SUPPORT FEARLESS

As a teenager, every time I went to parties I felt pressured to drink. When I didn't drink, people would look at me weird and I could feel everyone judging me. I hated the taste of beer but the urge to fit in always won out. Looking back on it now I don't know why I cared what other people thought of me or who I was trying to impress. Today those same individuals have gone nowhere in life and have no cool memories or interesting stories to tell. Whenever they see me now, or hear about an epic snowboarding trip I went on, they say cliches like "must be nice" or "lucky you" which makes no sense. Learning a skill like snowboarding is nice, but there is nothing lucky about it. All it takes is practice and a lifestyle change. Peoples limitations are self-imposed. I urge everyone to put down the beer and join in the action. Only spectators drink, and I refuse to be a spectator to life.

I started experimenting with drugs after my dad died when I was fourteen. By the time I was sixteen I was hooked on everything. At age seventeen I went to rehab for the first time. After countless failed attempts to remain drug-free a friend introduced me to FEARLESS and I got into motocross racing. That has been the best decision of my life! I have been clean and sober for almost three years. And I've gotten pretty good on the race track.

I have never drank alcohol or smoked marijuana. After seeing drugs destroy my friends lives, I came to view drugs as the enemy! One time at a party I was the only person not drinking. After I was offered a "cold one" for the hundredth time, and said no (for the hundredth time) a guy named Bill demand, "Why not?" When I simply stated, because I don't drink alcohol, Bill became condescending and sneered, "Are you scared?" As a storm chaser, skydiver, and quad racer (among countless other things), I had never been called scared before and I couldn't help but laugh. My laughter only infuriated Bill and he scoffed, "Do you think you are better than us?" How not drinking would make someone better than someone else didn't make sense to me, but I couldn't help but wonder if Bill really thought all it took to be "better than someone" was to NOT drink, then why didn't HE stop? And if drinking is so great, why do people need everyone else around them drinking as well? I believe people like Bill are scared to look in the mirror. Instead, they resort to name calling and peer pressure, to try and force others to act just like them.

Around the time I was in my late teens I began using drugs because all my friends were doing it. If you were able to score some beer or weed you were considered the "cool" guy. The legal drinking age of 21 was only viewed as a hassle, and with weed getting legalized in more and more states we figured it was a harmless drug. It was only after a friend of mine, who had his whole life ahead of him, was killed in a DUI that I gave pause to the mindset around drugs. At my friend's funeral people were getting drunk and toasting my friend, who was killed by alcohol. I wanted to do something to honor my friend and not disrespect his memory by consuming the very thing that stole his life! When I stumbled across the FEARLESS website I felt an immediate connection and have started racing dirt bikes in honor of my friend. I haven't touched alcohol or weed since his death and I never will again. Living is the only thing worth dying for!

I just want to say throughout my life I've been so against drugs and alcohol, now through my life my father has kept me away from it all. I'm only 20 years old but when I was 16 my mother died from cancer but a year prior to that she was an alcoholic. She died sober but she had a cancer tumor that burst that lead to her death. This was a hard time but it makes me hate drugs and alcohol because I know what it does to people and I truly mean that. It's hard watching someone you love go down this path and is very tragic. I feel Fearless is such a great movement and I truly mean that from the bottom of my heart because I feel it. I saw it firsthand! Now I also believe extreme sports and religion is such a good place to turn to instead of drugs and alcohol. It's cooler, important, and even gets you places in life. I'm blessed to be apart of this movement and thankful I was introduced to it. I want to take Fearless to the next level and I believe I can really impact this movement. Right now I race GNCC, currently winning the XC2 Pro Am ATV class, and ATV racing is a super extreme sport. I believe extreme sports are so important because it takes your mind off of stress, depression, drugs, and anxiety. We need to make it a point to people and show people how important extreme sports are and how that's the cool path, not drugs and alcohol!

I would like to share my story in hope that it may inspire someone out there who may be struggling. I have been an athlete all of my life including racing mountain bikes in my 30’s and early 40’s. In 2017-2018 I had been working for a company where I was a stellar employee and was rewarded many times. However, they hired a new employee who began to bully me to the point where it began to affect my job performance. I was given several prescriptions which had adverse effects, including difficulty getting up in the morning. When COVID came along, my employer used this as an opportunity to furlough and then terminate my employment. As you can imagine, I was devastated as I felt I lost my identity. I began abusing my prescription drugs and even attempted suicide on a few occasions. Finally, my children urged me to seek help, which I did. I am now using my prescriptions as prescribed and even trying to get off them completely. I am proud to say that I have been hiking with a group every weekend and have gotten back into bicycling. I rode over 45 miles recently, which I am very proud of. I am slowly getting my life back!