April 8, 2019

My name is Justin Rogers and I have been sober since April 8, 2019. I was born in 1981 so most of my growing up was in the 80’s and early 90’s in a small town in upstate NY. I probably had my first beer at like 13-14 years old, I remember it being a red dog beer. My parents were not big drinkers at all, though there was usually some Kahlua and Amaretto in the house. But I was never the party type in high school so there really wasn’t a lot of drinking then. I joined the military at 18 and left my hometown, after basic training and tech school I ended up in Texas! The greatest state ever and Texas is home now. Drinking was always kind of fun for me, it allowed me to relax and chill out and that was great for a very long time. My son was born in 2007 and for Father’s Day that year my wife surprised me with my first Harley as a gift. My wife and I would normally drink at home or if we were out, I would always not drink so that she could, and we would always have a safe way home. Now I am also not going to say that there weren’t times when I shouldn’t have driven because there were, and I thank God nothing bad ever happened. Looking back, I was very much a functioning alcoholic, as much as I drank, I never let it affect me getting up for work or doing the things that needed to be done. As my son grew older and older I knew he was watching me as every child watches their parents, so there was also several years I would come home from work, but I wouldn’t drink until he went to bed. That just became a catch-up game of getting enough alcohol in before going to bed. Then on April 8, 2019, I said that’s enough and didn’t have a drink that day, a few days turned into a week and the weeks turned into months. I didn’t take long for me to realize how great you feel when you are no longer putting poison into your body. Now that also came with its own challenges too because as a society we drink when we are happy, when we are sad, or when we have had a shit day etc. So now you are having to learn to process these emotions without having the crutch of alcohol to hide them, this is something that has not been an easy task for me, but it is still better than the feeling of a hangover. I will say as much drinking that goes on in society and especially in the motorcycle community, I never would have imagined the amount of support you get from other sober folks and even from non-sober folks that just see you trying to better yourself. The motorcycle community has so many sober folks and most people just don’t notice someone isn’t drinking or what they are drinking. When people ask if I enjoy not drinking anymore, I try to simply say that waking up without a hangover feels so much better than any buzz ever felt, then add that to being able to wake up and jump out of bed to complete whatever it is you wanted or needed to for the day without having to deal with the negative side affects of alcohol. Being sober for me has truly been a great experience the past 5 years and I am looking forward to many years to come.

It has been my pleasure to support and be a part of RideXSober 

- Justin

@JustinFLHX