Pondoff's Anonymous S3 E32: "When I Wanted A Vacation From Being Homeless I Went To Jail"

Donnie Millas has lived enough lives for several episodes of Pondoff’s Anonymous.

A lifelong friend of Eric’s and someone Chris has known since he was a kid, Donnie sits down to tell a story that goes from being a three-sport athlete and walking onto a semi-pro basketball team in Alaska to addiction, devastating loss, homelessness, jail and eventually finding his way into recovery.

Donnie talks openly about the years he spent living on the streets, why jail sometimes felt like a “vacation” from homelessness, the strange sense of structure he found while incarcerated, and what it takes to survive when the people around you are struggling just as badly as you are. He also gets into gambling addiction, relapse, and the difference between simply being sober and actually working a recovery program.

But some of the most powerful moments come when Donnie talks about the people he’s lost and the series of events that completely changed his relationship with faith.

It’s an episode about addiction and relapse, but even more than that, it’s about grief, friendship, second chances, faith, and what can happen when somebody refuses to give up on you.