SHAIR 26: "HP Baby" Omar Pinto the founder of The SHAIR Podcast shares his story of addiction and recovery.SHAIR 26: "HP Baby" Omar Pinto the founder of The SHAIR Podcast shares his story of addiction and recovery.
The SHAIR Recovery Podcast
Omar Pinto shares his chaotic journey from strict religious childhood to cocaine-fuelled rock bottom in Costa Rica and into 12 years of sobriety. With help from his sponsor, fellowship, a higher power and the love of his daughter, he explains the daily practices and hard-won lessons that keep him clean today.
37:31•11 Aug 2015
‘HP Baby’: Omar Pinto Shares His Wild Descent and 12 Years of Sobriety
Episode Overview
- Strict, fear-based religion and feeling different as a teenager helped fuel Omar’s turn to alcohol, drugs and risk-taking.
- Early consequences like theft at work and a DUI were not enough to stop him until cocaine and chaos in Costa Rica left him spiritually and emotionally destroyed.
- A night of praying for death led to his first NA meeting, where he identified with others and felt genuine hope for the first time.
- Daily meetings, working the NA steps, praying on his knees and avoiding old people, places and things became the core of his long-term sobriety.
- The birth of his daughter and the message to “stick with the winners” anchored his commitment to recovery and a loving higher power he calls “HP baby”.
“For me, every question is answered with God. HP baby, thank you God.”
What makes a recovery story truly inspiring? This instalment of The SHAIR Recovery Podcast turns the mic towards its usual host, Omar Pinto, as he lays out a decade of alcoholism and drug addiction and the 12 years of sobriety that followed. Instead of the standard interview format, Omar’s sponsor Robert V. kicks things off, introducing the man behind the podcast, while past guest Sophie G. jumps in later with newcomer-focused questions.
You’ll hear how a strict religious upbringing, a punishing view of God and a craving to fit in led Omar from weekend beers and weed in high school to daily cocaine, pills and whiskey in Costa Rica. He talks candidly about shoplifting, dealing, a DUI, and paranoid coke binges that ended with him driving in his underwear, utterly broken and alone.
The turning point comes after a failed first brush with AA, a therapist who tells him he can’t help, and a night of praying for death with pills, booze and weed: “For those of you that are suffering from this malady and you wish for death, the message in the morning is go to a meeting. Reach out.
Get help.” From there, Omar walks through early recovery, relapse, and the grind of going to meetings every day, working the NA steps and getting on his knees morning and night. He shares how the birth of his daughter pushed him to stay clean, and how years later she wrote, “I still love you and would never change you for anything in the world,” a handwritten reminder of what long-term recovery can bring.
You’ll also get a snapshot of his structured sober routine, why he swears by “stick with the winners”, and how his relationship with a loving higher power fuels his favourite phrase: “HP baby.” If you’re wondering whether a 100% commitment to recovery is worth it, this raw, often funny story might be exactly what you need to hear.
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