Change is Coming - Part 2

Thanks for coming back for Part 2! If you didn't read part 1 yet, please go here.

Most of you that have worked with me in one capacity or another know that I have a big family. I have a total of 8 kids; five of my own (one adopted), and 3 step-children. Extending out I have 3 siblings and each sibling and together we collectively have 17 total kids. My parents are both from large families, my Dad had 5 siblings and my mom had 8 siblings. With such a big family, you can imagine all the experiences had.

I started my journey in parenthood at a very young age, my oldest child is 27 and the youngest is 6. Yes, that is a big spread! As you can imagine, having so many kids, I was fortunate to experience a lot of parental situations; some good and some not, I can write a book on it! Along that path I also participated in a wide variety of education/training and jobs, believe it or not, I was one test away from being a Certified Diesel Mechanic. During my career, I have been a fry cook, an importer, a developer, an IT Manager, a CIO, a COO, a business owner, and an adjunct college professor, and a majority of my career has been in software sales. The wide variety of people that I have crossed paths with is immense.

With the vast number of kids and friends I have, I have learned a few things about people:

1. Most people are generally very good people.
2. There is no perfect life, everyone struggles, despite what we may see on social media.
3. Being open and honest about struggles helps people feel connected.

Here is the openness. The things I have experienced over the last 10 years that has to lead me to Part 3 of my Big Announcement:

• I watched one of my children fall into substance abuse while in college. There is a happy ending there, they were able to survive rock bottom, go to rehab and get on the right path.
• I have seen marriages fail that I thought were future-proof, but failed to substance abuse, physical abuse, and emotional abuse.
• I have a child that suffers from a serious mental illness that is extremely difficult to diagnose and treat.
• I have lost a couple of friends due to suicide, substance abuse, and alcoholism.
• I have attended the funeral of a friend's child who was taken way too soon.
• I've answered calls in the middle of the night from a friend who desperately needed to check into rehab, was scared, and need support.

You too have probably been part of some or all of the above, it is hard. Not all the stories have sad endings, some have extremely rewarding endings, but not enough of them.

We often try as we can to separate our professional and personal lives but no matter how complex of a creature humans are, it is impossible to compartmentalize some of these issues. For the next few years, I am making a choice to do something different. I am taking the aggregate of all my life experience, both professional and personal, and combining them for something truly amazing. Part 3 will reveal further detail of my announcement. Many of you have reached out to guess but I haven't shared anything, I just ask you to indulge me by taking this journey with me.

While not everyone is in the same boat as me, we all have experiences, think about those experiences for a moment, no matter how unpleasant, and consider sharing them somehow. Be more open, be more honest, you already do it with your very close friends. Maybe start by going one step outside your close friend circle and be a little vulnerable and share. You will be surprised at the response and whom you help.