ACA MEMBER BLOGS

In the weeks following the presidential election, there has been a dramatic increase in hate crimes, primarily targeting immigrant, Muslim, LGBTQ, and Black communities.

“I gotta code and fervor,” no, it’s not a typographical error, even though this is the flu season when we hear a lot, “I’ve got a cold and fever!”

As we near the end of 2016 and wonder what the next year will bring, we have an opportunity to be more intentional about what we’re focusing on. Because of the way our brains are wired, it’s easy to focus on what’s wrong or what’s about to go wrong.

As the weeks progress and I work with various adolescent clients with a variety of issues, and then return home to my own adolescent children, I find myself completely immersed in the adolescent world.

This could be a blog about how big corporations have ruined radio forever. It could be a blog about the loss of relationships when our favorite DJ’s are off the air waves. It could be a blog about mass layoffs that are just plain bad. But it’s really a blog about change.

Comedian Chris Gethard was once the darling of Comedy Central. But after a sitcom cancelation, he found himself in the midst of a twisting career path, while struggling with depression, alcoholism, and anxiety.

Improving your child’s chances of success in life is something that we as fathers have a tremendous amount of input on. We can either teach them that their genetics and environment are as far as they can go or we can create the conditions for them to define what their success will be.

Albert Ellis had an incredible view on women. Apparently, we act a lot different than we did a few centuries ago. We used to be a lot kinder to ourselves. We used to make others be kinder to us too. It seems we are now what is called “double-burdened.”

The future contains the present that the past was preparing for. Consider that for a moment. For all the time and resources spent preparing for a potential future, it will never be more than what was possible in the present. For all our lamentations and considerations about the past, it held within it the potential of the present we’re experiencing.

If there’s one thing that veterans are familiar with, it’s loss. Sacrifice, by its definition, is to accept loss, and sacrifice is what veterans do. We leave our families behind when we join the military. We leave the familiarity of our environment. When we are in the military, more change, more loss. Moving to a new duty station every three years.