So, WTF are we gonna do? Talk?
Are you gonna give me some woo-woo soft psychobabble, give me a bottle, and wrap me in a blanket?
There will be no psychobabble unless you want it. In which case, I can give you a dictionary.
A is for Ammunition.
J is for Jarhead.
You’ve already got a bottle, and I need you to put it down. And, yes, I have a blanket if you want one.
What are we gonna do? Whew.
You don’t like specific questions, now, do you? Well, for starters, you’re gonna tell me WTF you’re doing here. I mean, I know your mind is a wasteland, but that comes in many flavors.
I need to know if you’re rocky road, chunky monkey, or Ozzy on crack and coffee. So, you’ll share a bit and try to scare me, and I won’t scare because you’re not nearly as screwed up as the last guy I saw.
Then we’ll lay out a plan. It’ll be tailor-made for your specific style of suck.
Look, man, I can tell you that I use this stuff called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, but you’re already thinking about moving on just having read that.
Listen, it sounds all soft and ‘love yourself, live yourself, blah, blah, whatever.’ I assure you, pal, it’s not. It’s just as hard as you are and twice as stubborn.
Am I gonna swear in front of your kids? WTF dude, no.
Wait, am I bringing my kids?
At some point. It’s gonna help. Some of the best breakthroughs I’ve had have come when the kiddo comes into session.
We as adults often don’t give kids the credit they’re due. They are powerful little people, man. They understand and absorb a lot more than we think.
I know a four-year-old kid who understood the importance of not popping those air pillows Amazon packs everything with these days before clearing it with dad. Not because he was scared of dad, but because he knew it reminded dad of something scary that happened to him.
Kids understand scary, and most of them will shower you with hugs and give you their best stuffy if they think you’re scared. Imagine, you’re scared of what your kid thinks of you, and here he is telling YOU it’s gonna be okay, daddy.
It’s happened. And it’s profound.
Ooh. And I got another gem for you. I know you’ve heard that there is no tighter relationship, no stronger bond, than the one between guys in a foxhole. Not even your wife can get that close. MYTH. NOT TRUE. FALSE.
You’re that close because you went through something life-altering and intense. You will go through something just as intense and scary – just a different kind of intense – with your spouse. And the bond will be much stronger because you’ll have chosen to do it with the person you hand -picked to go with you through life.