On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water. Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease. President @realDonaldTrump and First Lady @MELANIATRUMP want to Make America Healthy Again. @michaelpconnett
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I still haven't mastered the art of doing nothing, but I have mastered the art of sitting down and pretending like I'm doing nothing while panicking about all the things I haven't done yet.
My wife saved my life.
I don't like sharing this.
But maybe it helps someone.
3 years ago
- 4 yo and 4 mo babies at home
- Wife stretched beyond capacity
- Me determined to give everything to a sales job
My wife came to me and said, "This family needs more from you. I need more from you."
I was so mad.
I said, "What do you want from me? We have a house, you are staying home, I'm working. These kids already have more than I ever had. What else do you want?"
I know now that she didn't want to fight with me.
She was asking for help.
That's why her only response was, "You need to figure out what that looks like. Because this isn't working."
I give my wife immense credit.
She could have tore into me.
But she knew that I could get there on my own.
So I started being honest with myself. Was I giving my family all I could?
I didn't know how to do the family stuff. Parenting was hard. Marriage was hard. It was all a lot of work that I had no experience in.
So I did what many men do, I focused in on work. The one thing I understood. Work more, make more. Simple math.
But that doesn't work. Not if you are chasing true success.
True success doesn't come from chasing dollars, it comes from chasing family.
That day, that conversation, that moment...
My wife saved my life.
There is always an opportunity for things to get worse. But I was determined that I would make that my rock bottom.
It's been a lot of work since then. All on me.
I've learned alot about myself. I've grown. I've adjusted. I'm living with more intention.
I'm thankful everyday that she had the strength to do it then, and not farther down the line.
I don't know what my life would look like today without my wife giving me that wake up call.
But I'm confident that 3 years of leaving my wife to feel like a single mom, 3 years of yelling at my kids, 3 years of dishing out spankings, 3 years of being lost and living without intention...
I'm confident that would have put me in a hole I never want to be in.
--
Last note:
What did I do?
I got to work.
I talked with our pastor, I talked with my wife's counselor, I found a counselor, I talked with friends who I saw with strong marriages, I talked with men who I saw as strong fathers.
I read parenting books, I read marriage books, I read psychology books.
--
If you ever find yourself in a spot that you don't want to go deeper than, you gotta start climbing out.
Don't wait for someone else's measure of rock bottom.
Decide for yourself when enough is enough.
Then get to work.
When you become a parent, you see more clearly how you were parented. I’ve realized how much time, attention, love and care you can give or not give. I now see how much I was given and am so grateful to my parents for my childhood. They were exceptional.
BREAKING: Police have arrested a 25-year-old man in connection with the Idaho college murders, law enforcement sources tell ABC News. https://t.co/N7bHQX0SmX