I’ve written before, very much tongue in cheek, about various folks that I love to hate. Most of them have been “hated” be me for quite a while. I’m still waiting to write about some of them, but having discovered Jeff Stephens recently, he gets the nod this week.
Jeff runs the successful blog and podcast CrazyDadLife. I read a few posts, joined his Facebook group, and started following him on Twitter. And I got jealous. Not the regular “oh, that’s cool” kind of jealousy, but rather the green-with-envy I-want-to-be-this-guy kind. The kind that causes you to plot things in the dark of the night.
Seriously, I’d run across topic after topic on his blog that I had planned on addressing. But he’d gotten there first. He writes well, and now after listening to 1/3 of his podcasts, he has pretty much the same approach to life that I do. Of course, that makes him “right” in my world. As in, “he’s doing things right”.
He’s also a computer guy, close in age to me, and has kids that are taking up so much of his time it’s, well, crazy.
Jeff has a refreshing way of presenting things. He’s done a great job of expressing some of the frustrations that we Dad’s have about trying to be everything for our kids (and spouses) while trying to cling to a bit of ourselves. It’s a struggle, but he makes it sound doable. And that’s what’s important here.
Life has a way of happening, whether we stand still or whether we attack it head on. Time goes on, and things change. So we either have to accept that, deal with it, and live our lives, or we have to let our lives happen to us.
I’m all about attacking the day and the challenges that it poses. I’m competitive, and sometimes even my tweets and Facebook comments come off as “I’m better than you”, “I work harder than you”, or in Jeff’s case “I prepared more food for the track team than you did”. I don’t mean to be that way, and frankly it’s something that I’m trying to work on. I don’t need to tell everybody how much I try and accomplish. The one’s who matter know, and the one’s who don’t matter…well…don’t matter.
But CrazyDadLife has also opened me up to thinking about things a bit differently. Not just the competitive part of my nature, but also how to enjoy all the parts of being a Dad. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in getting from point A to point B, in preparing for the next thing, or just doing busy work that I forget to enjoy the journey. I’ve written about Being where you are before, and I’ve talked about Steve Job’s quote “The Journey is the Reward”, but I still struggle to really follow my own advice.
So I’ve got two recommendations for you this week. First off, check out CrazyDadLife on the internet. Second, take time this week to enjoy something that you usually treat as a chore. Maybe it’s folding the laundry, cooking dinner, driving the kids around, or whatever. But try to find some joy in the process, not just in the accomplishment.
Go out there an make it a great week!
This is the best kind of hate! lol.
Good stuff my man. And yes, we are so eerily alike we even have the same awesome first name.
Thanks so much for the support and I’m glad I found a brother in arms trying to be the best dad they can!