I think I’ve written, re-written, and edited this article hundreds of times over the last few years.  Not just for this site, but for other blogs I’ve tried to start in the past.  No matter how many times I’ve tried, it just never seemed “perfect” or “good enough” for me.  I think basically I just wanted this first post to be something amazing that was going make the world take notice and pull up a chair.  Something to really knock everyone’s socks off.  You know, the typical overnight success story.  Which we all know isn’t really a thing, but that’s for another blog post.

Another thing holding me back was fear.  The fear of believing in myself.  Am I really qualified to cover the topics that I want to cover here?  Am I or can I really be a good source of inspiration for others who are similar to me?  I’d tell myself yes, but then my ego would jump in and tell me “No, you aren’t.  You haven’t even solved your own problems yet.  How are you going to help other people work on theirs?”.  Just like that, the answer came out of the fear and self-doubt.  I am a work in progress.  I am fully focused on bettering myself physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, as a parent, and pretty much every possible way you can imagine.  I can show people as I go.  Ahhhh, the power of the internet!  Not only can I write about what is working for me, I can SHOW everyone on social media! 

*When you want to post a picture of: “Angels descend from the heavens playing majestic tunes on trumpets and harps made of solid gold” but the free photo site only has KISS….*

And that is what I want to do here.  I want to document my self-improvement journey as inspiration to show others that they can do it too. 

Initially, years ago when I had the idea for blogging, I wanted to focus on single dads.  I feel that as a group, we aren’t vocal enough about our stories.  We don’t get as much coverage or representation.  Now, I’m not saying this in any way to be negative or to downgrade single moms.  It’s just that, I’m not sure if it’s a man thing or what, but we just don’t share our stories.  We don’t really talk about what we go through as a single parent.  We don’t talk about the emotional aspects or struggles we have to cope with.  I think in general society expects us to just suck it up.  We shouldn’t.  We need to share.  As divorce rates climb higher and higher, the number of single and co-parenting fathers is only climbing.  That just means more and more people that aren’t going to know where to turn, what to do, or are just going to bottle everything up and let it eat them alive.  For any single dads reading this, you aren’t alone.  There are plenty of people just like you and me.  I think it’s important that we share our stories and bring them in to the light.  If for nothing else, just to get it out in the open, and to get it off of our souls.

With all that being said, I don’t want to just focus solely on single dads.  I want to be an example for anyone of any gender and any situation that wants to grow and improve themselves.  For me personally, I want to become the best version of myself.  I don’t want to become attached to that completed best version of myself though, because I don’t think you ever fully reach it, I want to fall in love with the journey to getting to that best version of myself.  I think that is where the key lies.  You have to have a goal or a dream in mind, but you have to fall in love with the journey to get there.  Not the idea that once you reach it, you’ll FINALLY be happy.  I think that is what keeps you moving towards your best self.  Right now, that is just my theory, but it is what I’m going to capture here on this blog.

When I say, “best version of myself”, I’m talking about a total overhaul of everything.  A complete reboot (see what I did there? Singledadreboot.com).  I’m starting from the ground up.  I’m talking physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and financial fitness.  A strong dose of self-esteem and self-love building.  Learning to heal any hurts from my past.  Becoming more mindful of everything around me from being present at all times when I’m with my daughter to being more mindful when I’m eating to mind-muscle connection when I’m in the gym.  I’m going to build a sense of gratitude.  For everything that has happened and is happening in my life.  Everything that has taken place in my life thus far is preparing me and leading me to a much greater place.  To get to where I want to go, the past had to take place and prepare me for it.  I have complete faith in that. 

I truly believe a big part of any success story is just showing up and doing the work each day.  That’s really it.  Don’t think too far ahead because that will only build anxiety.  Just show up today.  Then tomorrow, just show up tomorrow.  That’s it.  Don’t think about showing up next week, just focus on showing up today.  And don’t try and cram the entire journey in to today either.  Just get 1% better.  I think I first heard that idea from Brandon Carter.  If you’re not familiar with him he’s an online trainer/fitness/motivational/entrepreneur figure.  I was reading one of his posts years ago and the idea was to just try and get 1% better every day.  That’s it.  The idea is, if you get 1% better every day, that growth compounds.  Slow incremental change will compound over time, so if you get 1% better for a year, or 365 days, that’s a lot of growth!  1% a day is nothing!  So just show up every day and do a little work.  That is going to be the basic back bone and structure of how I am going to change.

In the coming days I’ll delve more into my background and history, but as the title of this post says, it was just time to start.  Time to put away the self-doubt, punch my negative ego-driven thoughts in the mouth, and take the first step.  At the end of the day all I really want to do is grow myself into the best version of myself.  And I want a record of it if my daughter or friends/family/anyone close to me is struggling and can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.  If I can help inspire even just one other person to change besides myself then I have succeeded.  I don’t think I’m special or remarkable, so as I’m making these changes and growing, you too dear reader (if there are any…) can do it too…

And because I love rap music, and this song seems fitting for the overall theme of this post