Founder | Contributing Writer – Jason Mayo
When I first sat down to write this book, I wasn’t trying to write a book. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure it would ever leave my laptop.
For years, I had stories rattling around in my head like loose change in a dryer—my parent’s divorce, the early drinking, the wreckage, the bad decisions, the pain I caused and the pain I lived through. Some of it was loud and chaotic; some of it was so quiet it nearly swallowed me whole. I told myself it was safer to keep it all stuffed in the attic of my brain, out of sight, out of mind. But the truth is, those stories were always running my life even when I wasn’t writing them.
So, I wrote. At first, it was for me. Pages that no one would see. Raw, unpolished, sometimes incoherent. I wasn’t really trying to craft a narrative—I was trying to pull splinters out of my skin before they got infected. And for a long time, it felt like that: painful, messy, and strangely necessary.
Writing this book forced me to look at things I’d spent decades running from. It wasn’t catharsis—it was confrontation. Every chapter was another mirror I couldn’t avoid. Some days I laughed at the absurdity of my own past. Other days I cried at the weight of it. Most days, I questioned whether anyone would care. But slowly, something shifted. I began to see patterns. I began to understand the boy I was, the man I became, and the man I’m still trying to be.
And that’s when it stopped being just for me.
I realized these weren’t just my stories. They’re stories about being human—messy, complicated, contradictory, hopeful. They’re about growing up in the wreckage of things you couldn’t control and still finding ways to build a life. They’re about addiction and recovery, yes, but also about relationships, love, fear, hope and survival.
Today, as this book officially launches, I feel…everything. Vulnerable, because my insides are now on the outside. Terrified, because I can’t take any of it back. Proud, because I finished what I started. And grateful, because I know I didn’t get here alone.
I wrote In Case of Emergency, Break Childhood because silence nearly killed me. Shame nearly buried me. And I don’t want that for anyone else. If even one person reads this book and feels a little less invisible, a little less broken, then every scar I reopened was worth it.
This isn’t just a memoir—it’s a survival guide. Not in the sense that I’ve figured it all out, but in the sense that I’m still here, still showing up, and still trying.
The book is out in the world now. It’s no longer just mine—it’s yours too.
Much love and gratitude,
Jason
Jason Mayo is the creator and founder of Sober Not Subtle. He is a certified recovery peer advocate at a Recovery Community and Outreach Center in New York.
Before working in recovery, Jason was owner and executive producer of award winning visual effects and animation companies in NYC.
He currently writes for The Sober Curator, has been a contributing writer for the Forbes Business Council, creator of the popular Dad blog Out-Numbered, and author of the children’s books, “Do Witches Make Fishes?” and “The Boy and the Billy Goat.”
When Jason isn’t working or writing, you can find him watching Netflix with his wife or grabbing coffee with one of his two daughters. You might also catch him in his studio playing Fortnite as a Partnered streamer on Twitch.
The coolest thing that ever happened to him as a Dad Blogger was being named to the “25 Dads Who Rock” list published by Working Mother – keeping company with Barak Obama, Jay-Z, Will Smith, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Matthew McConaughey and Brad Pitt.
Jason is passionate about advocating for people living with substance use disorder and mental health issues. His goal is to use humor, creativity, and lived experience to make a positive impact on the world.
His debut memoir, In Case of Emergency, Break Childhood is due out September 5th, 2025.
Jason has been sober since March 25th, 2010.
👉 In Case of Emergency, Break Childhood: A Gen Xer’s Survival Guide to Anxiety, Addiction, and Accidental Enlightenment is available now in paperback and ebook.
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