Maybe it figures that the 400th straight day of online writing falls just before Father’s Day.
After all, it was driving back from my own father’s funeral when I realized I wasn’t doing anything about all those “important” goals I talked about for all those years.
Just one day before, I’d been going through his closet and found a nice leatherbound notebook I gave him years ago. My father was a very quiet, very private man. At the time, I’d asked him to write any stories, thoughts, wisdom; anything at all really.
A lot of feelings went through me when I saw the notebook, but as I opened it to completely blank pages, my heart sank.
It was in that car ride when I decided my own notebook would never again be blank. If my own children ever care, they’ll be able to see what I thought, what I found joy, what my struggles were, and how they added so many wonderful things to my life. They would know they were loved and cherished.
By the time I got home, I’d made some plans and a couple days later, I signed up for Ship 30 for 30, which would change my life.
And now here we are 400 days of writing later. In that time, all the things that matter most to me got better.
I became a better father and husband. I became a better friend. I became a better colleague. I got better at writing. I made a little money. Then I got promoted at my real job. I made amazing friends with people from around the world.
I was a guest on podcasts and guest wrote for blogs. I hold a weekly Twitter Spaces with a NASA rocket scientist in Arizona and a UI expert in the Philippines.
What I do with my time, who I do it with, and how I feel about it are all very different than they were 400 days ago.
But you know what? They’re all better.
Onward.
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