Roger Jackson

Well now, welcome. Glad you found your way here. I'm Roger Jackson, and for a long time, I was a drummer. A jazz drummer. Played with some cats you might've heard of—Miles, Ella, a few others. Good times. Real good.

But life, like a solo, doesn't always stay on the melody, does it?

From Sticks to Stories

I spent a good chunk of my life chasing the high note, and not the musical kind. Addiction took hold in my forties, and it wasn't a gentle fade-out. Lost everything. My kit, my gigs, my family... nearly lost myself. Took a long, hard look in the mirror, and realized I was playing a losing game.

Rebuilding wasn't easy. It was more like learning a whole new instrument. Slow, frustrating, a lot of wrong notes. But I learned something crucial: even the silence between the notes is important. You learn to play the rest notes too.

See, I spent so many years avoiding rest, avoiding stillness, avoiding myself. Thought I had to be on all the time, pushing, driving, chasing. Turns out, that's a fast track to burnout. A broken stick, if you will.

Now, at 78, I understand the power of acceptance. Of simply being still with who you are—the good, the bad, the whole messy symphony.

What Keeps Me Writing

Here's what I know after 78 years: everything is rhythm. Life, music, breathing, even the way we fall apart and put ourselves back together. And acceptance? Acceptance is the downbeat. It's the foundation everything else is built on.

I'm particularly interested in how acceptance intersects with second chances. How do you rebuild after a collapse? How do you find your rhythm again when everything feels off-key? I've been there, kid. It's not about erasing the mistakes. It's about learning to play around them. To improvise.

I also think a lot about aging. We live in a culture that glorifies youth, but there's a quiet dignity in growing older, in accepting the limitations, and in finding new ways to thrive.

What You'll Find Here

My articles will be about all of that. Expect to read about:

Recovery and resilience: How to bounce back from setbacks, both big and small.
Accepting your past: Not erasing it. Making peace with it.
The connection between acceptance and creativity: Sometimes the best ideas come when you stop fighting yourself.
Aging honestly: Accepting the changes that come with time, and finding peace in the present moment.

I won't be offering quick fixes or miracle cures. Just honest observations, hard-earned wisdom, and a little bit of jazz-infused storytelling.

— Roger Jackson, still playing