From Booze to Blessings: My Journey to Faith (Ep 342)

From Booze to Blessings: My Journey to Faith (Ep 342)

We talk about purpose, faith, and why life’s short timeline pushes us to act now. Justin shares how anxiety shaped his travel habits, how he rebuilt healthier coping tools, and why we’re drawing a firm line against impersonators to protect our community.

• gratitude for a growing global community and a bold mission to help at scale
• faith as foundation for purpose, courage and integrity
• anxiety on flights, alcohol as avoidance, and the decision to change
• practical coping mechanisms and mindset shifts for travel and stress
• you are not alone as a grounding message for listeners
• addressing haters, online impersonation, and brand protection
• how to verify official updates and contact us through proper channels
• milestones across 300+ episodes and what’s coming next

Smash that Subscribe button, give us a big thumbs up, like, share, follow!

Chapter Markers

0:00 Welcome And Mission

2:20 Faith, Mortality, And Purpose

5:20 You Are Not Alone

7:31 Anxiety, Alcohol, And Travel

11:20 Coping Tools And A New Mindset

15:00 Beyond Flights: Clearer Choices

17:04 Haters, Integrity, And Resilience

22:20 Impersonation Warning And Boundaries

27:10 Where To Find Legit Updates

30:20 Milestones, Gratitude, And What’s Next

34:40 Final Appeal And Community Support

36:00 Subscribe And Closing

#FaithJourney #FromBoozeToBlessings #AlcoholRecovery #SpiritualAwakening #TransformationStory #FindingFaith #SoberLife #ReligiousExperience #PersonalTestimony #LifeChange #HealingThroughFaith #PurposeDrivenLife #OvercomingAddiction #FaithAndRecovery #Inspiration #justiceforsurvivors #justice4survivors #VoicesforVoices #VoicesforVoicesPodcast #JustinAlanHayes #JustinHayes #help3billion #TikTok #Instagram #truth #Jesusaire #VoiceForChange #HealingTogether #VoicesForVoices342

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Mission
• 2:20 Faith, Mortality, And Purpose
• 5:20 You Are Not Alone
• 7:31 Anxiety, Alcohol, And Travel
• 11:20 Coping Tools And A New Mindset
• 15:00 Beyond Flights: Clearer Choices
• 17:04 Haters, Integrity, And Resilience
• 22:20 Impersonation Warning And Boundaries
• 27:10 Where To Find Legit Updates
• 30:20 Milestones, Gratitude, And What’s Next
• 34:40 Final Appeal And Community Support
• 36:00 Subscribe And Closing

Transcript

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: 0:02

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. I'm your host, Founder, and executive director of Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes. Thank you so much for joining us, whether you're watching, whether you're listening, uh, whether you're here in the United States, or whether you are abroad in another country across the world, we thank you. Whether this is your first episode, or if you've been with us from the beginning, uh, we're grateful to have such a huge turnout, uh, huge uh signs of support, uh, just loving individuals like yourself who watch and listen episode after episode, and who are telling uh your friends and family uh and those that follow you about Voices for Voices. Uh, we do have this big uh goal to help uh at least three billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond. It's a big goal, uh, but I believe that's one of the reasons why I'm still here is to uh continue towards that goal. I know we can't do it alone. Uh, and so uh if you'd like to join the movement, uh you'd like to volunteer, uh, want to partner, uh, let's do this. Uh time is short, uh, as we know. Time on earth is definitely short, and we don't know uh when is going to be our time to go. And uh we don't we don't know if today's our last day or tomorrow, uh if it's our last uh our last breath. We we don't know that. Only God knows that. And and I think uh just showing uh uh the proper uh etiquette uh towards him or your higher authority is helpful because we know and I've known uh on and off more on now that uh how precious life really is. And it doesn't matter what I want, doesn't matter what you want, it matters what uh you know Jesus Christ wants uh for us in our in our lives uh while we're on earth uh because our our our time on on earth is is very limited as as we mentioned. So an interlude to uh one of our topics of we know our time is short on earth. Um we wanna want to do the best we can. Uh for me that's trying to do my best to help as many people in whatever way, shape, or form I can. Uh that's why I founded Voices for Voices. That's why we are such a uh a grassroots movement that grows on literally a minute-by-minute basis, and that's all because of you. So I said it once, I'll say it again, I'll say it a ton more times. Thank you for the love and support you've shown us and uh for sticking with us through some tumultuous times, and we uh are just uh blown away by the the support and the interest, and it's uh it's coming from all over the world, uh countries near and far. It's it's really incredible. Um, it's one of those things where when you yeah, you when you kind of look forward of what you'd like to do or who you'd like to touch and reach and uh share your story. I'm speaking kind of in in the the first person. So for me, we don't want any limits on that. We want we want everybody to find some benefit, no matter how big or how small it is, uh, no matter how how close the events of my life, of our guest lives, match up with yours, uh, or how or how little uh just the mere fact of talking. And so whether they're watching or listening, uh I like to say this is you know, you're not alone. Uh I'm not alone even in those you know, some of those darkest hours where we feel that way, where where we feel that we are the only one going through a certain experience, but we're not, and I think once I was able to get over that, it still creeps in because I'm not perfect, none of us are, but as that creeps in, just understanding that somebody else might be going through the same thing, or maybe they already did, and they're sharing and talking, and and maybe you meet somebody I don't know, I don't want to I don't know why the grocery store thing kind of comes to me, but wherever you meet somebody and you find out you have elements of your lives that are similar. Um I'll go through my as we uh as we talk about how you how unique each one of us is, um, but we're still connected as a human body, the human race, human being. And when I used to travel, it was all about getting drunk on uh the airplane. I think there's a song out there, I don't know how many years it's been, but yeah, it's about that. Uh when I would travel on airplane, that that would be kind of the goal, is all right, as soon as I get on, gotta I have to start drinking. And again, that was that was just me. And I found over the years that a lot of people uh it's not saying anybody's bad, uh, but I went through this phase quite a long time or anyone anytime I would travel. That was that was kind of the one of the big things on my mind. It should have been where I'm going, uh, if we go on vacation, uh visiting family, what have you. Should have been more about that than how many drinks I am I'm gonna be able to have, and uh uh on that flight. And I bring that up because I've talked about it a little bit, but I want to continue that conversation is the insecurities that we have as human beings, as we know we're not all perfect, we get that, and part of that imperfection is being nervous about any number of things, uh, and and I'm sure that's what I was doing over the course of those many years was I was hiding my insecurity of my anxiety that I was having while flying, and that was a way to cover it up was drinking and knowing then that I was gonna get to a point where it's but that's what it was all about. It wasn't about where I was going, which is what it should be about, it wasn't about what what trip, how what what what we're gonna do when we get to our destination, and it's only now years later, where I although I was traveling on a destination to somewhere, I was saying I was traveling to get drunk, to consume a lot of alcohol, to kind of numb that that anxiety out. And so as I was coming out of that literal, literal, literal fog of my life and traveling, it took a while to get get to the point I'm at at now. But as I was starting to lift that fog up and raise that fog out of that travel sphere, I call it at first it was super hard. I was having panic attacks all over the place, and I mean I had every gizmo that they could that that talked about lowering stress when traveling and and so fast forward to now, I still have some panic attacks, but I have some coping mechanisms that I'm able to use, and you're gonna have to find those yourselves. Um, because we're not all the same, we're all the same in the human body, the human race. Uh I mean human body like male, female, I'm just meant as a human being. But now when I travel, I don't travel to get drunk, to consume alcohol on airplanes. I when I do travel when with my family, it's obviously to spend time, vacation, um, other times as family traveling. And then when there happens to be we'll call it work travel, I don't say time travel, but you know, business travel. I'm actually traveling for work, so I that's my purpose is to prepare for the work when it's not family and and you know leisure travel with family, and it's not in the travel's no longer travel to get drunk, hammered, whatever word you want to use, so it's it's a huge kind of tectonic plate shift for me. There has been. That's that's really what it's about. That's that's what's been able to help me make that shift. And it's not just traveling on the airplane, but it could be a a road could be a road trip. Like actually not definitely not talking about drinking and driving. But when I would get to a destination, it would be I would either have my own alcohol or find in a store that sold alcohol. Kind of one of the first couple things, get something to eat and find find where the alcohol's at, find where the store's at to buy it. And when my mind's a little bit more clear now, I I just I reminisce uh I spent so much time, money, others, time, money, resources for those types of reasons. And hindsight, I say, is always 2020, you know, the Monday morning quarterback. You always look at the game on you know last Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, and and uh to say, oh, I wouldn't have done that, I wouldn't have done this. Here's where we we we should have done something better, we should have ran this play instead of that. It's easy to do that, but when you're in the moment, we're only as strong as our faith. We're only as strong as the team we have around us that truly cares, and so I think we can relate to that. And lastly, I'm just gonna touch on this here. We've we've uh with an organization that is in such hyper growth mode that we are, it really I'll say any organization that's doing good in the world, no matter how small, no matter how big, there's gonna be people, there's gonna be individuals who are gonna try to the one saying that I don't I don't really care for, but it was one of these corporate America sayings where you uh I would be in a meeting and we'd be talking about whatever topic it was, and each individual would kind of have their own topics, their own things that they're gonna mention and talk about. And more times than not, I'm not gonna name names or anything, but more times than not, there's a particular individual at one of my say corporate America stops that they would be kicking off a meeting, and the words that they would use is you know, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna give names, so they would say so-and-so, um, not to steal your thunder or anything, and then they would go in and share information that that person, that additional person, was supposed to be talking about and sharing. So that was supposed to be you know their their input, uh, what they're bringing to the meeting, they're sharing. And I look at it a lot that way for this topic here with uh not just voices for voices, but any organization that's doing good, there's gonna be people. Well, first off, there's gonna be haters. There's gonna be people that are just they're gonna find every which way that they can just try to try to drag you down, and it's only through God, Jesus Christ, that we're at where we're at. And so there's always gonna be people. In fact, all you gotta do is look look at our TikTok account. I'm sure maybe hopefully not, but maybe maybe you uh you you know what I'm talking about with you know these keyboard warriors have no problem typing up these just completely uh not nice comments. Uh so yeah, there's always gonna be haters, and they're gonna do just about anything to kind of bring you down, bring us down. And it's that strength, it's not that from from what I was talking about earlier with the you know, the alcohol and that uh it's not that alcohol, you know, liquid courage strength. This is it's much deeper, and that's why when I talk about God and Jesus for me and for us at Voices for Voices, that's who's really helping us stay afloat when we talk about having people that come at us from all different angles. It the easy thing to do is just to fold and say, All right, that's it, we're done. But I don't feel like that's I don't feel like that's what God uh that I don't feel like that's what Jesus Christ wants us to do. I feel he wants us to continue and he wants us to continue helping, and he's using these haters, these individuals uh that are just healing our thunder or trying to to do that. And so one other way these haters come about is they sometimes they try to impersonate your organization or our our organization, meaning they'll make calls, they'll make text messages, email messages, they'll send out newsletters, they'll do they'll do what they think again is number one gonna pro gonna help them as an individual because they're using a name that is good, it's well known, has brand equity. And then they're trying to again impersonate and pretend that they are heading up the organization, not even heading up voices for voices, but just someone that is part of the organization and is making you know these calls on our behalf of Voices for Voices, or sending these emails or these text messages uh and they're just dropping voices for voices and and acting like they are voices for voices when they're not. Um and so this is where I will name drop. So Steven Reimers, you need to get a hold of yourself, and you need to not tell anyone, anywhere, anybody, any organization, anyone of your friends, colleagues, that you are the leader of Voices for Voices, that you're a member of Voices for Voices, that you're fundraising for voices for voices, and anything in between what I just mentioned. So Steven Reimers that stopped this instant. We had you have an understanding that we believe is to be accurate. So it's in our good faith that you have, you Stephen Ramers, uh, have been doing at least one TikTok, maybe more, claiming to be you know, voices for voices, claiming to be me, claiming to be uh a fundraiser of the organization. Uh, and so you're misdirecting a lot of people by doing this. And this isn't a game. There's consequences to this. And so just know the more we're able to verify and and validate that you are indeed Don Dis Steven. We're gonna have to we're gonna have to report you to uh the proper individuals, proper authorities, proper law enforcement. So let's hope this stops. Not for my sake, but for all the people that we're helping. And all you want, Steven, all you want, all you care about is the money. That's what you all it's all you've ever cared about is the money, uh, relationships, uh, helping people, your newsletters, and all the times you you know ask uh, you know, Usher and Justin Bieber, and and the list goes on that you've asked for money on behalf of individuals that you don't at the end of the day, you don't really truly care about. And so I'm just gonna recommend on good faith, on good terms now, that this stops, and whatever you have done, if this is true, we do ask that you put apology TikTok out there saying you're not Justin Alan Hayes, you have nothing to do with voices for voices, and you never have and you never will. And so we're asking you to do that. I don't want to hear any excuses, I don't want to hear any. Well, I would never do that. When things get this far to me, as many times as they do, you're not denying it. You might try to deny it now, now that it's out in the open, now that it's in the public sphere. But that's also why we do this show, ladies and gentlemen. Humans, human beings in the United States and across the world. That's why we do this, is we like to air out whatever laundry there is. And this is one of those instances where information has come to our attention, and so we're addressing it. And so this is an avenue that we do have to do that, it's because of you, our watchers, our listeners, our supporters, uh, our followers, our subscribers, our likers, um, our thumbs up, uh, our commenters that are in in good uh good taste that aren't distasteful and uh we just want to say thank you to everyone watching, listening. You can find us everywhere. So whatever method you're using to watch or listen to this right now, you can you can get all the episodes on on that uh that platform. Or to make it really easy, you head on over to voices for voices dot or g forward slash podcasts. And so that is voices for spelled out F O R. So it's voices for voices dot or g forward slash podcasts. That'll get you everything you need. You can pick your platform that is the easiest for you, um, and where you Where you get your content from, uh, your podcasts, your shows. Um, and and the best part besides that is that the top episode is the newest one that we have out. So it's the latest and greatest. So you don't have to scroll all the way down, like some uh some of these platforms do where you have to scroll down and scroll down and scroll down, and uh it just can get exhausting. So we we recommend that as a method to find the latest and greatest voices for voices, TV show, and podcast episodes. We want to thank you, all the love and support. Thank you for joining us. Uh, this is, I believe, episode 300 and uh 342. Oh my goodness, this is it's God's work, it's not my work, it's not anybody else's work, it's God's work. 342 episodes. Wow. We we know that you know statistics show few podcasts make it over 100 episodes, even fewer over 200, even fewer over 300, and we're just about at the uh we're getting closer and closer to that 350 episode mark. Um and not to be surprised, we're we're keeping this keeping this rolling uh because we a lot we have a lot of people to help, a lot of people to share information, a lot of great guests coming up. Some that I never would have thought I'd ever even have an opportunity to even meet or any of us meet, let alone want to come on the show. And so the last thing I like to say is Steven Reimers, if you are, please stop impersonating voices for voices, stop impersonating Justin Allen Hayes as the leader, voices for voices, please stop fundraising or trying to fundraise on our behalf, claiming that you are part of our organization. So anybody who gets a funky message, uh, doesn't come through proper channels, uh take it as it is, reach out to us directly. Uh, you're able to do that and find those methods to say, hey, is this real? Uh, because we want to help people. We don't want to we don't want to confuse people. We don't we don't want to confuse people. We want people to know, to trust, to understand our brand, our brand equity, and we're in business of helping people, not hurting people, not taking other people's money, not acting like we're somebody else. Um, and so Steven Reimers, it's R-E-I-M-E-R-S. If that is something that you're doing, I am asking you kindly, politely, please stop. Please stop. There's more to life than if this is what you're doing, impersonating us to make a few bucks. And you're actually hurting people by asking and having them donate, thinking the money's coming to Voices for Voices when it's not. And it wasn't me in that studio with Usher and Justin Bieber, and you know, the list goes on asking for money. That was you. So again, please stop. And for all you voices for voices, TV show and podcasts, fans, uh, viewers, listeners, you're just gonna be in for uh what I can just say at this point, and next next several months, next six to twelve months. It's gonna just be tr something truly truly works of God that they're gonna be able to to see, to hear uh thank you. So from me to you, from our whole team to you, if you can smash that subscribe button, you can give us a big thumbs up, like, share, follow. That'd be awesome. So let's celebrate all of our voices, whatever way, shape, or form those are. And let's please be a voice for you or somebody in need. We'll see you next time, everybody. Bye bye. Thank you so much.