This is an I-Heart podcast.

And we return to our American stories.

And up next, we're going to hear from Ryan Stewart, who's been on our show before

and told us the story of how he became a professional dog walker in New York City. Today, Ryan

shares with us the importance of simply helping other people. Ryan struggled with addiction

for a majority of his life, and it was only through the help of others

that he was able to come out on the other side. Here's Ryan with his story.

I suppose I could say I used to be an alcoholic, but supposedly that means you're an alcoholic

for the rest of your life. So if you're reflective, you can look back and you can see the markers that were always there.

Like when we got introduced to beer in the seventh grade,

who was the one kid who drank too much and acted like a fool?

It was me, right?

Like all the other kids seemed to be able to get drunk or whatever and not destroy anything.

So the markers were always there that alcohol wasn't good for me.

But I didn't really totally spiral out of control until like maybe in my 30s.

I drank too much but I somehow was what's called functional. And then I slowly start drinking more and I start drinking more.

And then when I get in trouble drinking, you know what I mean?

Like let's say I'll get in a bar fight and you know, I'll get arrested or something like that.

Then I have that to deal with, that type of shame, you know, and so that adds to it.

I was in a dark place, you know, drinking and drugging and not liking myself.

And then I got these ideas that happiness was maybe being famous or rich.

I was in a haze, like for decades, you know know like trying to be an actor and a dancer.

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