Parenting Blog

When Did We Get So Tired

To call the past 18 months “rough” would be a bit of an understatement. But then again, so many have had it so worse. I try not to complain, at least not publicly, because I’m fully aware that despite the hardships I’ve endured, I remain one of the more fortunate fellas out there, getting to do what I love and be surrounded by love too. Still, after losing my dad, losing my brother, and almost losing my youngest daughter, I’m exhausted every single day in ways that I have never previously known and I am still grieving in ways I don’t always understand.

Last week, after yet another heart-to-heart talk with my wife and after crying yet again about how I feel like I’m carrying so much, more than I am capable of coping with, she gently touched my face and said, “Oh baby, you look so, so tired.”

She wasn’t referring to the good sleep I haven’t been getting, although that’d have been fair enough. My wife was talking about my face, my eyes, and the tiredness that I can’t wash away. The truth of it is that I’m a 47-year-old freelance writer who is struggling to be the person I need to be for myself and for my kids.

Thankfully, one thing that I have sorted out without any hassle and with less waiting thanks to a purely digital application experience is giving my kids the assurance that should something happen to me, they will be taken care of financially thanks to the life insurance with no medical exam I was able to get from Fabric by Gerber Life. This is cheap term life insurance that’s ideal for families because the plans can be customized to suit your specific needs and the process takes no more than 10 minutes to complete, meaning you can ensure that you have the financial safety net all families deserve in between school drop-off and the start of your work day.

Whether you are still on FMLA after having your first baby, spend your days on the floor happily doing wooden puzzles with your giddy toddlers, or have kids who are far closer to full-fledged adults than thumb-sucking babies, cheap term life insurance is an essential piece of your financial puzzle.

Getting life insurance with no medical exam is one important step for the future, but I also needed to figure out the right now, so I’ve started to try to find more balance in my life by reclaiming my weekends from the constant hum of work. For the past two weeks, I have been keeping the laptop shut on weekends and keeping my phone usage to a minimum too (admittedly, this is a lot harder to achieve, but I’m trying). The goal is to focus on my own wellbeing (physical, mental, and emotional) and the wellbeing of my wife and kids, and I think it is working. By abandoning the toxic hustle culture a freelancer like me can too easily fall into – because we start to think that every moment needs to be maximized in order to stay afloat and stay relevant – I am slowly getting back to being silly, being spontaneous, and being clear-minded enough to see the abundance of joy that is right there in front of me in a million small things that happen every day, in the way the sunlight will cut across the hardwood floor on a Saturday morning, the way the birds sing to start the day, the way the cats cuddle on my lap while I’m watching soccer, the way a homemade pizza can make the apartment smell like home, the way my youngest kid still beams at the thought of going through a car wash before school, and the way my wife looks at me with so much love in her eyes throughout the day.

Here’s to finding joy in the small things again and smiling more often every day

My kids future is assured, now I’m going to give them their goofy, energized, and fun dad back.

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