Friday Five 03.11.22: In good times and bad, your core values are your compass
Plus, a story, podcast, thought, and call-to-action for all you handsome AF Growth-Driven Dads.
Hello and welcome to a new format for the Growth Driven Dad newsletter. Each Friday, Growth Driven Dad delivers the Friday Five, which includes a short essay, a story, a podcast, a thought, and a call-to-action geared towards growth-driven fathers and men. Moving forward, expect these free weekly emails along with semi-regular essays and podcasts. As always, please share if you found this interesting and if you’re not already, please subscribe.
Cheers and have a great weekend. -Ben
Essay: In good times and bad, your core values are your compass
I find this week, what with all of the continued news that makes me want to retreat, or throw a fist at the drywall — with little wiggle room for the in-between — it’s difficult to stay the course. I mean, it’s understandable. Shit. Is. Crazy.
Thing is, it has been and likely always will be. Right? Maybe, when we were kids, life was as wild as it seems to be right now and we just didn’t know it. Perhaps our Dads hid it better (they were good at that, no?). Perhaps the limited or lack of the internet shielded us from the level of horror we see on a daily basis nowadays. Or, perhaps shit now is just more crazy.
In any event, I find myself struggling to stay course. As I’ve tried to navigate my way back to sanity, productivity, virtue, and compassion, I recalled an essay I wrote a mere seven days into the pandemic. I thought it was worth a rehash as it offers instructions on how to identify and live by your core values.
Check out the essay here. And, if you take the exercise seriously (I sure will be), I’d love to hear about your results. Leave them in the comments.
Story: After 2 years of pandemic parenting, I'm mourning the mom I used to be
Bruh. Amen, sister. In the column, the author, Amil Niazi writes: "I cut myself so much slack I'm in a freefall." I couldn't feel any more in alignment with this message. The pandemic was/is a bitch. It changed absolutely everything. I'm working my ass off to be my old self again. Are you? Do you need to? Whether the pandemic changed the way you operate or not, this is worth a read to have this perspective so many of us are dealing with.
Podcast: What’s in a Dad?
From NPR’s ‘Code Switch’ podcast --
Gene Demby and Hari Kondabolu are both new fathers, and they're both learning to raise kids who will have very different identities and upbringings than their own. It's left both of them reflecting on some big questions: How will they teach their children about race? What are the elements of their childhoods that they want to pass on? And what, exactly, is a father anyway?
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Thought: Do you love yourself?
Yeah, that’s a hard “no” from me, Dog — but we all certainly should! It’s a tough thought to consider and an even tougher question to ask yourself. Check out this article from Self to take the deep dive.
Call-to-Action: Simply be with your kid(s)
In reading this piece about the 20 personality traits of great fathers, I noticed a trend. If you read through the traits, they all have ties to presence, compassion, and literally being available to your children. So, this week’s CTA is quite simple: take dedicated time to simply be with your kids. Sometimes, this happens organically, which is great. Often, though, life gets in the way. Block the time. Schedule the activity. Simply be with your kids.
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