I’ve been wanting to write this post for a while and am finally getting around to sharing what’s been going on with myself and my family during this time of pain, anxiety and uncertainty the world is experiencing.

-I write “quarantine” in parentheses because while I’ve seen the word thrown around quite a bit and have used it myself, quarantine should really be saved for those who are sick and have been unable to go anywhere or do anything and have been separated from friends, loved ones and most of the rest of the world. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those directly effected by this virus and their family and friends.

-I’m so thankful for my family. If I am stuck mostly at home with people…I’m very glad it’s these people. While my wife and I have had more times where we haven’t seen eye to eye during this crazy time…there’s still nobody better to go through this with and trust to have my back during the uncertainty. My kids seem to actually be doing even better during this time, perhaps because we’re all home together so often, and their behavior being mostly good has made it a lot easier.

-My son especially has shown a big difference in his behavior since he’s been out of school. He enjoyed school most of the time and loved his teacher, but we were continuing to catch more and more that he was having a tough time fitting in, making friends and seeing other kids break the rules when he didn’t want to. He has had plenty of tantrums and hard times during this experience, but overall his behavior has been much better and he has been treating and playing with his sister much better than when he was in school. She by the way continues to be our sweet, caring and superchill little one who just goes with the flow…just watch out if she does something she’s not supposed to do or feels like she’s going to get in trouble…ooh boy!

-My wife makes an awesome home-school teacher! This wasn’t much of a shocker given that she’s awesome at most everything she does and has her Master’s in Teaching, but she has been so good at entertaining and keeping the kids engaged while I focus on work. And with the uncertainty surroudning what next year looks like, how great she has done and my son’s improved behavior, the idea of homeschooling going forward is looking really good to us next year.

-I enjoy working from home! Sure I get into a funk sometimes when I haven’t gone anywhere or done anything for a few days…but a normal work-from-home situation doesn’t look like what we’re dealing with now. I enjoy being able to work in mostly pajamas, talk with people virtually and go out to give my wife and kids hugs or have lunch or a quick play-time in between meetings. I know I’ve wanted to do this for a while now and I am enjoying it and not necessarily looking forward to the idea of work returning to normal in the office at some point.

-My mental health has continued to be pretty up and down. A couple of weeks in I decided to reach out to my doctor to look at medical options. In a sense, it feels good to have actual diagnoses of anxiety and depression now, even though I was fairly confident that’s what it was before. I have prescriptions to help me with both, and while they are not miracle cures I have noticed a difference and am grateful for some extra help. I just wish I would have been more open to them before and encourage all of you men, dads and anyone struggling with mental health to seek out and look into all of the options available to you. Please don’t continue to struggle alone.

-It is really easy to spend too much time on things that are fun but in the long run don’t really matter during this time of mostly isolation. I’ve documented my love of legos before, but unfortuantely let my hyper-focused brain go a little too crazy-obsessive on looking at and wanting to buy new legos and figures. I encourage you all to take a look at where you’re spending the majority of your time on your phone or computer…if there’s too much on things that are fun, but ultimately just time wasters (or money suckers!) reach out to someone to help you check yourself and be more responsible. I still love Legos and really love the website Bricklink…but I am really needing to shift my focus back to where it belongs: God, my family, and my fatherhood and parenting education journey.

-Speaking of my parenting education journey…I hope you’ll take just a minute to check out my post about consulting and let me know if this is something that would be interesting to you and what you might want to talk about. I love talking about parenting with other dads and moms and would love to explore offering this as a way to provide support, positive reinforcment and confidence…something we all could use a lot more of right now!

-Finally…I have a “quarantine” beard…and I don’t think it’s half-bad…what about you? 🙂

-This is fatherhood…