I've been married for 17 years, and together, my wife and I have raised four beautiful children in our blended family. Over the years, I've held nearly every parenting title one can imagine, except for "mom."

I've been a marine dad, an educated dad, a business dad, a co-parenting dad, a stepdad, a poor dad, a bad dad, an inattentive dad, and perhaps even a worse husband at times. Yet, through a mix of perseverance, luck, and grace, I've managed to piece things back together.

Today, I am proud to call myself a GOOD dad.

However, during those dark times when I was a bad dad, I came dangerously close to losing everything that truly mattered to me. I fell into the trap of trying to please everyone, neglecting my own well-being, and ignoring the cracks in my own life.

This neglect almost cost me my marriage, damaged my relationships with my children, and even caused me to miss out on business opportunities. But most importantly it left me feeling like I wasn't valuable to the people who mattered most; my family.

I realized that if I wanted to be anything of value in my family's life, I first needed to understand and have value for myself—not just some trendy method like meditation and psychedelics (which I advocate for, by the way), but by addressing the core of my issues.

I had to confront the real problem in my life: ME!

This wasn't about punishing myself; it was about gaining reason, clarity, and understanding. I chose to do my own self work; going to therapy, reading dozens of books, and consuming thousands of hours of podcasts.

However, what had the biggest impact was actually building the courage to confront who I REALLY was; the good, the bad, and the ugly; and also the indifferent . It was alot of work but if I could sum it all up in one phrase it would be;