My mission is to help fathers be more intentional and impactful in their role. I am a father of 5 (husband of 1) and I live in Grand Rapids, MI. Check out the resources I offer below and sign up for my newsletter!
imagine thinking it will be easy...
Imagine thinking it will be easy…
Being a father of young kids is hard. Not hard in that it’s a negative experience, it’s just full. There is a lot going on and if you’re doing it well you should feel stretched. That is a feature, not a bug. You are building something significant.
Imagine having the mindset that it would just be easy all the time? Even though you know the truth, it is all too easy to digress mentally. Intuitively you know that it’s hard, but you lose focus. Perhaps you're looking too much at the fake world of social media. Or reflecting on things you had to sacrifice to embrace your role as a father. Or maybe you just had a bad couple of days (sickness, sleepless baby, etc).
It’s natural to slip to the negative state, but that is minimizing and distracting from the work that is before you. The good and lasting work of building your family.
Don’t get sucked into a negative mental spiral. I’ve been there, and it doesn’t lead any place good.
Instead, stop it in its tracks. Stop and acknowledge that what you’re doing is hard. What you’re doing is of extremely high value. What you’re doing is building a legacy with your household.
Refocus on your “why”.
Then audit your immediate circumstance.
- What has been happening the past few days?
- Have you been sleeping and eating well?
- Have you been exercising?
- Have you been praying?
Regain perspective on where you are at. Then take the next step you know you need to take.
- Go for that run.
- Spend some quiet time in prayer.
- Drink more water.
Do the work you know you need to do.
In the fatherhood arena with you,
~Mike
PS - The January challenge in starting Jan 9th. We already have some men that are signed up. Join this cohort before it starts! https://www.2centdad.com/challenge/
Hi! I'm Mike
My mission is to help fathers be more intentional and impactful in their role. I am a father of 5 (husband of 1) and I live in Grand Rapids, MI. Check out the resources I offer below and sign up for my newsletter!
How would your behavior change if you were really thinking long-term? What would you stop doing and what would you start doing? This is a question I have been wrestling with a bit. Maybe it comes with age (my own, my parents, my kids, etc) or maybe it's a response to everything being so current in today’s culture. A while back I chatted with Jeremy Pryor about the topic of a “Family Team” which is the manifestation of long-term thinking. The family is a team that is building something, that...
Happy 2Cent Tuesday Outputs are always downstream of inputs. I typically don't like to use absolute statements (and that is something we try not to do in our house), but this one is always true. Think about any system. The way the system performs (the outputs) are a direct result of the inputs. You can't put water into your gas tank and expect your car to run. In the same way that you can't scream at your kids all the time and expect them to grow into mature adults. The place I get tripped up...
Being a father is a thankless job. Of course you don’t need me to tell you that, you live it day to day. I am not saying that yours kids are never thankful, just that they don’t really appreciate what you’re doing for them. Nor is it their place to do so…they are kids. Contrast that feeling of being taken for granted to the moment you come home and your kids rush to the door and greet you with a big hug. Emotional battery instantly full! To say that fatherhood is an emotional roller coaster...