked me, said, Do you know how big is a mustard seed? So that that finally gave me permission to quit trying to figure it out and just move forward. The faith journey has been, I would say, the the biggest, the most remarkable gift of the steps to me. I I I uh I realized I needed every drink I ever took to get the the faith that I have now. And and and it's all a gift from from the program. I'm convinced I would I wouldn't have it if I didn't hadn't gone through the program of Alcoholics, the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. As far as the as far as the industry and the drinking in the industry, you know, I learned that I can I can go to these events uh or meetings or be around other people outside of the workplace where they are drinking. And people don't really care what's in my cup, you know. Right. So, you know, put a put a lime and and some tonic water in their club soda, where they don't care.

SPEAKER_00: 8:27

You can't even tell if it's if there's a coke or orange juice, you can't tell what else is in the cup.

SPEAKER_01: 8:32

Dr. Pepper doesn't have to have, you know, the Coke doesn't have to have Jack Daniels in it. So it doesn't. So uh when people ask me, you know, and I have had pressure from people to come on, this is a wonderful wine. You really must have a glass of this. I said, no, no. Oh, well, you don't drink. No, I don't drink. Well, did you ever?

SPEAKER_00: 8:52

Did I ever? I always wonder why people are so interested on how why aren't you drinking? Yes. Because you don't, because people don't say that. Why aren't you eating more steak or why aren't you eating more fish? No one says that. But they're always people get that to me. I always say that it almost like showcases the insecurities of people. It's like, you have to try this. I go, you don't see me pushing this delicious chocolate bar on you, or this uh say like you need to eat something that I have on my plate. I want to enjoy my food.

SPEAKER_01: 9:25

Well, if I had an allergy to peanuts, I would sure stay away from them, you know. And so the thing that the thing that uh was challenging, like you mentioned, is I I traveled a lot. I traveled a lot uh in early sobriety, spent a lot of time on airplanes, on international work. And of course, alcohol is served uh it's flowing on airplanes. It was it was uh, you know, it required mindfulness and a lot of prayer on my part to uh stay disciplined about the program that I'm in and stay in touch before flying, after flying with people in in the program, check in with the brothers. That's very helpful. And I did I did go to some wonderful meetings uh in faraway places. I think the first uh overseas meeting I went to was in Australia. And they're pretty hardcore over there. They're big drinkers too. They're big drinkers too. One of the things I did about probably three years into the program, into sobriety, three, three and a half, somewhere in there, uh I I went down to Argentina uh for a client to to buy a company to buy uh work on an acquisition. And I was down there for well, I worked on this for about a year, and I was in Argentina for about six months. Uh during which time, you know, I I went to meetings down there, and um my Spanish is maybe a little more proficient now, but it wasn't so proficient then. But I remember going and just sitting in the meeting, which was all in Espanol, and uh one of the men, he he came in and he said, Look, you know, I come in here and I just uh throw my alcoholism on the floor, and all of you take care that it stays away and doesn't bother me. And this just resonated with me so much that I can go to a group anywhere and they would they will take away the issues, the problems of of alcoholism. Uh so that was that was it was a beautiful thing and just gave me a lot of security about my sobriety in these faraway places. And it's amazing the people that show up uh in the program uh when I need them to show up. I did live in Egypt for a few years and uh and I went to some meetings in in Cairo, even in Cairo, they have believe it or not, there's plenty of alcoholics in in uh in Cairo, and and there is AA in Garden City. I went there often, and there were just so many gifts like that that showed up. I moved away, I moved to uh West Texas at one for about to almost two years. We we moved away from Houston to Midland, and I checked in with AA there, and it was it was I would just say it's really important to anyone who is in the program and either has to travel or relocate or be in any place uh for an extended period of time, check in with the Brotherhood and uh and with the people in AA will we always take care of each other.

SPEAKER_00: 12:57

Tell me something. So do you feel like it's changed? Let's say in the oil industry, it's less of a stigma if someone says that you know they're either alcoholic and work in a program, or are people still feel that there's gonna be some type of backlash?

SPEAKER_01: 13:19

When I started in the industry, uh there was I th I feel like there was much more of a stigma attached to being an alcoholic. Uh it was it's still very poorly understood, but even more poorly understood then. Um also I I've I believe that alcohol use was much more pervasive. Right. Like at lunchtime or after work scenarios, uh uh in those days. And and nowadays uh it's it's really not uh uh at least here in Houston, it it's really not socially acceptable to be seen to be drinking at lunchtime and then go back and work and try to work. Which was not the case back in solid days.

SPEAKER_00: 14:09

My dad used to tell me lots of stories in the 70s.

SPEAKER_01: 14:13

Yeah, and yeah, of course I lived overseas in the 80s before coming to AA and uh spent a lot of time in in uh in London, I lived in London for years and years and years, and it was uh culturally normal to be drinking all the time there, uh, which which didn't help my alcoholism anyway, accelerated it, I think. But I feel I feel fortunate to have gotten here when I did, because it was really not good.

SPEAKER_00: 14:41

All right, well let's jump into question two. What do you think is more important? The steps, the fellowship, both. How do you view how do you view each of those very important parts of the program?

SPEAKER_01: 14:57

Well, that's a really it's a really tough question. And uh and they're both they're both very important. But what what I uh where I would start is the first word in the first step is we. So therefore, that's the fellowship in the first word of the first step. Uh however, I I never would have gotten it without the steps. I I never would have sobered up. Um or stayed sober. Or stayed sober. And you know, the uh the um well the program is here for anybody who has a desire to stop drinking. And um and then, you know, we help each other by carrying the message. So as I said earlier, what was really valuable to me in the steps was that it helped me to gain an understanding for faith. And it helped me also to understand what it was that I was pouring the alcohol on. Why was I drinking like that? And then it helped me to understand my character flaws that were standing in the way of being useful to my fellows and to God and to my family more than anything. And you know, what what has evolved for me over the years is uh I understand now that the most important thing in my life is is to defend faith. Defend faith, and then everything else will be fine, and to help uh the people who are poor in spirit or sick. And every time I go to an AA meeting, every time I go to a recovery meeting, every time I have a conversation with somebody in recovery, I'm doing all of those things because God wants them to be helped uh with with their with their affliction. So um that's carrying the message, you know, that's all the way through to the 12th step. But the big gift, the biggest gift, my favorite step is the tenth step. Because because what what they tell us in the tenth step is that selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear, that's all gonna arise again in our life. And to me, all of those almost are just rooted in fear. If it's if I feel selfish about something, well, that's rooted in some, I'm not gonna get what I want. And dishonesty is about masking some kind of fear of being, you know, saying the truth. And resentment is just is just fear that's held inside for me. So underneath all of it for me is fear. So the antidote to fear is is love. And to achieve that love, I have to have faith. What does it say that uh uh all men of faith have courage, right? In the book, it tells us that. So in almost any religious book or or or spiritual book. It's axiomatic. And so uh so the the greatest gift to me has been that the steps put my life on a spiritual plane that I can become, that I can work on every day becoming the man that God intended me to be, and that I can help my fellows and help my family in the ways that I was always meant to be. Right.

SPEAKER_00: 18:42

Yeah, because I'm a big believer in the way, because we all, just like anything that doesn't have some type of really concrete definition, we all have our own kind of interpretation which allows us to get closer to our God, our higher power, working the program, feeling almost like living the steps, feeling. And, you know, we all take certain words, I'm a big believer in that the steps and working the program allow me to have freedom, and the freedom allows me to have more peace. Because I was always fighting, because I don't know about you. When I was drinking and gambling, it always felt like the war, the biggest war was inside. You know, I'd always try to make externalize it, blame other people or his situations. Well, if she just loved me more, if my parents had done this, or you know, it was always something. In reality, it's that I didn't have peace. You know, we talk about to me, is that's the big reason we say the serenity prayer every meeting. In any program, the serenity prayer is always the number one prayer because a lot of us never had any.

SPEAKER_01: 19:54

Well, what uh, you know, there are a few segments there in the big book that I really identified with strongly. And one of them, in the last chapter, the second page, when it starts talking about uh the visiting of the four horsemen terror, frustration, bewilderment, and despair. This is this is uh that's the way it was for me. I mean, I totally understand that. And I honestly I'm astonished that the 12-step program would take me to a place where I could develop such a wonderful relationship with God, such a wonderful faith, uh, which is really transformed. It's the most precious thing in my life next to my family. And um it just to me, I I never want to go back where I was. It was awful. It was a terrible thing to be trapped in the bottle. Right. Um, but um now that you know, with the program and with the spiritual development that came with working the steps, I'm able to do a lot of other things now and build on that faith in ways and using tools that are not just what's in the program, but I use a lot of tools outside of the program and have just uh just a much more enriched life.

SPEAKER_00: 21:19

All right. Rich, full. But that leads us to question three. You're a big believer in having a sponsor, being a sponsor, being a grand sponsor after 34 years, you're all over this. But you're you're intertwined with people at different stages of their recovery. What is one thing or a couple things that you like to tell newcomers either when they're coming into that first meeting, or let's say they're in for a few months and they're really struggling?

SPEAKER_01: 21:52

What do you like to tell those newcomers? I do it, it is it is a real gift to be able to see somebody new come. Coming in to a meeting, and it's also a real gift to be able to work with people either as a being sponsored, and I have a wonderful sponsor, or to sponsor others, and I do sponsor others. And I I view a sponsor really as a as a guide to guide someone through through the steps. When a newcomer comes in, and I know how bewildered I I was in that first meeting, but I like to tell them I like to tell them two things, one of which is influenced by what I remember from that very first meeting that I talked about. The first thing I like to tell them is you don't have to drink anymore if you don't want to. And the second thing I like to tell them is expect a miracle. Because the miracles happen.

SPEAKER_00: 23:02

They do.

SPEAKER_01: 23:03

The big gift to me has been to be able to see the miracles now. I couldn't see them then uh, you know, when I first showed up, like I can see them now. I see they're they're everywhere all the time, which is a that's a grace. That's one of the graces of sobriety for me, is to be able to see God's work in my life and other people's lives. And when a newcomer is coming in and they're in the bewilderment of how do I get out of this addiction, I want to give them a message of hope.

SPEAKER_00: 23:39

Excellent. So, as you can see, Michael, do you feel you're a miracle? I have experienced several miracles. Excellent. I feel like I'm a miracle. And what we want to share with you on this episode is that you too are a miracle, and you become you can become a miracle and not go back to any addiction and just live in recovery, live in your faith, and just have that life that I feel is so wonderful, and that you can be feel fulfilled and content. With that, we are gonna conclude this episode of the 1% in recovery.