Some times people look at me and wonder where it is that I am. That is, they see my body occupying a space but they recognize that my mind is elsewhere. It has been this way for as long as I can remember and I suspect it always will be. link
I wrote seven posts tonight but only published one. That is unusual for me because I rarely self edit and or censor my thoughts. Blogging is where I wander with purpose and often how I clear my head.
The noise inside it is quite loud tonight and the words haven’t done much if anything to quiet things down. That usually means I haven’t come to a conclusion about the big decisions that are occupying my mind.
So while I sift through it all and try to identify what big changes I intend to make I thought I would drop in here and share a few other thoughts.
I Am A Dad Blogger And A Blogger
I am still a dad blogger but I am in a different place than many of the new guys. That is because they are still dealing with infants, toddlers and pregnant wives and all that goes with that.
Nothing wrong with that, it makes for some great times and some excellent blog fodder but my focus is elsewhere. Won’t be long before my son starts high school and my daughter goes to middle school and I am not sure what schools those will be.
The lists of what you should or should not say to pregnant women or women who have just given birth aren’t particularly interesting to me. Been there, done that.
Doesn’t mean that they aren’t clever or that people shouldn’t write them because they should but I am in a different place now which is part of why this place is evolving.
Have You Read Any Of These Posts?
If you are new to the blog and you want to get a sense of who I am and what I write about you might want to check out this page and these posts:
- Read The Joy of How To Play With Telemarketers
- What Makes You A Man?
- A Father Describes Parenting
- Grandpa
- Donuts
- Why Your Post Sucks and Everyone Hates Your Blog
- A Letter To My Children- Things That Matter
- A Letter To My Children-2011
- An Uncertain Certainty
- Four Generations & A Wedding
- The Best Thing My Father Ever Said To Me
- 1 Foolproof Way To Become a Better Writer
Would love to hear what you think. Let me know in the comments. Got to run for a bit, it is time for me to do some more wandering again
Chloe Jeffreys
Hi Chloe,
I am lucky to have some really good friends, several who I have known since grade school so I can say support exists. If I need to chew on someone’s ear or ask for advice it is definitely available. The bigger question isn’t does support exist, but will we ask for it when we need it.
The guys and I learned the hard way about how we have been socialized. It is not easy to ask for help or admit you need it, especially when you are not talking about something like substance abuse.
If it is about what you do when you have been laid off and are trying to find work you don’t always know what to say. You don’t complain because that doesn’t help, you just work as hard as you can to find work because fathers support their families.
That is the model we grew up with and if you can’t support your family because you are out of work it eats away at you.
Many men won’t talk about that piece, for a variety of reasons. Anyway, I think we are all figuring out that no one has the answers and that much of this is just learning what works for us as people.
Funny that you wrote this because I’ve been thinking about you specifically and men bloggers in general and midlife and what sort of support you guys are getting as you evolve through through the phases of life.
Hi Chloe,
I am lucky to have some really good friends, several who I have known since grade school so I can say support exists. If I need to chew on someone’s ear or ask for advice it is definitely available. The bigger question isn’t does support exist, but will we ask for it when we need it.
The guys and I learned the hard way about how we have been socialized. It is not easy to ask for help or admit you need it, especially when you are not talking about something like substance abuse.
If it is about what you do when you have been laid off and are trying to find work you don’t always know what to say. You don’t complain because that doesn’t help, you just work as hard as you can to find work because fathers support their families.
That is the model we grew up with and if you can’t support your family because you are out of work it eats away at you.
Many men won’t talk about that piece, for a variety of reasons. Anyway, I think we are all figuring out that no one has the answers and that much of this is just learning what works for us as people.