What is this place?
A place for me to organize my thoughts, write, and learn. A chance to see if my thoughts, fears, and dreams may resonate with anybody out there.
Who should be here?
If you feel like you’ve been asleep for most of your life, or on autopilot on a path you didn’t consciously choose…
If you find yourself feeling like you’re perpetually playing someone else’s game…
If you find discomfort in being you and seek to escape the rare moments of peace and quiet in your ever-so-busy life with alcohol and weed (or Netflix, food, social media, and just about anything else you can get lost in)…
If you could wipe your slate clean and write down what the most important things in your life are, compare them to how you live your life right now, and find a large dissonance…
Then maybe you should be here.
I think for everyone there is a moment where you stop being a passive actor in your life, simply doing what you are told and surviving the grind of each day, and realize that you are in total control of your life. Some people were born with that realization and never lost it… others, like me, lost it somewhere along the way. If you feel like maybe there’s a dream buried deep inside of you, but fear and comfort are keeping you immobile – maybe the journey I’m on (its successes and its failures) can help inform your own.
What is it not?
It’s not a place to share the daily details of my family’s personal lives. It’s not a real-time snapshot of the ongoing process of change. I read some advice I will try to subscribe to: share the scars, not the wounds. I will try to be real with what I deal with, but ideally from a place of quiet reflection and understanding.
Who am I?
I’m a 35-year-old father of two, born and raised in NJ, USA. I’ve spent the past twelve years navigating a career in Supply Chain for a Fortune 50 company that has consisted of rotations, stretch assignments, relocation, and all the related corporate career hooplah. As a result of a number of experiences across the past five years, I’ve come to the decision that things for me aren’t okay. Right now I’ve taken a Family Leave from my job to try some radically different approaches to living and parenting that has seen my family relocate to coastal Ecuador.
For a very long time, “who I am” was so very closely linked to “what I do”. I know enough now that I am not my job. I’m taking some time to figure out who I really am, and this site is a part of that discourse.
This site is a documentation of my efforts to try to bring my life into alignment with my values.
Why “Thriving Fries”?
There’s no deep meaning here. What’s set me off is the pursuit of a life where the focus can be shifted from surviving to thriving, with the hopes of ensuring that my two “little fries” are set up to thrive.