It’s midnight and I’m deep in flow at my desk.
The baby monitor flashes as it detects sound in the nursery.
I sigh with exasperation. I know what’s next.
Seconds later Lyra’s cries shatter the nocturnal peace.
I’m sprinting up the stairs.
I’ve got to settle her.
I’ve got to do it before she fully wakes.
If not, it’ll be 𝘸𝘢𝘺 longer before I can return to the dopamine high of creating value for my clients.
I take the steps 2 at a time.
As I enter the nursery, our 13 month old daughter is already on her feet.
She’s facing the wall, disoriented and upset at finding herself alone in a dark, silent world.
I scoop her up and we sit on the rocking chair by the cot.
As we gently sway back and forth, my mind is on market segmentation and positioning statements, trying not to lose my thread.
Then I feel her hand inch up onto my chest.
A heavenly warmth spreads through me.
Is this what Reiki feels like?
My mental and physical vision collapse into the singularity of the present.
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴.
This is what it’s about.
Until I became a father, I had no idea of what some men go through.
Denied access to their children by bitter breakups and unsympathetic courts.
I’d read it drives many to depression, some to desperate measures.
I get it now.
Last year Jade showed me a gratitude exercise, as simple as it is powerful.
You reframe “I got to do x,” as “I get to do x.”
I’m annoyed at having to remind myself. Again.
But just as you need to shower every day…
I GET to settle her.
Client work evaporates, and I congratulate myself again for having made the call just over 2 years ago.
No 6 figure paycheck could compensate missing out on this.
𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘓𝘺𝘳𝘢.
𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶.
💓
