Last year, at this time, I hit a wall when I attended a dad conference. I looked around the room and realized THIS was not me anymore. I was older than the vast majority of dads in the room. Their issues, their lives, their passions were greater than mine as I was “moving on” given my boys were nearly grown. I briefly got depressed, but quickly got out of that self-indulgence and decided on taking a fork in the road with my next (professional) moves.
That “fork” had to do with adding Social Media to my writing topics. Minimizing doing “just dad” stuff, without giving it up altogether since we NEVER stop being a dad (or parent). #DadChat became a primary focus of my remaining dad-work and I still enjoyed doing my comic strip, Because I Said So.
Later that year, I ended my 4-plus run of my radio show – that decision was mostly economic.
The result of these changes was that I found myself with a bit more time on my hands. For me, that’s very dangerous. I might do something foolish – like jump off a cliff on my skis to see if I can! I’m NOT suicidal, to be clear.
I also thought I’d devote more writing time to my blog series, Men vs. Women, the new Golf is Like series, and this one, Social Media Social Good. For a variety of reasons, I became less consistent writing these blogs.
The upshot is I do have TOO MUCH time on my hands. And, I’m about to go to the same dad conference for the fourth consecutive year. I expect I won’t have another epiphany – or career-crisis. And, I am doing a sponsored #DadChat at the conference, which is consistent with my goals.
BUT, I need to find a new outlet. I even briefly thought of looking for a (real) job. Thankfully, I quickly dismissed that foolish thought since it would obviously impede my important endeavors of golf, skiing, and play.
What should I do? Heck if I know…
