Role Models Don’t Quit
A couple months ago, I talked about how your kids leaving home isn’t that bad. In that post, we talked about staying busy. We talked about following some before-I-die dream.
We also talked about the idea of this gaping hole that is created when your kid leaves home.
The reality is: There has never been a time as good as it is now to take advantage of the hole created by your kids leaving home!
You can do – litrelly – anything.
Anything at all.
A New Beginning
OK, I’ll admit it. It’s freakin’ scary having the ability to do anything!
What would you do?
Let that sink in a minute… If you could do anything, what would it be?
Do you really need that four bedroom house anymore?
The big SUV?
What could you do it you let go of all the things you don’t really need when your kids leave home?
Could you do those things you keep telling yourself you don’t have time/money/courage to do?
Taking Advantage
I packed as much stuff as I thought I might need or use into my car – technically, my daughter’s car – and started driving. Driving West.
I quit any work that tied me to a specific location and made connections to do remote work (consulting, coaching, programming, anything that can be done from a phone or internet connection). That’s how it’s not just a big vacation.
I’ve visited countless friends along the way. You know, the ones you say you’re going to visit sometime.
The trip has passed through dozens of the hidden treasures of the country and even some must-do tourist attractions. Devil’s Gulch, Craters of the Moon, Überbrew in Billings, Mt. Rushmore, etc!
I began meeting new people; people who I will know forever. I traveled to where they live. You know how hard it is to make new friends as an adult!
After a few months, I took a big leap for me. I booked a ticket to Thailand – from the US – and decided to how a foreign country might feel for a month. I’m writing this post from a table outside the Chiang Mai immigration office.
I’ve been on the road for roughly six months and will make it home for Christmas.
Does this sound like an amazing fantasy that you couldn’t possibly do? It sounded like that to me six months ago… but here I am.
I’m curious. What “amazing fantasy” do you have that you’re convincing yourself is impossible? What small step could you do to prepare yourself right now to actually do it when your teen heads off into the world?
Still A Parent
You know, I’ve been told this was selfish. That I was being irresponsible.
Sure, I’m a bit biased, but I’m still a parent. And parents are supposed to be role models.
Like many of us, I spent a good bit of my life in a routine that never made me happy. I pushed the papers until the weekend. When it got frustrating, I would stave off the truth, by taking a few days vacation. I worked all week to support a lifestyle I created to bear having to work all week.
As a role model, I do NOT want to propagate the idea that my daughter finishes school and settles into an 8 – 5 job because that’s what she’s expected to do.
She can still do anything she wants – even if it has nothing to do with the degree she’ll have just earned. So, why not show her that, by example?
We get so worried that our kids “no longer need us,” but they do. They will always need us to be strong role models. They need us to lead by example. We can still show them what our priorities are (even if our priorities change as we get older).
What are your priorities? What do you want your kids’ lives to really be like?
Show them.
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