In September I took a break from all things in my career to go into full-on-stay-at-home-dad mode. I didn’t blog, I didn’t speak* and my clients will tell you that I rarely replied to their needs with any urgency for almost half of a year. I allowed myself to be fully in the moment as a brand spanking new dad. I separated my two worlds partly out of strategy, but mostly out of necessity. I had dreams of juggling the career and dad-dom, but those fizzled quickly as I discovered that the old cliché is true: Parenting is the hardest (and most rewarding) job I’ve ever had. Now, in the midst of my professional comeback, I can’t help but reflect on the surprising results of my professional refresh. Here are three-and-a-half lessons I learned from my career break:
1. My battery might be recharged, but it’s hard to get the motor running again. I heeded some parental advice and took naps when my kid did, but now I find myself in the midst of body shock, deprived of daytime sleep. I’m holding out hope that my office will host a daily all-staff nap at the conclusion of carb-heavy lunch.
2. Parenthood will forever change what I do professionally. My professional risks may be less risky and my formerly hard-edged blogs may get a sappier. The latter is evidenced by my Facebook page, which has turned me into that guy with incessant kiddo posts. Of course, in today’s political climate, I welcome the “my kid is the cutest” social media poster to the left and right alternative.
3. My 9-5 brain muscles have lost their definition. Don’t get me wrong, I had to use my brain watching my child; they are just different brain muscles. And like any other skill, if you don’t use it, you lose it. The first few days back to the grind I found my attention span to be only marginally better than my seven-month-old daughters. I also have been resisting the now natural reflex of feeding my co-workers my mashed up avocado at the cafeteria.
And three-and-a-half: I’m still holding on to portions of my non-dad life. While I love being a dad and am fairly sure I was born to do it, I hesitate to go “full-dad.” Dads everywhere are geeks and while I’m in denial that this is what I’ve become, I have inadvertently been training for this moment. Last summer I was at the beach without a shirt on and an in-shape college kid took one look at my mushy torso and lit up, saying, “Dad bod!” So I guess I’m ready.
Dad bod here, reporting back to duty!
*It should be noted that I’m a professional speaker, so I did actually use my voice to talk to people - just not on stage.