Hell Has an Exit Podcast with Teddy Tarantino
EP 174: Face everything and recover or f**k everything and run | Ricky G's Story
Ricky G. started drinking and getting high at just 15 years old after running away from home and finding himself homeless, scared, and searching for somewhere to belong. What began as a way to cope eventually turned into nearly three decades of addiction. At 22, Ricky landed in the hospital and learned that his HIV had progressed to AIDS. His T-cell count was just three, and doctors told him he had seven days to live. He survived, but instead of changing his life, Ricky eventually found meth, the drug that would consume the next 20 years. By 2020, Ricky was arrested and placed on house arrest at his father's home. Even with a safe place to live and his father taking care of him, he continued using, having drugs delivered to the house and sneaking people through his bedroom window. Then, in 2022, his father died. Ricky spiraled even further, reaching a point where he was considering ending his own life. Instead, another arrest ultimately led him to treatment. In this episode of Hell Has an Exit, Ricky sits down with Bryan to talk about addiction, homelessness, HIV, losing his father, jail, treatment, finding recovery for the first time, and what finally made him want a different life. Today, Ricky is clean, healthy, active in the recovery community, sponsoring others, and living a life he once couldn't imagine for himself. After spending most of his life either homeless, incarcerated, or high, he celebrated his 45th birthday as the first birthday since age 15 that he was none of those things. His message to anyone just getting clean is simple: find your people, ask questions, get a sponsor, listen to the suggestions, and keep coming back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
