008 - Creating An Escape, Overcoming Heroin Addiction, And The Path To Recovery with David Dilks

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6+ y ago 46:45

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At the early age of 4, David Dilks began his first career as a classical pianist and played competitively from age 5 until 13, even performing at Carnegie Hall in NYC and the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. Although David found success early on with his musical talents, he never wanted to play the piano. He often felt loads of outside pressure to continue playing and perform at a high level.

By age 14, he was escaping reality on a weekly basis, by downing Busch light and smoking weed. Two years earlier, he was prescribed Adderall which did a great job masking his emotional pain by further altering his developing brain chemistry and giving his mother a pharmacological excuse for his "bad" behavior. During his college years, pain-killers would become his go to when he just couldn't deal with reality anymore.

After college, David moved to NYC to pursue his dreams of rock stardom, which is where he would encounter heroin for the first time. His usage wouldn't last long, and after going through withdrawal symptoms he would stay clean from heroin for nearly 10 years. Fast forward to a move to Rhode Island, marriage, a child and other life pressures, stress was quickly building for David. He found himself needing an escape.

However, as you'll find out in this interview his addiction to pills and heroin wasn't so easy to give up this time. After reaching his breaking point, he decided it was time for rehab. Now 2.5 years clean, David is becoming an advocate for helping others overcome their own heroin addiction. He's even working on a book to share his story and help inspire others to overcome their own addictions.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

Why stressful early years led him to finding ways to escape
What led David to trying heroin
How he was able to overcome his heroin addiction
How he's been handling triggers
His biggest struggles so far with staying clean
Why having the right support system is critical in any recovery
How David feels when he tells someone he was a heroin addict
Why he feels the need to share his story

20 episodes