My Story – No Easy Setting
I’m James
And I don’t believe in safety nets.
I’ve been broken more times than I can count — mentally, physically, emotionally. From foster care to homelessness, from drug addiction to depression, I’ve had to rebuild from nothing again and again.
But I’m still here. Still rising.
Not because life made it easy — but because I chose not to give up.
That’s what No Easy Setting is.
Addicted to Escape
Long before I was a chef, I was just a lost kid.
Foster care. Homeless. Hooked on drugs. Trying to survive however I could.
Even as I got older, I kept numbing out — through smoking, through work, through anything that kept me from feeling. I wore the mask of a functioning adult, but inside I was still carrying the weight of everything I thought I’d left behind.
The First Crash
My first motorcycle accident nearly took me out. I shattered my knee, had blots and fiber wire put in place and broke my back. I couldn’t work. Could barely move. And I definitely couldn’t face what that silence uncovered:
Unhealed trauma.
Old addictions.
A growing storm of depression I didn’t know how to escape.
I was diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety, and depression. I spiraled — hard. I lost track of who I was. There were times I wanted to disappear completely. But something kept me here.
Rebuilding Life
After the first crash, I fell hard. Depression gripped me. I was angry, lost, and haunted by everything I thought I'd never be again. But slowly, I fought back. I started rebuilding — physically, mentally, emotionally. I found purpose in progress. I got back to training, cooking, working. For a while, it felt like I was rising from the wreckage.
Then, just as things were starting to look up — I got hit again. Another crash. Another hospital. Another scar.
The Second Crash — and the Shift
Years later, a second bike accident put a metal plate in my wrist.
But this time was different.
I’d already been to the bottom. I knew the pain. I knew the darkness.
And I wasn’t going back.
Instead of spiraling, I turned the crash into fuel.
I trained harder.
I focused deeper.
I turned my pain into progress — by choice, not chance.
Why I Started No Easy Setting
This brand isn’t a slogan.
It’s the truth I live by — and the path I want to offer others who feel like they’ve lost everything.
If you’ve ever felt stuck, broken, addicted, alone — I’ve been there.
And I’m telling you: there is a way back.
But it’s not comfortable.
It’s not easy.
It’s not fast.
It’s a fight. Every single day.
No Easy Setting is about choosing that fight anyway.
About rebuilding through pressure. About becoming something no one thought you could be — not even you.
What Comes Next
I’ve quit smoking. I’ve faced every demon.
I’ve stepped onto the mat. Into the gym. Into the pain.
Now going to Thailand to train professionally — and I’m documenting the whole journey.
Not to show off. But to show what’s possible.
I want to help people who’ve hit rock bottom realize they can still rise — harder, wiser, stronger.
Not in spite of what they’ve been through — but because of it.
This is No Easy Setting.
And if you’re reading this, you already know…
You were never meant to take the easy road.
