TSP 002: "From Blue Suits to Shackles"- Bobby G. shares his 39 yr story of addiction, drug abuse and alcoholism until he finds recovery!TSP 002: "From Blue Suits to Shackles"- Bobby G. shares his 39 yr story of addiction, drug abuse and alcoholism until he finds recovery!
The SHAIR Recovery Podcast
Bobby G. recounts nearly four decades of alcoholism and drug use, including jail and a near-fatal hospital stay, alongside his journeys into and out of recovery. He shares how meetings, higher power, sponsorship and simple suggestions like “90 in 90” support his life clean today.
58:51•24 Feb 2015
From Blue Suits to Shackles: Bobby G.’s 39‑Year Battle with Addiction and His Path to Recovery
Episode Overview
- Believing you can use again safely is a major barrier to getting and staying clean.
- Regular meetings, sponsorship and service are central pillars of Bobby’s recovery.
- Daily conscious contact with a higher power is key, especially when meetings are hard to reach.
- Rule 62 – don’t take yourself so damn seriously – helps keep ego and drama in check.
- Practical starter advice for newcomers: 90 meetings in 90 days to build a solid foundation.
“The insane belief that I could successfully use again.”
What remarkable journeys have people faced head‑on against addiction? This episode of The SHAIR Recovery Podcast follows Bobby G. through 39 years of alcohol and drug abuse, from childhood drinking at six to flatlining on an operating table after rupturing his stomach. Omar Pinto gives Bobby the space to tell a raw, unvarnished story.
You’ll hear about early “cocktail hour” in an alcoholic family, band days in 1970s California fuelled by cocaine, corporate success powered by crank, and the slow slide into DUIs, jail, and an orange jumpsuit before a judge who calls him “a menace to society.” The tone swings between dark humour and brutal honesty.
Bobby recalls throwing up blood and thinking, “What did I eat that is red?” and later jokes that if he were a cat he’d “be on life 10.” Yet beneath the chaos sits a clear message about addiction’s insanity: the belief that he could use safely again. As he says, the thing that kept him out was “the insane belief that I could successfully use again.” For anyone curious about recovery, there’s plenty that’s practical.
Bobby talks about early AA, doing two to three meetings a day, riding his bike miles to get there, and the power of sponsorship, service, and literature like *A New Pair of Glasses* by Chuck C.
He shares simple, firm guidance: “90 meetings, 90 days,” and his favourite reminder, Rule 62 – “don’t take yourself so damn seriously.” This one is intense, but if you’re wondering whether meetings, higher power, and community can really pull someone back from the brink, Bobby’s story gives a very clear answer. Where do you see your own thinking in his “menace to society” to grateful sober man journey?
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