The Dadliest Cast

The Sum of Your Decisions

August 10, 2024 David & Garrett Season 2 Episode 2

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Ever wondered why some decisions haunt us while others propel us forward? On this episode of the Dadliest Cast, I, David Garrett, tackle the complex world of decision-making and its significant impact on our roles as dads, husbands, and men. Imagine a football coach making game-time decisions, each one shaping the outcome yet part of a larger journey. We explore how our past choices, no matter how old, have crafted our current reality. By sharing personal experiences and insights, I aim to help you understand that over-analyzing every choice isn't the answer—learning from them is.

How do you cope when a decision doesn't pan out? The episode delves into the critical aspect of maintaining self-worth despite bad decisions. I discuss the importance of owning our choices and the struggles that follow while emphasizing commitment, honesty, and quality time with our children. The goal is to teach you to accept your mistakes, learn from them, and never let them diminish your self-esteem. By recognizing our purpose and staying true to our values, we can overcome external criticism and setbacks, turning short-term struggles into long-term gains.

As we wrap up, we lighten the mood with some seasonal dad jokes, like the classic about the scarecrow winning an award for being outstanding in his field. This humorous segment is designed to engage and entertain, but it also leaves you with a powerful message: love yourself unconditionally and strive to be great in your everyday life. Join me for a blend of introspective discussion, practical advice, and light-hearted fun, all aimed at inspiring and supporting you on your journey.
Speaker 1:

Good morning, good morning, good morning everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Dadliest Cast podcast. I'm one half of your show. Your host, david Garrett, is on vacation so I'm going to ride a little solo. Today it's been a minute since we've uploaded any episodes. We've recorded any episodes, with the summer family life, work, the hecticness that is being dads and having families kind of caught up to us and overran our time where he and I really could not get together and sit down and record any episodes. But what we're going to do is we're going to work on that. I know I've said it before, but he and I we've got a plan of action in place to help us be more consistent, stay on a timeline, stay on track with what we want to do and what we want to accomplish with these episodes. For you guys, we feel like crap every time we talk about it, like hey, we haven't recorded in a week, we haven't recorded in two weeks. Two weeks became a month, a month became two months, and so we apologize to you guys. We've been hitting the social media pretty consistently, so it's not like we've completely fallen off the face of the planet, but still, I know you want to hear our voices, I think. But let's get into it.

Speaker 1:

Today I want to talk about how, as dads and as husbands and as men, where we are at right now in our lives is the total sum of our decisions, of our past, and think about that for a minute. Our past, and think about that for a minute. You are the sum of your decisions. So everything you've decided 10 years ago to five years ago, to a year ago, to a month ago, to a week ago, to even one day ago, has added up to the position you're currently sitting in right now while you're listening to this podcast. But that doesn't mean that the sum of your decisions define who you are. Sometimes we make decisions to better our family, to better ourselves, to maybe get out of a toxic work environment, a toxic relationship, and sometimes those decisions do come with some consequences. You know every decision we make isn't going to be the right decision. You know every decision we make isn't going to be the right decision, isn't going to be the perfect decision. Even within those decisions, it may not be the right decision at the moment and for a short time, you may face yourself with some consequences, dealing with some consequences of your actions and your decision making for a short period of time, but the long run comes out for the better. As dads, we have to decide how we're going to raise our children and discipline our children and what values we instill into our children. As husbands we have to decide jokingly, if you know if we're going to win this argument or not. Sometimes winning the battle causes you to lose the war, they say.

Speaker 1:

But I want to delve more into the mental aspect of our decision making. You know, there's times when we make a decision and we feel good about that decision. We're like, yeah, this was the right choice. I feel good. You know, I left one job to go to another, one company to go to a different company and things are turning out really, really well for me now.

Speaker 1:

Sometimes we make those decisions that seem right in the moment, and maybe decisions that seem right in the moment and maybe, you know, for a week or a month or so things are are working out for you, and then those decisions kind of derail and the consequences rear their ugly head a little further down the road after that decision's been made. But the the mental aspect of it which really sucks is, I think we tend to get into this mentality or this thought process of if this doesn't work out, if I made the wrong choice, I'm a piece of crap, and we start to beat ourselves up over it we'll make a decision. And if I made the wrong choice, I'm a piece of crap and we start to beat ourselves up over it. We'll make a decision and the product of that decision isn't, or the results of that decision aren't, what we were hoping for. So then we start to second-guess ourselves and maybe not put in as much effort behind that decision to keep going with it. And then that really affects our mentality, like again, did I make the right choice? Did I make the right call?

Speaker 1:

It's kind of like, uh, football season's right around the corner, so it's. It's like being a head coach of a football team. You know you've got a minute left on the clock, it's third down, eight yards to go. You're playing on your half of the football field, so you're driving, but you still have 50 plus yards to go and you make this call and it doesn't work and you end up losing the game. Your one decision costs you that game, right. And so you kick yourself and you're upset and maybe others around you are upset with you and your decision making and that really knocks you down and gets you second guessing your ability to be a coach, to be a leader.

Speaker 1:

But really what we got to think about is the sum of those decisions right in that football game. You didn't just make that one decision. You made a lot of decisions leading up to that point in time and if you want to microanalyze that, you can sit back and say, well, I could have called this play during the first quarter. I could have ran this play during the second quarter if I would have thrown it instead of ran the ball, or I should have ran the ball instead of throwing the ball. All those decisions on a microscopic level led you to the point at the end of the game where you made that decision that didn't work out.

Speaker 1:

So don't beat yourselves up over a bad decision which, at the moment, you thought was the right choice. Learn from it. Right, we've talked about it before. You learn from your mistakes and you grow from your mistakes. So you learn from those mistakes, you look back and you analyze it. Don't microanalyze it to the point where you're pulling your hair out, but you analyze it and say, okay, that was a mistake, but what choices did I make leading up to it that are directly involved? You know it's not like yo I had oatmeal Tuesday morning and that caused me to be tired on Tuesday afternoon, which caused me to be tired Wednesday, and I started slacking off Thursday and I got fired Friday. That's a micro, micro analyzation of that and we all know the oatmeal wasn't the problem.

Speaker 1:

But think about, you know, the more general decisions that were in line with that decision that you're kicking yourself about. It really does mess with your head as a dad and as a husband, um, when you do decide something and it doesn't work out or it puts you in a really bad position for a period of time and you're paying for those consequences. But you know you're, you're in a position or you're maybe in a better spot since that decision's occurred and you've just got to be patient and continue working and that decision you made two months ago will really start to reap its benefits and rewards down the road. But while you're going through those consequences you know you really you tend to get down on yourself. I know I do, um, I beat myself up, I blame myself and at the end of the day, I made that decision, so there's no one else to blame but, um, but yourself for that. But it's important to have a good support system around you in those situations as well.

Speaker 1:

Um, you know, I make a decision for my family. I talk it over with my wife. My kids are old enough that they they understand the thought process and they understand the thought process and they understand why the decision was made and what the decision was. So you know they do support me in that. But the battle still rages inside my mind Like man, I can't believe I put my family in this situation because I made that decision and, yeah, they supported me, but still I still made that decision. What if I would have just sucked it up and dealt with it? Would we be in this position? Probably not. Would it have been detrimental to my mental health? Probably to my mental health, probably. And that's such a dangerous position to be in.

Speaker 1:

Right, because, as an example, let's say, you hate your job. Your job is just bringing you down and it's affecting you mentally. And it's affecting you mentally, it's affecting you physically, it's affecting your relationship with your friends, your family, most importantly, your spouse and your children. So you make the decision to leave. Now a lot of people will tell you don't ever leave a job without one lined up. And I agree with that. I do Because in this analogy, let's just say, you end up leaving.

Speaker 1:

Well, now the source of income has stopped, or your source of income has stopped if you're in a two-income household. So you know money, a good portion of money stopped coming in. You're on the job hunt and you go on interview after interview after interview and you get the yeah, I'll call you, you're a good fit, got a few more candidates and you hear nothing back. And you know a couple weeks go by and still nothing. And now you know the bills are starting to roll in. So you start dipping into savings and a couple weeks turn into a month with nothing and you know more bills are starting to show up. You've got your mortgage or your rent, your car, notes are coming in your utilities and you continue to go on interviews, go on interviews and you finally land a job. But let's just say that job doesn't happen for two months, three months after you you left your last position. That's a lot of a lot of dead time and downtime where sorry, I'm recording out on my porch Traffic rolling past.

Speaker 1:

You know a lot of things happen after you've left your previous job. You've sat around on your ass for two months and you've been looking for jobs and no one's hiring, but everybody's interviewing. And now you're all you're thinking about is how I'm going to. How am I going to pay this bill? How am I going to pay that bill? How am I going to put food on the table? So that really weighs down on you mentally and those are the consequences that you're going through by making that decision.

Speaker 1:

But then you you land on your feet, you get another job, but now you've got to work through that job and you know, a couple of weeks before you get a paycheck or something. So you're still. You're still a ways away and you find yourself in a position thinking, man, what if I just never left? What if I just stayed? And you start beating yourself up and you kind of start hating yourself for it and you start struggling mentally. I'm here to tell you. You know you just keep pushing. You've got a job. You left the other job for a reason and I hope you would have talked to you know your family about it, those that will directly be affected by that decision, you know your friends aren't going to be affected and if they are, it's going to be on a minor level. Your extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins they're not going to be affected, maybe on a minor level. It's the people under your own roof your spouse, your children. Those are the ones that are going to get affected.

Speaker 1:

Before you make those rash decisions, have those conversations and express why you're feeling the way you're feeling and why you need to get out of that environment and, with the support of your immediate family, then you can make that decision and, with that support, hold on to the fact that they've got your back. You know you're not in it alone. They're in it with you, but they don't hate you. You know they're going to struggle right alongside with you. And, uh, you know you'll get through it. It's just another storm that you're going through. You'll get through it. It's just another storm that you're going through. Life's all about storms and sunshine. It's not always sunshine and rainbows. There's going to be storms. There's going to be moments of darkness where you think you're sinking. You just got to keep pressing through the storm storm.

Speaker 1:

You got to understand that your decisions have led to great things as well. You know, fellas, your decision to start dating your spouse and getting into a long-term, committed relationship was a great decision. Having children was a great decision and, yes, they come with struggles, they come with ups and downs. It's not perfect, but it was a great decision. It's molding you into becoming a better man every single day, because you're not living just for yourself, you're living for others. Right, and hold on to that. You know.

Speaker 1:

Stop hating yourself for those bad decisions. Stop hating yourself for the trials and tribulations you might be going through, for the trials and tribulations you might be going through. Even if you made a boneheaded decision without thinking it through, without having the support of your spouse and your children and your family, you just went off the reservation and said you know what, screw this, I'm done whatever, and you make a bold decision to change something and you absolutely fail and it absolutely sets you back and sets your family back. Don't hate yourself. You need to accept the consequences, you need to accept the criticism, you need to accept all the things that come with bad decisions, but you do not need to accept that hate from yourself. You just need to do the work to get you back into a better position. And I said it earlier, you know, when you make a decision and it comes with short term consequences that are a struggle, don't give up, don't just go crawling back to the way it was and trying to reset things. You know, own it and work on it. Who knows, you know again, you, you face that short time of consequences, but you put in the work, you put in the effort behind the decision that you made and it may take six months, it may take a year, it may take two years, but eventually you'll reap the rewards. You'll reap those benefits of that choice, as long as you commit to it. You own that decision. You say I'm going to work towards this. You own that decision and you say I'm going to work towards this.

Speaker 1:

Hating yourself isn't worth your time. It isn't worth your self-esteem. It isn't worth thinking any less of yourself. It isn't worth thinking that you're not worthy. The key word here is being worth. W-o-r-t-h. Don't let it affect your self-worth. Build on it, learn from it, grow from it worth. Build on it, learn from it, grow from it. Use it as a tool to teach your children about actions and consequences and giving them real life examples.

Speaker 1:

They see it, they see you every single day and children are perceptive, especially young kids. Young young kids are very perceptive. They'll look at you and think he's sad. Even though you might be trying to mask it as best you possibly can. They'll look at you and say you're upset and nine times out of ten they're right.

Speaker 1:

You know the innocence of a child, doesn't know how to lie. So if you're sitting in a room and you think you're, you're, you're playing, it cool, but you're. You've got this body language of of just exhaustion or defeat or tiredness or something. That child might just come waddling up to you and say daddy, are, are you okay? You look tired, you look sad. Shit. If that child says that to you, you're tired and you're sad, that's an opportunity Sorry, guys mumbling through this. It's an opportunity for you to teach your child a valuable lesson that you're going to always be honest with them. So you look them in the eyes and say, yeah, dad's tired, dad's sad. And that child's probably going to ask you why? Why are you tired, why are you sad? And tell them the truth. Tell them that you're tired from work, you're sad because you don't get to spend all the time in the world with that child, but remind them that no matter how tired and no matter how sad you are, no matter how exhausted you are, no matter how stressed and frustrated you are with the world and with life and with work, it's not their fault. That child is the highlight of your day and the bright spot.

Speaker 1:

And while you do what you do, and you do it with a passion and you do it with intensity so that your child can be happy, healthy, well-fed, well-clothed, have a roof over their head, one for nothing I'm not saying spoiled, you know a spoiled child is a developed trait. A spoiled child gets what they want whenever they want, regardless of their behavior and how they act, whether or not they deserve it or earned it. That's a spoiled child and that is a developed trait. As parents, we develop that into our kids by spoiling them. But what I mean by wanting for nothing is that child is happy to just have their parent or parents. That child is happy to spend time with you. That child is happy to do things with you. That child's not happy. That child's happiness is not based on the monetary items that you can provide. That child is truly happy with sitting down and having dinner with you and laughing and joking, sitting down and watching a Disney movie, sitting down and coloring together, whatever activity it is Going to the zoo, going to the playground or park that's a child that wants for nothing.

Speaker 1:

You know, don't let the sum of your decisions bring you down from where you're at currently. Don't even let part of the equation of your decision making bring you down. I know it's easy to say, it's tough to follow. Trust me, I know, do as I say, not as I do to all our listeners out there, but your self-worth can't be affected by a couple of bad mistakes, a couple of bad decisions. You know, love yourself at the end of bad decisions. You know, love yourself at the end of the day.

Speaker 1:

Love where you're at in life. It may not be a good spot, it may not be where you ideally want to be, but you're here for a reason. You're at the point in your life right now for a reason. There's a purpose behind it. Find it, go after it, build on it, develop it, regardless of what outside voices may be saying. They're not in your shoes, they're not walking your walk, so don't let your decisions affect your self-worth and your self-love. It all connects to how you show love and worth back out to the world. You're a liar and lying to yourself, if you're out there loving others more than you're loving yourself, if you're out there showing others how great they are and not showing others how great they are and not showing yourself how great you are and not building yourself up, and that only comes from making some bad decisions. Some of those decisions aren't life changing. Some of those are very subtle decisions.

Speaker 1:

This is like accepting hate, accepting hate, accepting failure, accepting defeat, accepting rejection. You know those little mental decisions that we make about ourselves. Yeah, I'm not good enough. I've asked this girl out a couple of times. I've asked this guy out a couple of times. I've asked this guy out a couple of times. They keep telling me no. So you just accept the rejection, which then affects your self-worth Like you're not good enough. Yeah, you are. That person wasn't good enough for you, maybe, or maybe you just weren't in the right season of your life, right Moment of your life, right, or maybe you just weren't in the right season of your life, right Moment of your life, right. You can't love others more than you love yourself. You can't hold others in a higher regard than you hold yourself. You can't hold others to a higher standard than you hold yourself right. The sum of your decisions in your life up to this point right now is on you and the amount that you love yourself. And we all fall into the trap of quote-unquote hating ourselves, and I don't think that's necessarily true.

Speaker 1:

You don't hate yourself. What reason do you have to hate yourself? What did you do to you? You may hate your situation. You may hate your predicament that you're in, you may hate your life status or whatever. You may hate the outside influences of your life, but you have absolutely no reason to hate yourself. You have absolutely no reason to hate yourself. You have absolutely no reason to beat yourself up constantly. The world is going to do that for you. The people around you are going to do that for you. Your people around you are going to do that for you. Now, hopefully, you keep those people very, very far from your life. You treat them more of an acquaintance than you do a friend or someone you trust and someone you respect and admire. You don't need those people in your admire. You don't need those people in your life. You don't need those haters. Cut them out. Don't even keep them as acquaintances. You know if you've got people in your life who aren't doing anything to build you up, who aren't helping you, who aren't encouraging you, who don't show you respect. You don't need those people in your life. You need to get rid of them. Cut them out and you will quickly find how small your circle really is. You will see how many people in your life you truly, truly respect and admire and love and who feel the same for you.

Speaker 1:

You've got your spouse. You've got your children, your in-laws, your direct parents, your direct siblings. Maybe, and maybe you don't, maybe you don't have that part, like myself. I've got Garrett, I've got Curtis, I've got Dion. I've got three guys in my life, plus my wife, plus my kids, plus my in-laws. That's a very small circle. You know, by default, I would hope. I would hope my wife and kids. So there's three people right there, cool, but let's just assume you take, I would hope, my wife and kids. So there's three people right there, cool, but let's just assume you take the wife, kids and direct family. So parents, siblings, and we'll say in-laws, take those out of the equation. I got three people, three Garrett, curtis and Dion. That's all I need. That's all I need. There's that one dude. He does comedy, but he also does motivational speaking as well, and he goes on the Joe Rogan podcast a lot big Italian guy. I think he might have been on the Sopranos, he's been in a few movies and he talks, he's on stage, he goes.

Speaker 1:

I don't need a whole army. I don't need a whole army, I just need three Good motherfuckers and we can take over a country. I just need three good motherfuckers and you're done. You're finished. You can't stop us. And that's what I got. I got three good motherfuckers in my life and I'm grateful for them every day. Those are three gentlemen who build me up, who encourage me, who laugh with me, who cry with me, who empathize with me, talk me through things, talk me off the ledge. You know when I'm feeling down on myself. I talk to them sometimes and they're like what the hell are you doing? Talking down on yourself? You're a great dude, you're a great dad, you're a great husband. Why are you letting this pull you down? So I'm here to encourage you, fellas, that you know you're a great dad, you're a great husband. Why are you letting X, y and Z pull you down? Stop hating yourself. Love yourself more. Love yourself unconditionally.

Speaker 1:

There's a motivational speaker I'm going to butcher his name, tom Bilyeu. He's had some really cool interviews with some athletes that I've enjoyed. He's got some tracks on Spotify that I listen to and he's got this quote that I want to share with you. It kind of ties into this discussion and this topic a little bit, or actually a lot. He says no one will ever hate you with the intensity that you can hate yourself, and that's why you must take the time to build yourself worth.

Speaker 1:

The reality is, if you want to love yourself, you have to do something that is worthy of that love. You have to do something that you believe in. You have to find a way to build credibility with yourself. Think about that for a moment, right? He's not talking about doing anything so others shower you with praise and others tell you that you're worthy and that you're good enough. No, he's talking about for you. At the end of the day, it's you that you're worthy and that you're good enough. No, he's talking about for you. At the end of the day, it's you versus you. Love yourself and find your own self-worth. And that self-worth doesn't have to be something like a podcast. It could be something very personal, it could be a hobby, it could be something that you enjoy, right, but it's a foundation of continuing to build and build and grow and grow.

Speaker 1:

You know, someone once said if you can't love yourself, how can you expect others to love you? If you can't love yourself, how can you expect others to love you? Right, because if you don't feel worthy of your own love, all you're going to do is reject the love of those coming from others, which then creates the cycle of pushing people away and causing depression and anxiety in your own life. It creates all these negative things. It puts you in positions where you make bad decisions, bad mistakes, and fast forward 5-10 years. You're in a very bad place because the sum of your decisions is who you are.

Speaker 1:

We make so many decisions every single day, some on a very, very molecular scale, some on a very, very, very major scale and everything in between, right Molecular scale being what shirt you're going to wear, what socks you're going to wear. If the decision of what socks you wear has a drastic effect on your life, you are probably in a really, really, really good position. So I don't want to hear it. But on a grander scale, you know, maybe the route you chose to drive to work differs from your normal, or the route you drove home differs from normal, calling off when you shouldn't have, whatever. Those could have a major impact. Moving forward, you hear stories all the time of people getting into a car accident using the which way you drive to and from work, getting into car accidents because they went a different way than they normally do, than they normally do. Well, that was a decision on a grand scale that affected their life, or they went a different way, for whatever reason. They went a different way home, or they went a different way to work and on their normal route there was a major, major accident that, because they went a different way, they weren't a part of.

Speaker 1:

You know your decisions are important, but don't get hung up on your past decisions. Don't get hung up on the equation that you're currently in. Understand that you're going to be making more decisions. You're going to make a bunch of decisions today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, for the next five, ten years. You're going to be making a ton of decisions, more than you could ever count.

Speaker 1:

And guess what that theory of you are the sum of your decisions. Well, guess what? That equation is near infinite. You're going to continue to make decisions every single day that's going to change that sum. The decisions you make today are going to have an effect tomorrow. The decisions that you make tomorrow are going to have an effect next week. The decisions you make next week will have an effect next month. The equation is never ending until you no longer exist. And that's the beauty of it. Right, I talked about the negative outcome of our decision making, but the beauty of it is we get to make more decisions and we're going to make better decisions and the right decisions and good decisions, every single day moving forward, and that equation will just keep going. And if we ever mess up down the road and we don't carry the one properly and it kind of messes up our sum for that day or for that week or whatever, guess what? Here's the beauty of it. We get to make more decisions afterwards when we can more or less correct that bad math.

Speaker 1:

One of my favorite lines I've been using lately is the math ain't maffin'. Two plus two ain't equal in four kind of situations. 2 plus 2 ain't equal in 4 kind of situations. That's okay. Maybe today we make a decision where 2 plus 2 equals 5, but later we make a decision where 2 plus 2 does equal 4, and tomorrow we make that decision that 2 plus 2 still equals 4. That's the beauty of it all. Tomorrow we make that decision that 2 plus 2 still equals 4. That's the beauty of it all that we get to write our own equation. We get to do our own math. We get to love ourselves, we get to build our self-worth, we get to build a future that's full of positivity and good things on whatever scale of life.

Speaker 1:

You're on right, but I want to encourage you and I want to stress to you that you have to work for it. You have to work through it, you have to work past it. You have to work for it. You have to earn it. Nothing in this life is free. So you got to go out there, you got to work your ass off. You gotta earn it. Instill that into your children. Show them that you know you're gonna make choices, you're gonna make decisions, and it's to put you in a place in your life. You may or may not like it, but understand that. That's how you set it up, that was the math you put in, but you get to do it every single day. So maybe there's a hiccup in your life, maybe there's a setback in your life. Those aren't permanent. These decisions that you make are not permanent to the point where there is no changing it. It's your life, your story. You can write it how you want. Just make sure that the math maths.

Speaker 1:

You know the country is in a very torn state politically and I said we wouldn't talk politics. I just want to get this off my chest. Right is your God given right as citizen of this country to have your own opinion on politics, to vote for red or blue, whatever. Vote for who you want to vote for. Vote for the person that best meets your ideals and best meets your visions and best aligns with your hopes for this nation. We get to decide every single day how we represent ourselves In that facet and I want to encourage all of our listeners out there.

Speaker 1:

I don't care if you're voting right or left, I don't. Don't ask me. It's your business. My political views are my business. But be a good person. That's how I look at politics. Are you a good person? Are you going to try to do right by the people, not by the corporations or whatever? Are you going to do right by the upcoming generation? Are you going to try to do that. Okay, are you a good person? You probably get my vote. I don't care if you're red or blue, I don't care if you're independent, I don't care if you're a man, woman, black, white, I don't give a shit. Are you a good person? So I encourage our listeners out there. Be a good person. You're an adult.

Speaker 1:

It is okay to have differing opinions, it is okay to have different views. We're not machines, we're not computer programs. It is okay to sit down with someone and talk about your differences and still be cordial or still be friends or still respect one another. You know, if you're one of these people that think your view of politics and your general view of politics and your group view of politics, whatever side of the fence you're on, is the only way and you won't humble yourself to sit down and respect another person's opinion. If you're one of these people who like to deface political signs because they don't align with yours, or or verbally abuse people because their political views do not align with yours, or verbally abuse people because their political views do not align with yours, or even physically harm someone because they don't agree with you, you need to look in the mirror, point at yourself and call yourself an asshole, because that's what you are and you are part of what's wrong with this country. You are part of the problem, of what is wrong with our people. You know you are not a good person. You're an asshole, and remind yourself of that. Here's the beauty of it you get to make some decisions to change that and you can become a better person. You don't have to work towards it.

Speaker 1:

This was a little heavy of a discussion today, but it's something that's been on my mind for a little bit of time. That's been on my mind for a little bit of time and I wanted to get it off my chest. Between decision-making, which leads to your mental health, which also affects your physical health, to loving yourself, your self-worth, to finding the beauty in life, changes on a daily basis based upon the decisions you make and you get to make new decisions every single day and encouraging you to be a good person. You know, I just wanted to get that stuff off my chest for you guys. A couple of life updates on my end to close out this episode. My son is going to be a freshman in high school this year. My how time flies. My daughter is going to be a freshman in college this year. My how time flies, my how time flies.

Speaker 1:

It's absolutely crazy to think that it feels like yesterday and I know it's cliche to say, but it really does feel like yesterday, where I was walking them to kindergarten. And now, you know, I watched my daughter walk at graduation. I'm watching my son grow into a young man and I'm super proud of the both of them. And there is a garbage truck coming down the hill. I apologize for the loud noise. There's my man gonna go. Cool, you went the other direction, that helps. So yeah, anyway, sorry about that, I'm super, super proud of both my kids. Pat on the back to my wife and I or me and my wife For my grammar folks out there, sorry. Pat ourselves on the back to my wife and I or me and my wife for my grammar folks out there, sorry, um, pat ourselves on the back because we worked our asses off and uh, I know our kids noticed it and I know that they appreciated it and they know that we love them unconditionally. They know that we love them unconditionally. So we got that going on. So, super excited. You know, we got like a new student cookout at the college here next week and then the following weekend is move-in day, which is going to be cool. My wife's definitely going to cry, I might, but she's not going too too far away from home. It's still a short trip. We can shoot up there and visit her, hang out with her on the weekends, kind of deals, if she wants. She may want nothing to do with us after she gets off to college, but yeah, so that's going on.

Speaker 1:

We here at the Dadliest Cast apologize to you guys. We got so caught up with life and some of the decisions that we made that we are unable this year to do the back to school bash. Um backpack and school supply giveaway. It was something I really enjoyed doing last year. Um, it's something that I want to do again next school year, but it also is something that requires me to plan it more in advance than I did last year. Um, I need to start planning it come like April May, uh, versus middle of July. You know it's already August 9th, august 10th, um, school starts in two weeks.

Speaker 1:

I just cannot put together a back to school drive that quickly. So, um, garrett and I are talking about doing something else, though not to make up for it, but doing something else as well as so he and I are going to talk about it. We have maybe another month before we really need to decide whether or not we are going to do this idea, and if we both agree and we can get this to work out, we'll make an announcement, probably on the next episode, to let you know what it is and how. Maybe you guys can help as well. This will be a team effort. We need classroom participation in this, just like we had with the back to school drive last year. That's what we need. We'll talk about it if Garrett and I agree that we can pull this off and we have a structure and a timeline of how we're going to do this. Some more news on that front to come.

Speaker 1:

Garrett and I did speak in depth, uh, a little bit a couple of times this week about this podcast and, uh, how we need to get back on the train here and we've talked about it in the past and uh, like, yeah, yeah, you said that before, you said that before. So, um, we have a couple of ideas that we're going to iron out that will keep us on track and keep us posting consistently. So I'm serious when I say this we're going to be consistent with this. We're going to have a schedule that we're going to follow, so we'll just add it. We're going to do the work. You know this is something that we're going to follow, so we'll just add it. We're going to do the work.

Speaker 1:

You know this is something that we're passionate about. This is something that I want to build my own credibility in, in talking about self-worth, something that I love to do, something I love thinking about. So you know this plays into my own personal self-worth. So bear with us, guys. Please accept our apologies and Garrett's not here, but you know let's find a dad joke. I don't know, let's see here. Garrett usually has these lined up for us, me not so much, because I'm not as prepared as he is.

Speaker 1:

And you know, comment on our social media posts if you have any dad jokes, if you have any topics you want to discuss, man. So I'm scrolling through this and a lot of these dad jokes are talking about Christmas all of a sudden, which is kind of scaring me. Here's one, and we'll close up with this why did the scarecrow win an award? The scarecrow win an award because he was outstanding in his field. Thank you, guys, so much for listening. Hope you guys have a great day and until the next episode, love yourself. Love yourself unconditionally. Guys, go out there, continue to be great, continue to be awesome. Don't forget to love yourself along the way.

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