Kingdom Case 30: Overcoming an Adderall Addiction to follow Jesus (Powerful Testimony) | David Rico

Summary

In this episode, David Rico shares his powerful testimony of transformation from addiction to a life devoted to Jesus Christ. He discusses the emptiness he felt despite worldly success and how finding faith filled the void in his life. David emphasizes the importance of community, evangelism, and the struggles of overcoming strongholds associated with addiction with Adderall and alcohol. He reflects on his past identity, represented by 'Pat', and the lessons learned through his journey of recovery and faith. In this conversation, David Rico and Jethro Casie explore the complexities of relationships, personal growth, and the journey of healing from trauma. They discuss the pitfalls of the red pill philosophy, the importance of accountability in the Christian faith, and the challenges of self-discovery after addiction. The dialogue emphasizes the significance of facing one's trauma, the power of forgiveness, and the transformative nature of a relationship with God.

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Thanks for listening & keep being your greatest self!

Transcript

Jethro Casie (00:01.041)
Welcome back to another episode of Case by Casey. From college dropout to earning over six figures in corporate America, from living five years addicted to drugs, now serving as a beacon of hope for others stuck in addiction. From suicidal thoughts to now a sober mind, this guest uses his testimony through his personal brand to show people what's possible when you get sober and follow the path of Jesus Christ. Now, he's four years sober, is leading a life of joy and love, just like how Jesus Christ taught us.

I welcome Dave Rico or Honest Dave to Case by Casey.

I can't hear you Dave. Okay, now I can hear you.

David Rico (00:39.684)
you can't hear me? Okay, no, I'm really, really blessed to be here. Thank you so much for having me on. God connected us for a reason, you know I mean? So I'm happy to be here.

Jethro Casie (00:48.476)
Amen. Amen. Absolutely. So I saw you gave your life somewhat like recently to Christ. What kind of led up to that decision? Like were you raised in the faith? Were you? Yeah.

David Rico (00:57.666)
Yeah. Great question. Great question. So I was raised Catholic throughout my life, but I was never a very serious believer. It was kind one of those things where you're thrown into it as you grow up and you're kind of just accepted as it came. It wasn't until I went through my drug recovery, I was about two years sober at the time, and I always felt like something was missing, like within my spirit, like there was like a void. And I did everything

You know, all the things right. was fasting. I was sober from drugs. I was working out. I was doing all these things that the internet tells you what you should be doing as a man. But Jesus Christ and the God left out of that conversation. And I remember this. was about to turn 28 and I was feeling suicidal. was very, I just wasn't happy with my life, even though I had everything I ever wanted. Making good money, know, physical shape, whatever, whatever.

And I said, I think I'm just going to go try church. It's very emotional for me to bring this up because it was kind of like my last resort. Cause if like this doesn't work out, what am I going to do? And I went to church after I turned 28 that day, the next day after. And ever since then, it kind of drew me like, this is what I need to pursue next. The suicidal thoughts went away. Haven't had them since.

Literally, it's really crazy. And ever since then, I started my journey as being a seriously devoted Christian man. Eventually, I got baptized, I think a year after I went to church. And then, yeah, it's been about, I think, a year and half since I've been baptized. So I'm very new to this, but it's been an amazing journey. And it's everything that I've ever... It's everything that I needed and ever wanted.

Jethro Casie (02:44.477)
Amen.

David Rico (02:52.502)
My life feels like a movie. I wake up with the Lord in my life every day and I just feel like I have everything that I need. I don't know how to explain it. But yeah.

Jethro Casie (03:02.803)
That's amazing. And you know, it's interesting because a lot of, because this is something I've wondered about too, is like a lot of people have worldly success or like if you look at them, they have everything that they feel like they need. But even you, like you're doing the self-improvement, like you could have been like prideful and boastful like, I got out of addiction by myself. You know, I started, I'm not sure if you're running at this point and like super like into martial arts and all that. So like you could have boasted in yourself, but what did you feel like you were, you were missing? Cause that's something I'm curious about.

David Rico (03:12.355)
Yes.

David Rico (03:17.527)
Yeah.

David Rico (03:24.812)
Yeah, yeah.

Jethro Casie (03:32.125)
Cause you're already like self improving. So what did you feel like you didn't have?

David Rico (03:32.278)
Yeah. Right. So funny enough, I was like that. I was very cocky, very arrogant, very prideful for like the two years I was after recovery. But deep down inside, knew something was wrong. Like just something just felt empty. Like I was doing all these things the world tells you to do. Save money. Whether it was making a lot of money, being physically in shape and all these other things, it just felt no real like...

fulfillment inside my heart. I just went to Jesus because I'm like, think this is what I know. This is the next best option is what I've been told and growing up on is you lean on Jesus when you fall into hard times. So yeah, that's how that happened.

Jethro Casie (04:21.939)
And a Bible verse that I'm reminded of as I was just like listening to your testimony online and learning more about you is like it says in first Peter five verse eight, it says, be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil as a roaring lion walk at the bout seeking whom he made the vow. So going into like your testimony, one of the biggest emphasis that I've learned like on this walk with Christ is like having a sober mind, but even more importantly, I think having a mind.

David Rico (04:29.154)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (04:50.812)
of Christ as well. So when you were going through and you could go from like the beginning, whatever, wherever you want to start for your testimony. But yeah, how did you get involved into? Well, I guess even before that, actually, how do you feel now? Like with a sober mind, like being like whatever that means to you, like having a clear head now walking with Christ versus where you had before when you were like using drugs and drinking alcohol.

David Rico (05:14.894)
feel so powerful. I feel like I am the man that I've always wanted to become. And it's so funny because I was living in a way before where I thought I needed to have certain things and be a certain person to become the man I wanted. But in opposite that, I had to give up all these things to become the man I wanted. It was super powerful like...

just giving up all these worldly desires is like, there's no fulfillment in that. It's really just being devoted to Jesus Christ, learning about Him, building that relationship, and even spreading the awareness of Jesus Christ to my friends, my community. That's where the real fulfillment comes in. I'm at this point in my life where I have so much joy and abundance that I just wanna give, give, give. And I recently just started a men's Bible study group on Tuesdays. I do that out of my heart, because I wanna give.

love and I want to teach other people what Jesus Christ can do for others. And that's like where I'm at in my life. And I could have not wrote a better script. Every day I wake up feeling like I'm a millionaire. Yeah, I don't have a million dollars. I'm not even close to that. But I just feel like, I don't know, superhero in my own movie. It's really cool. It's really cool. I think people can sense that too when they talk to me in life and just even on my social media.

Jethro Casie (06:25.159)
Did you?

David Rico (06:34.2)
They just see I'm a very joyful, grounded person. And that's not because I've read books and those might have helped, but it's because I've given my life up to Jesus Christ and I've tried to live the ways He has taught us how to live as men, as people.

Jethro Casie (06:50.078)
What do you feel like you've learned? Because I think part of that is like surrender is like you have to it sounds like at least because I can relate to it. And I was like when I was in the world, I was drinking, smoking, even though I hated weed. Like I would get like anxious. I was like drinking and driving, doing stupid stuff. Like I was pursuing just after women. I one time I wanted to like sleep with a hundred women. Like I was all these things that I thought were going to. Yeah. All these things that I thought were going to fulfill me. So I guess.

David Rico (06:57.859)
Yeah.

David Rico (07:05.569)
Yeah.

David Rico (07:11.17)
Yeah.

Same way. way. Same way.

Jethro Casie (07:20.389)
with that joy that you have now, did you ever go through a point, especially like starting the Bible study where you maybe felt unqualified? Cause I know I felt like that where it's like, God, you want me to do this, but how, like why me? How can I do this type of thing?

David Rico (07:28.723)
yeah.

David Rico (07:32.477)
Yeah. Oh dude, that's happened so many times. So many times. That has happened so much periodically in my life since I've been a Christian where I remember I was so scared to pray for somebody. I was so scared to pray at dinner before if I was a girl on strangers or like just family members, like we have to say grace before we eat. I felt unqualified on all these things. I even felt unqualified for the men's Bible study.

But I heard God clearly tell me that not only are going to do Bible study for men's on Tuesdays, but you're also going to start with the book of Revelation. I can't tell you how many times I've thought about like, no, I think I'm just going to switch to something else. And it's like, no, we're going to stick with it. And the only reason why I have that insight of why I should stick with it is because I have lived my life apart from God and Jesus, the Holy Spirit, where I know if I go off road, it's just going to end in shambles. So...

Jethro Casie (08:12.403)
You

David Rico (08:27.982)
Now I just like, if he tells me to do it, I just do it. I, and even if I don't feel qualified, that's not even the point. If I've been called to do it, I just, just do it. You know, there's a reason why he gave it to you for a reason. You know what I mean?

Jethro Casie (08:40.499)
Why do you think he called you to Revelations to start there?

David Rico (08:45.262)
I think I'm meant to be a... I don't know how you call it, but...

I think it's since it's the hardest book to understand and I'm teaching it to new believers or semi-new believers that he's really going to test us if we really believe in him. Because you know it's the last book of the Bible, there are some crazy things that happen in there that you have to come up with your own imagination and I think it's a test of faith in a way. That's how I have felt. we're ready for it, me and the guys. I have about six guys that...

Jethro Casie (09:12.412)
Mm-mm-mm.

David Rico (09:19.418)
We go through Revelations every Tuesday. We actually just went through a few verses on last Tuesday. So we have another one tomorrow, actually. So yeah.

Jethro Casie (09:27.507)
And you had mentioned that you view yourself as an evangelist, somebody who goes out and like win souls for the kingdom. What I've noticed is that a lot of people who have like a gift, I believe there's a Bible verse where it says, God gives his gifts with like no repentance, meaning he's not going to take them away. So how do you feel like you were maybe an evangelist before you got saved? What were some of the gifts that you already naturally had that God was already deposited inside of you? But now...

David Rico (09:46.711)
Hello?

Jethro Casie (09:57.437)
Since you are saved it's given obviously more glory to God, but how we're using them I guess in the world before

David Rico (10:02.668)
Dude, I'm such an extrovert. I love gathering people. I love making sure everybody has a great time. I'm very hospitable. I'm very caring and care what others... Are they good? Are they comfortable where they're at? That type of guy. once I got supercharged with Jesus Christ, now that's just being translated from hosting parties with alcohol, drugs, and the women too now, I love gathering all my friends when they come to church with me on Sunday.

It's so crazy to say it out loud, but yeah, that's like my new high, right? It's like gathering my friends who don't even know each other. They might be from two different friend groups and whatever, four friend groups. I know so many people down here. So it's like, I just love gathering everybody. They can get connected. They can connect with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit at church. And they start making a habit of coming with me or whatever, coming to church on Sunday. And it's so beautiful to watch their spiritual life grow as well.

My superpower has been, I guess, just being extravertism in a way. Yeah. And so I love every moment of it, to be honest.

Jethro Casie (11:03.846)
Amen.

Jethro Casie (11:08.091)
And I know something that I'm not sure if you struggled with this early on, but like when I first got saved, I had such like a fire for God in terms of just like wanting to tell everybody about Jesus. then in that like fire and that zeal, you can also come off as like a little too, I guess you could, if you're too fire, you can end up like burning some people, not actually, but I guess have you, what are some things that God has taught you throughout these, has it been two years since you've given your life to Christ?

David Rico (11:20.088)
Yeah.

David Rico (11:26.382)
All for sure.

Yeah.

David Rico (11:36.27)
Yeah, it's been about a year and half since I've taken my faith very serious. So how I get around that, I haven't got to that point yet, but what has worked for me is just posting on social media, say like, does anybody want to come to church with me on Sunday?

Or I'll just share my thoughts on what the Bible has taught me that day. Or I'll share a new book that I'm reading that's kind of Christian based that teaches me how to read the Bible in a certain way. And it kind of lands on people in a soft way where they might like it, they might reply, they might screenshot it, and they might want to dive into it more. Or maybe they just unfollow me. You know what I mean? Like you could argue that's pushing on to people too hard. So maybe I've done that, but there's no regrets when I'm becoming passion.

Jethro Casie (12:12.796)
Yeah

David Rico (12:19.542)
about the Lord. I'll feel uncomfortable sometimes, I'm not gonna lie. And that's all right. That's a test of faith. Are you still gonna do it if you feel ashamed? I was going back to, I was at an ex-girlfriend's dinner one time and I just met the family. I don't know if they're Christian or not, I didn't even ask, but I had to ask, do you guys mind if I pray before we eat? And I was nervous, but that's fine to be nervous. That's fine to be passionate and want to spread that.

And if people don't want to receive that, then I think that gives you a signal of maybe you're not in the right place or maybe there's no long-term relationship building there. I know it depends, but yeah, there's nothing wrong with being passionate.

Jethro Casie (13:00.221)
Yeah, the Bible talks about like, don't be unequally yoked, right? And also something that I've been, I think the Lord's been bringing me through is understanding that there's a Bible verse where it's like, if somebody doesn't accept you, they're preaching the gospel, somebody doesn't accept you, like wipe your sandals off and keep going, go to the next place.

David Rico (13:19.636)
Yes, yeah, I remember that. Yes. Yeah. He goes, leave away from their house or take away their blessing for they don't accept you or something like that. I know you're talking about. Yeah.

Jethro Casie (13:26.577)
Yeah. And it's tough because I think especially when you have like a heart like yours, it's like you want everybody to, especially when you have like the revelation of who Jesus is and like how he really died for everybody. Like he's supposed to be for everybody. And then you just see people who are like, especially where you used to be. And it's like, man, I know somebody who has a solution for you type of thing. And something I noticed in your, in your videos is that a lot of people resonated with your, with your story, with your testimony in terms of.

David Rico (13:33.83)
yeah.

David Rico (13:39.117)
Mm-hmm.

David Rico (13:47.532)
Yeah.

David Rico (13:55.094)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (13:55.806)
where you came from and where you are now and just like how, like seem like supernaturally you've changed. And the Bible talks about strongholds in two ways. One it talks about like the Lord is our stronghold. So it says in Psalm 9, 9, the Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of troubles. And then also talks about in 2 Corinthians 10 verse 4, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. So we even see like there's like this battle against strongholds. So I want you to talk about

your journey through addiction and how maybe it felt like a stronghold, what that whole process looked like, like how did you get involved? Yeah, how did you get addicted to drugs? happened?

Jethro Casie (14:40.204)
I can't hear you, David. I cannot.

David Rico (14:44.92)
Can hear me now? Okay, so what ended up happening was 21 in college and it was kind of through like innocent ignorance where I was tired one day, I needed a pill to help me stay up for the study and it was called Adderall or Ritalin. I took it and there is studies known where Adderall or Ritalin, if you take it, it can be really addictive.

Jethro Casie (14:45.809)
Yeah, can hear you. Perfect.

David Rico (15:08.034)
And I was just one of those unlucky people that at the time where I took it, I felt so euphoric. felt like, again, going back to the warly flesh, right? Like I felt this is the person I was meant to become when I took the drug. I felt smarter. I felt more sharp. I felt more extroverted. And I just feel like I had everything that I wanted. Eventually I go from 20 milligrams at all.

her day to eventually, I think fast forward five years later, I needed 200 milligrams just to feel okay and just not to slip into withdrawal. And that led me to buying it from strangers. That led me to becoming a real bad person in a lot of other words and broken relationships with my family. I was friends with very toxic people in relationships with really toxic women.

And I was destroying myself in the process of chasing a high. And as I destroyed myself through the process where I basically lost everything, I lost myself, I lost money, I lost relationships, I lost everything. There was one point, there's multiple points, but what a point stuck out to me was my friend calls me and he's talking to his friend and he sounds really happy. And he...

did something that's really successful. I think he just like bought a home at 24. And my friend tells me, and he goes, yeah, man, he said he bought the home because he's happy. When I heard that, I was like, he's happy. I was like, yeah. I was like, how does happy feel again? I was like, I think I need to get off drugs. I have not felt happiness in a very long time. And so literally the next day,

took out my pills, I recorded it, I have it on my phone, dumped it down the toilet, and I accepted whatever decision or ramifications came with that with me dumping my pills. Now, I did not know it was gonna be really, really, really, really hard detoxing from drugs. I didn't go to rehab, I didn't go to NA, I didn't go to AA or whatever. I got sober in my mother's basement and went cold turkey. It was the hardest way to do it. And I didn't have a relationship with the Lord at the time. So it was...

David Rico (17:30.574)
I chose the hardest route, not consciously. I just did think it was going to be that bad. And then that's basically my addiction journey and I quit alcohol and I quit marijuana in the process, but that wasn't... Those weren't like the real hard things like that I was addicted to. It was more the amphetamines. then, yeah. And then it takes a while to build up of who you are after addiction. That's like a whole other story, but...

That is my journey with addiction and how I broke out of it and then I eventually found the Lord about two years after I got sober. Yeah.

Jethro Casie (18:07.631)
So who was, you named your old self Pat. Who was Pat? Push a little deeper in terms of like, cause I'm not sure, do you think you were addicted off of, cause I've taken Adderall before to like study and stuff like that back in like high school. And I remember taking it and having that same awareness, like, yeah, people get addicted to this. But I was like, I'm not like somebody who would get addicted. I took it maybe like two or two more times after that. for me, it never.

David Rico (18:20.035)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (18:34.833)
I guess, yeah, I never got addicted to it. think I liked other things more. But for you, how did you like keep like, what was that five year journey like? Like, was the like, do you? Yeah, what was that journey like?

David Rico (18:46.028)
Yeah. So what happened in that journey was I dropped out of college, dropped out of college. So I still have no degree. And, so I dropped out of college. ended up working in a nightclub in Chicago. Chicago was like the third biggest city in the U S it's there's, there's a lot of things that are happening in that city. And I decided to work at one of the biggest nightclubs in Chicago at the time, or the biggest nightclub Chicago at the time.

So I got involved into the nightlife where I'm working 10 AM to 5 AM. I'm, I'm to be honest, I don't really say this, but like just being with like lots of women, lots of drugs. and that was going on for about, I would say three years I was in the nightclub industry. And, it wasn't actually also until COVID it started to help me take a second look at.

What am I going to do with my life? Work, the nightclub, right? Shut down. What am I going to do? And that's what was going on through the whole addiction is I was really just involved into the nightlife, being around not really great people, doing really bad things and just kind of, again, just destroying myself in the process. I would have moments where I would do very shycy things and I would just be like, have an out of body experience. Like, why would I do that?

David would not do that, but I kind of would just mask it with more drugs and more alcohol. And I think if COVID would have not happened as well, I don't think I would have got sober. Just to step out of context real quick, I just did sober eight days ago. And I remember just like kind of just thinking God yesterday so much that like if COVID didn't happen, I don't know where I would have, where I'd be.

Jethro Casie (20:27.549)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (20:31.603)
Congrats.

David Rico (20:42.402)
Like that was like really the pivotal moment of life where it kind of made me take a step back and kind of reevaluate my life. know, when everything is shut down and you're home alone with your own thoughts and you're on drugs, you're like, I think I need to quit drugs. I think I'm going to go down a different path in life. kind of, that's what I use that opportunity for, for COVID. So was one of the best things that happened in my life personally was COVID.

Jethro Casie (20:54.258)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (21:02.055)
Yeah, no, I think COVID was a big blessing for a lot of people. Obviously it wasn't a blessing for a lot of people. A lot of people also passed away. And this was like where God has like his plan and like his ways are our ways. Because honestly, depending on like the impact of people, maybe God allowed COVID for people like such as yourself to go through a phase where they can obviously like come out of whatever was holding them back. And know, the devil comes to like steal, kill and destroy.

David Rico (21:06.926)
Right.

David Rico (21:15.512)
Yeah.

David Rico (21:22.199)
Mm.

Jethro Casie (21:31.163)
And that's like one of the verses that was coming to my head that literally like the enemy was trying to destroy you because he knows who you were going to be. And I think that's like the, what'd say?

David Rico (21:37.934)
I think so too. I agree. Yeah. I like how you think. I was thinking the same thing. I was like, yeah, that's, think that's what was trying to happen.

Jethro Casie (21:42.149)
Amen.

Cause like I was just reading Matthew and talks about how was it King Harold? Yeah, King Harold. As soon as he heard about like Jesus is being born and there's like the star, he like wanted every all these babies to be killed in a revelation that God gave me was that whenever somebody great is about to be born into the world, the devil tries to do everything he can to kill babies. Cause if you go back to the old Testament with Moses, the same thing happened. Like as soon as Pharaoh hold hold,

David Rico (22:00.696)
Yeah.

David Rico (22:13.443)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (22:16.381)
heard that Moses was born, he killed like all the babies. And then now it got me thinking about like abortion. Why is it like such a big thing? And I was like, I think somebody is trying to, where God's trying to bring somebody into the world who's going to like be like a changer. And like with people such as like yourself, the same thing happens, but it's like, he already missed you at birth. So now he's trying to catch up and do everything to you now. with, with, yeah, thank you, Jesus. So with where you're.

David Rico (22:19.456)
It's true.

David Rico (22:23.956)
wow.

David Rico (22:30.37)
Yeah.

David Rico (22:40.152)
really good.

Jethro Casie (22:44.583)
I guess with where you were at and knowing who you used to be, like who was Pat? I know that's the name that you gave your, I guess your former self or, yeah.

Jethro Casie (23:00.307)
Hold on, I can't hear you, No, not yet.

Yeah, I can hear you.

David Rico (23:07.086)
Okay, so Pat is... So what he's referring to everybody who's going to be listening or watching this video is there's a post on my Instagram where there's two different versions of me, right? Where after recovery, you have David Rico. This is you see now, Christian guy, ambitious. And Pat is everything what David is not. Very impulsive, acts like a kid. He gets into toxic relationships. He really doesn't think long-term of his decisions. And that's how I identify...

And the whole purpose of that exercise was to make sure I don't become that person again in the future. Because Pat has only brought pain to my body, mentally, emotionally, physically, by putting myself in situations, whether it's following my desires with having sex with casual women. And funny enough, I would say that was... I don't talk about that often, but...

That was one of the most painful processes as a man was giving yourself up to lots of women. So to go off real quick, the world teaches at least at my time when I was being fed the information is like a man sleeps like with a lot of girls. It's very casual. It's okay. whatever, whatever. And women can't do that. Right? Like there's like, there's like that double standard and men should have to be talking to a lot of girls. I would say I literally

Jethro Casie (24:12.145)
Yeah, yeah.

David Rico (24:35.2)
went insane doing that. I don't believe every man should be just giving themselves carelessly to women and casual sex. If it was my choice, I wish I would have still been celibate and wait until marriage. That's like my choice. Like that's what I wish would have happened. But yeah, you can definitely lose yourself in the process. And I tell my friends all this, like, you know, I've...

I've went down that road and there's nothing fulfilling about it. Because if there was something fulfilling about it, I'd still be doing it. There's nothing fulfilling about it. It's just empty. You can, you, I don't know. It's like you're chasing this black void of pleasure, pleasurefulness, but at the same time, you're SEDs, you're risking pregnancy, you're risking just being a soul-tatched, soul-tied to another woman who might not even be good for you. And now you have a toxic relationship.

Jethro Casie (25:09.714)
Yeah.

David Rico (25:32.757)
with this lady and you might, you then you just start a whole generational curse because maybe she's toxic and you're toxic and you start a family now. You know what I mean? So that, yeah, I just had to get that out because I think it's valued too much in society as men should be sleeping with a of girls when I think the total opposite. I the total opposite. Yeah. Yeah.

Jethro Casie (25:53.48)
Yeah, absolutely. I'm an agreement because I used to be that same guy who is, I'm sure we probably listen to similar people like Fresh and Fit and all this Red Pill people. Yeah. And, know, it sounds good, but I think the, yeah, like it sounds good on the surface, but when you actually start to practically, like it's like, are the fruits of that? Cause I think that's a very Christian belief is like, well, what is that producing? And the world may see like, no, you're just getting your

David Rico (26:00.142)
Yes,

Jethro Casie (26:20.957)
confidence, you know, you're getting better at women. You know, I've been hearing this idea of like, people were worried about something that bothers me personally is when people were like, and obviously people can do whatever they want. Everybody has free will, but people, remember, especially this is my first time in like corporate America and, going back into the world after being saved. So at my job, there's a lot of people who were like playing marriage, like they living together already. And I would ask them like, yo, why don't you just get married? Like you're already living together.

You guys are already having sex. like, what's the difference between you getting married? But it's like the fear of the commitment. And I think that's the same thing with, with sex. It's like, oh, we can just indulge in each other's bodies. We can just have the pleasure. But the same thing, like what you're saying is I went through that. It was unfulfilling. You're always chasing like another high in a sense.

David Rico (27:08.494)
You are. It's like a drug. It's like a drug. feel... God made that feeling to feel good for a reason, but not to be used carelessly amongst random women and just in a casual way. There's a reason why feeling like that, it feels so powerful and feels so good. It's meant to feel that good so you can last forever with your partner. You know I mean? And feel emotionally connected and physically connected.

Yeah, I definitely went through that whole red pill thing and that just destroys you within the process and it tricks you. That's what it did for me. It just lies. It's not real. I mean, sounds logical. Men are very logical. It's like, these points actually make sense. Spinning plates and all these dumb terminologies. And then you see other people on Instagram talking about it like, I think this might be true. This is just how the world is. And no, it's not how the world should be at least.

Jethro Casie (27:54.93)
Yeah.

David Rico (28:08.11)
But I'm not perfect. I've definitely fallen into sin, still. I'm not perfect. I will say that. Yeah.

Jethro Casie (28:17.299)
It's interesting because the Bible says like faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God and I remember when I was giving my ear to To all of this it made so much sense like how you're saying like logically and I remember the first time I encountered like a godly woman like all that was just like turned upside down because The things that you try to do in the world doesn't work on people in the kingdom so like you can try and like do all you can try and like say I'm a high-value man and act like X Y and Z but

when a woman has her value in Jesus, like that doesn't really matter whatsoever. What has your been experienced like with that in terms of like dating now as like a, as a believer versus when you're obviously just pursuing just sex.

David Rico (28:47.244)
Yes.

David Rico (28:55.212)
Yeah.

Dating is very hard for me because I will say I'm sober. I am a Christian man and I really have not been putting myself out there that much because I'm a high driven guy. So I haven't put myself in a lot of opportunities to date a Christian woman. And I feel like my next calling though for dating is I'm not just going to be dating just a date. I really want to have a family. Like that's...

That's what I realized. Like my next goal is like, want to get married. I want to have lots of kids. I'm like ready to be a family man. And that's kind of like my whole approach with like dating right now. And I'm approaching like a man. You know what mean? Like I want to build something long lasting and I'm really just craving that in my heart. So I haven't had any success, obviously, because I'm not dating anybody at the moment, but all I can do right now in my dating life is really just pray to the Lord that God can send me someone.

that would be right for me and that we can start building that family. So that's where I've been at for right now.

Jethro Casie (30:03.283)
And you said something on your Instagram as well, like faith isn't just, like faith is also patience and being able to have patience and something that I think a lot of people, especially Christians, cause I think nobody, well, maybe not nobody, but most people want to like have sex, but we want to do it the right way and be an obviously in God's will and marriage and all that. I guess with that part of you being alone and working on yourself is going through like tackling trauma and

emotional baggage so you don't bring that into a relationship. So you went through a few of these points, not sure if you remember, but you posted it on threads and I kind of want to touch upon them now. You had mentioned like one of the first ones in terms of like tackling trauma is are you man enough to face your own trauma? So what did that look like for you? How did you face your own trauma?

David Rico (30:55.515)
I'm so glad I got that cleaned up because that was really really really hard. I think the big difference between a man and a boy is do they run towards their problem or run away from their problems?

I chose right after recovery that everything in my life became so impairment of what was messed up. It's kind of like these blind goggles that got lifted up and I had glasses on and I saw all the baggage that I had and I'm like, wow, I have a lot of stuff to work on. The first step that I started to take was I made a list of people I needed to have conversations to about some trauma that I caused on them or they caused on me during recovery. I actually have a few YouTube videos on this and I actually sat my mom down.

It wasn't rehearsed. We kind of just talked about it openly. And I had to basically ask her some real difficult questions of like, how did you know I was on drugs? How did that make you feel? And, you know, I'm sorry. I love you. I apologize for all the wrong doings that I do. And what comes with trauma is admitting that you've been wrong and letting yourself accept the apology of others, right? Because that's how you heal through your trauma. And that's...

That's what I had to work through. mom, I put my mom through a lot of stuff, whether I was drinking and driving. She didn't know if I was going to be home. There are some nights where I didn't even come home. as I'm sober and I'm hearing her and she's telling me and she's crying, I just started to realize like, wow, like I did a lot of damage to my mother. And then it didn't stop there. had to go, I sat my brother down. I sat my father down. I taught,

I talked with an ex-girlfriend of mine that I ended up ghosting her when I was on drugs. There were so many things that I had to do to become who I am today. The biggest thing was, again, just tackling the trauma, talking person by person. How did they affect me? How I infected them? And then just leaving that conversation with love and then just accepting the apology. Once you get through your trauma, I really believe you're able to live life just like a feather, like...

David Rico (33:01.814)
just vary with spontaneity, love, happiness, peace. And because you're not being held back by anything that's negative or dragging you back. I know when I was walking with trauma and baggage, I would always have like this bitterness on my shoulder and I like wanted to prove people wrong. And I was moving in life with like vengeance and bitterment and like the real flex is living life through happiness. And...

Just accepting what you've been through and accepting that, I'm not perfect and I might have trauma, but it's my job to go and get that solved. So, yeah.

Jethro Casie (33:37.684)
So, so what did you go through a process where you ever like was it once you were done with or once you knew that, okay, this is what I'm going to do. I'm no longer going to touch drugs anymore. I'm determined to beat this. Like, what was that? What was that like coming to face to face with people and obviously telling them like, Hey, I know I caused you a lot of pain because I think that's the Bible talks about

David Rico (33:58.371)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (34:04.251)
Something along the lines of if you don't forgive your brother How will your father in heaven forgive you or like even yeah Or even when you go to like give make sure you I was just reading this in Matthew like make sure when you're about to go give to Church make sure you don't have like an issue with somebody else because that giving is gonna be like nothing before God so I think that's something that holds a lot of people back on the body of Christ that they're holding on to Unforgiveness whether that's unforgiveness of themselves or for others. So yeah, how did you build up the courage? I guess to

David Rico (34:08.482)
Yeah, I know. it's very true.

David Rico (34:22.445)
Right.

Jethro Casie (34:32.733)
So yeah, what that process looked like to where you actually came to these people and told them.

can't hear you David. Okay, perfect. Yeah.

David Rico (34:40.014)
Oh, can you hear me now? Okay. How I built up the courage was I just wanted to fix my life. And I just saw my parents kind of just still like in shambles and I just wanted to talk with them and love them and just being able to have that. It was more for like them and myself. You know what mean? Obviously I felt embarrassed. I felt like I was at first feeling too prideful. Like, no, I don't need to have those conversations. They'll be fine without it.

or like they don't deserve that. They don't deserve that forgiveness for me. But let me tell you something. You can only live with bitterness so long where it starts to affect you negatively. I just understood like I'm only hurting myself in this process. I'm only preventing myself from feeling real happy because I'm holding negative emotions towards them, which is impacting me. like, I just wanted to drop all that. I just, when I was sober, I just wanted to drop all that stuff.

Jethro Casie (35:09.585)
Hmm.

David Rico (35:35.726)
just wanted to be happy, new slate, new everything, and just like, let's start new with the family and let's start building. So all the relationships that everybody sees online with me and my family, it's still new. Like I've only been sober for about four years. I was an addict for five years in my 20s. like I've been addicted longer in adulthood versus sober. like a lot of these relationships repair didn't happen overnight, happened throughout the months and years and just having patience and

Jethro Casie (35:47.325)
Mmm.

David Rico (36:05.362)
and just rebuilding that. But it's been a beautiful thing because me and my family are the closest, I believe the closest family on earth. It's so nice to walk into a room and where they look at me proud at smiling versus, here comes David again. That sucks. That really sucks. Yeah, especially from your family.

Jethro Casie (36:23.635)
especially from your family.

David Rico (36:28.352)
I have a relationship with my brother now. My advice to any addict is, and I never went through any recovery program, so can't even tell you what the official steps are, but I know one of the things that I would be doing if I was getting out of recovery was making a list of amends that you need to make and having difficult conversations, tackling them one by one. It doesn't need to happen over a year. It can happen over whatever, five years, but do that not just for them, but for yourself so you can open up and be able to receive love and blessings.

and turn your life around. So, yeah.

Jethro Casie (37:01.181)
And then your second point, which we touched upon, was like, apologizing is power and not weakness. Cause I think, like how you're saying it's not even as much as one, yeah, it is going up to the other person apologizing, but what is it going to do for your soul? What is that going to, cause I feel like even being vulnerable or apologizing, it like cleans your spirit. Like it just takes things off of you, which is like holding you back.

David Rico (37:13.996)
Yes, that's the thing. Yes.

David Rico (37:20.366)
Oh my gosh. Yes, I would do it. wish I can literally just like throw the feeling onto people and whoever's listening to like, if you could understand how I feel because I've cleaned my baggage, I would sell it to you. I'd give it to you for free. I really would because it really just cleans up your whole spirit and you really feel like a kid again.

If you can remember when you were in kindergarten, you were just this bundle of energy and joy. You didn't have any trauma or baggage to a certain point. You were just moving in life, flowing and everything just kind of fell right on its lap and you were living. That's how my life has been. I still have a few hiccups here and there, that's because I'm moving in life with love, gratitude. I don't hold baggage. don't trauma solve. That's how you want to move through life. You know I mean? And obviously with the Lord.

Jethro Casie (38:11.091)
So you had mentioned also like healing is a lonely road but worth it. Why did healing feel lonely for you and do you think, yeah, like why was healing lonely for you?

David Rico (38:18.371)
Yeah.

I don't think nobody in this world can understand how you feel besides you. So when you're healing, only you can really understand of how bad you've been hurt. And I think you can feel lonely in that aspect where you feel like no one can relate. And you just really have to understand that not everybody does everything on purpose to hurt you. know what mean? Open up your heart and let your...

Let yourself forgive others. That's why I think it's a little bit lonely,

Jethro Casie (38:55.54)
And then obviously you transformed into like, yeah, and if you guys are listening and you haven't taken a look at his Instagram page, he's very inspiring. So I'll definitely take a look. No, seriously. And obviously you've changed into, I don't know if you're always a runner, but running like 30 miles, trying to run a hundred miles, doing a martial arts, Muay Thai, all this. yeah, you've reinvented yourself. And right before we get into that part of like who the new David is.

David Rico (39:03.406)
I'll thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah.

David Rico (39:10.253)
Yeah.

David Rico (39:14.796)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (39:22.109)
You had mentioned that you were scared to give your life to Jesus. Why was that? What were you, what did you feel like? Yeah, what were you scared about initially?

David Rico (39:30.504)
Naturally, I'm a very type A personality guy, extrovert. I like to feel like I'm in control. I like to feel like that I can control my destiny. I got to a point where I'm like, don't want to, I don't want that responsibility. It just seems too hard to, too much. And I kind of wanted to just give up and be a servant of the Lord and say, look, I don't know all the answers. I don't know. I don't know what I want to do. Please help me. I will let you take.

the steering wheel of my life and just show me what you want me to do. And that has lifted up so much burden actually off my life. And my life has gotten only so much better by being able to listen to the Lord of what He wants from me. You know I mean? I don't have to come up with the ideas of what I want to do. He just tells me, example for the men's Bible study, start one every Tuesday, do revelations. Like, these are commands from the Lord and I just do them to the best of my ability as I can.

It's a beautiful thing. You would actually think it's harder to give up your life to Christ because he's taking control. But for me, it's just been a lot more easier as I've been on this journey because he knows best.

Jethro Casie (40:42.964)
How does God speak to you? Because I think this is something, especially early on in people's walks that they struggled with. like, I want to hear God for myself. And I think it's important because we all have the Holy Spirit. But the Bible even talks about, I think, Joe 30 something, where God will speak once, yet twice, but man perceives it not. So how have you become more sensitive, I guess, to hearing or whatever that looks like for you in terms of knowing God speaking to you?

David Rico (40:51.523)
Yeah.

David Rico (41:03.32)
Yeah. Yeah.

I'll usually ask like a yes or no question and like if I should do something and I'll be very quiet and I'll be in a very still place, in a very patient place right in my mind. And if the answer feels like, yes, I do it now, remember God is patient. So whatever I just heard at that moment, that's probably my fleshly desire is that I just want to do it. So what I'll do is I'll create this process where I'll keep asking it over weeks.

maybe months until it's so clear and I'll have to ask God like, God, I'm dumb, please. Like you have to really make it clear for me that you really want me to do this. And when I hear just a very stern, calm, grounded, like, no, don't do it or yes, do it. just, that's how I know it's him. Another way is actually through scripture. I'll be reading a story that sounds very similar to the situation that I'm in and maybe what the character ended up doing, right? What ended up happening in the story.

And I'll be like, oh, so maybe I should do it or maybe I should not do it. So I hear God in overall when I'm silent and I'm not in a rush and I'm patient and I'm ready to receive the answer. You know what I mean?

Jethro Casie (42:21.043)
That's deep because I think most people, we're going back to like the faith thing, waiting for God to speak to you for a day might even be a long time or like a week. So I think it's also like building up that capacity in your soul really to like wait on the Lord, right? The Bible talks about like, I'll wait on the Lord. And I think that's even something for me where it's like, I feel like I'm always like, God, know, like speak to me now.

David Rico (42:31.99)
Yeah, yeah.

David Rico (42:46.892)
Yeah, right.

Jethro Casie (42:47.335)
But that's not always how it works. How have you, were you always like that in terms of just like being patient or is that something? Okay.

David Rico (42:53.728)
No, I just messed up a lot of times where I'm like, all right, I need to start being patient more. I have tried to rush so many processes in my life where they have just went to the ground. I'll give you an example and it can be very personal. I tried to visit an old relationship of mine last year and I'm on this agenda in my mind where like, I want to have a family and I want to have a family now. I revisited an ex-girlfriend.

Jethro Casie (42:59.208)
Yeah.

David Rico (43:20.534)
And that just went terribly south. It went really bad. And it only lasted for, I think, two months. But it was very, it impacted me in a very harsh way where I felt really hurt. going through those experiences where I'm understanding I hurt myself when I listen to myself. But when I listen to God, I only can benefit from myself and benefit from Him. So I've gotten this habit through trial and error.

Jethro Casie (43:39.955)
Mm-hmm.

David Rico (43:49.836)
and just understanding of like, think I just need to stop rushing things. You know what I mean?

Jethro Casie (43:54.13)
And yeah, and I guess with that, obviously you're going through like a lot of. And I feel like that's an attachment that a lot of people have is you still have because I think when you're born again, when you're baptized, right, and you and you come out of the water, like we are born again, but our soul still needs to like go through this process of of changing your mind needs to change, your will needs to change, your emotions need to like align with how Jesus thinks. And I think it's not always like an easy process. Like a lot of people.

David Rico (44:09.261)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (44:24.061)
kind of change it, like how you went from Pat to the impeccable man that was like years of work, right? Days of work and always having to consciously choose that decision. So I guess touch upon that. How did you then become like who you identify as now is in terms of like being an impeccable man. How did that process kind of turn out?

David Rico (44:44.526)
That's a really good question. I think it's just been revealed to me goal by goal, goal at a time. I did not write who I would look like when I was 20 years old, how I would look at 29. It's like somehow these personal development books tell you. really just, I'll come up with an idea like, I think I should do that.

And I'll ask for the Lord's guidance. Like, should I learn kickboxing? Should I learn how to protect myself? Should I learn how to run a men's Bible study? And I've kind of just picked up these habits as they have came my way. And the ones that I've really liked, I've stuck with them. And the ones I really didn't care about, I really didn't stick with them. Like I've done improv and salsa dancing and things like this. It really wasn't part of me, but I think I'm really in this process of just discovering of who I am.

When you're going through recovery, you don't know who you are. There's no book that can tell you that. You're going to have to find out yourself. I've just been, I became this impactful man just by trying to take on as many good habits as I can. And that would make God proud as well.

Jethro Casie (45:57.912)
Has that been a scary process in terms of like coming out and not knowing who you are or were you more, I guess, excited?

David Rico (46:02.54)
Yes, it's literally the hardest part of recovery is not knowing who you are. The physical symptoms and the convulsions and the sleeping all the time and throwing up, that is easy compared to how you feel so confused after recovery because you don't know who you are. And no one knows how that feels until you've actually went through a process like this because you have a whole new lifestyle. All your friends are gone.

You don't take drugs and alcohol anymore. That would shape the way how you think. You have to deal with your emotions as they are. You have to take on new habits that don't involve drinking. So you're like, I don't even know what I like outside of drinking. And it was very scary, very scary. I remember being on Chicago and looking out in Lake Michigan and there's just this pitch black of abyss. And I really felt resonated with that scenery because I'm like, I don't know where I'm going.

This is pitch blackness. I don't know where I'm going. I don't know if I'll ever feel normal again. But of course, how life works out if you just have patience and just stick with it, like you'll be fine. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Jethro Casie (47:12.019)
Did you ever go through a time where, yeah, where you thought you might have like, were you ever close to relapsing at all in terms of like, or where once you decided that it was over, it was over.

David Rico (47:22.69)
Yeah, that's a good question. get urges all the time. I get urges all the They never go away. And I really believe that's what makes... When they say an addict is always an addict, some people don't like that. I like the saying because my urges have been there even four years later. My mouth will get watery. I'll get a little bit more like antsy.

and want to go take a drug or go smoke some weed or drink. I'm aware that those cravings are there, but I have to make a constant decision every day of like, no, this is not it. There's nothing in that life. I made a decision to stay like this and stay who I am. even creating a brand has helped me stay accountable. Funny enough, can you imagine if I drink on the weekends, but I'm promoting sobriety on my Instagram? You know I mean? That'd be so weird.

Yeah, I get cravings every day, but I just can't give in. I'd rather die before I give in, to be honest. And I mean that literally. Yeah.

Jethro Casie (48:25.063)
Yeah, that's because I've dealt with like specifically like like a porn addiction and having to go through that and many guys have I think it's maybe What is it like nine out of ten? I was just listening to a book and I think it was maybe like nine out of ten guys are like struggling with like a porn addiction or something like that or something along those lines yeah, and not it's rampant and many people start I think from like third or fourth grade especially guys like and that was my case like I started watching porn in in third grade and

David Rico (48:41.398)
I can believe it. can believe it. I can believe it for sure.

David Rico (48:49.294)
Oh wow. Yeah. old are you? You usually what like seven, eight? No, no, no, no. I'm saying at the time. Okay. Yes. I think I was like 10. Yeah.

Jethro Casie (48:56.18)
I'm 23. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah, I think I was nine. Nine. Yeah, nine or eight. Yeah. And it's crazy because I think with porn, it's one, it's super accessible with any addiction is like super accessible. But there's also that part of like having to make that conscious decision to not do it. And I think that's the hard part. So when you were going through, when you would get these urges, even now, I know you mentioned like

David Rico (49:18.103)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (49:25.713)
with your personal brand, but I guess, do you feel like since you've been in Christ that that's changed at all? Like, you feel like, yeah, do you feel stronger in that sense? Or I guess has that changed at all in terms of like the desire?

I can't hear you, David. Okay, perfect. If I can hear

David Rico (49:42.008)
hear me now.

Jethro Casie (49:45.787)
Wait, I can't hear you, Yep, perfect.

David Rico (49:47.5)
No? Okay. I would say it actually really hasn't changed.

It has made me become more thoughtful of how I'm thinking about using drugs or alcohol. You know, like, why am I wanting to use them? you want to use them because you're stressed or you want to escape something. Like, it has helped me in that, but I always just lean on the Bible too, like if I'm having like a craving like that, because it's scary, man. Like there's a lot of anxiety. Like you really have two people battling in your head.

And whoever wins is, if the bad wolf wins, that's death. You know what mean? If I relapse, I don't believe I'm just relapsing just to have fun and then go back to my life. I really believe I'm gonna relapse and I'm gonna go all out, all out, and I don't know where that's gonna lead to. That creates some anxiety and I just have to lean on the Lord to like, please, don't let me, help me through this. I cannot go through this, you know? I cannot relapse. Because I haven't relapsed since,

Ever, basically. Yeah, I've only relapsed once and I don't plan on to. Yeah. Amen.

Jethro Casie (51:00.615)
Amen. Thank you, Jesus. And these are some final questions that I ask guests to just understand what are some kingdom secrets to success that people have learned on their walk with Christ. So the first question is just, what are some kingdom secrets or what is the kingdom secret to success that you've learned so far on this walk with Christ?

David Rico (51:22.926)
I would say God is found in the silence. And when you're not getting the answer that you want or you feel like you're hearing from the Lord, you need to have patience. And when he talks to you, you'll know when he talks to you. You'll know when he's letting you know the decision you should make. And as you build that relationship with him and knowing when he's talking to you, then I feel like that makes it easier for your future decisions.

Because you'll have some context of like, this is how the Lord speaks to me. And another thing is some kingdom secrets is being around other Christian men who want to hold you accountable for any vices that you have or any goals that you're trying to do. That is really key. I think it's very easy to be a Christian man and just kind of read the Bible, stick to yourself, and that's it. But when you have other guys holding you accountable that are

Godly men and want you to become better and you want them to become better. It kind of creates this brotherhood where we're brothers in Christ and we want the best for each other. So I would say getting a networking group of real Christian, devoted men who really, really want to see you thrive in the kingdom of Christ. So yeah.

Jethro Casie (52:41.708)
And if somebody's listening and they haven't given their life to Christ yet, why should they?

David Rico (52:48.62)
I'll ask you this, how's it working out now?

David Rico (52:53.358)
I think you should give up your life for Christ because...

David Rico (53:01.134)
For me, has opened my heart up on how to love again, on how to forgive, on how to live life with peace, on how to give with joy. Before, I was always like, I'm not giving to somebody else. I want to only take what can you offer me. Christ is going to give you this abundance of love where you have so much love, you just want to give, give, give. That's why...

We're on this podcast, right? Like you want to give your time and energy to how other people speak about Jesus Christ. That's a form of love. You know what I mean? And I think living by love is one of the greatest superpowers you can have. So yeah, I would say that.

Jethro Casie (53:40.851)
And then last part is just, yeah, the Korean declare blessing over the audience as the like pray as the Holy Spirit leads you. Yeah, son, Holy Spirit.

David Rico (53:45.037)
Yeah.

All right, ready? right, name of Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen. Dear Lord, everybody who is listening to this Lord, please bless them that they have an amazing day. Anybody that has not opened up their hearts, I ask you that you give them a chance to relook at the relationship that they have with you and you bring them closer to you, And everybody listening on this call just has an amazing 2025 and you keep us all protected today, tonight, rest of the year.

as long as

Jethro Casie (54:22.055)
David Rico everybody, case closed.