Dear Dads,

One middle aged Dad to another, How you doin over there?

I know we don't get a lot of people checking in on us, being the big strong men that we are and all that. We got good at looking strong didn't we. 

I know from experience, looks can be deceiving. 

Look man, it's been a wild year. Even people who usually know what to do didn't know what to do... and work... jobs... politics... it's been rough one bro for all of us. 

For me man i took a lot of time to ask myself some really hard questions. I realized i wasn't taking very good care of myself mentally. I was down more than i wanted to be and I had to try to fix it. 

Along the way I figured out a couple things that helped me a ton! 

Turns out it wasn't all that complicated... 

Bro to bro.  (attention reader: if you're not a dad then go away... jk. you can keep snooping if you want, but we're connecting here man to man... or really man to machine to machine to man... but whatever. Back to my bro chat. )

Bro to bro we need to talk more man. I bet you used to talk to work friends all the time, and now at home on your zoom call you're wondering why you chose this life.

Man, people need other people in such basic ways we don't think about it all that much. A face to face smile, an ear to listen, friends around to help... we've always needed that.

Fatherhood is awesome. The best. But if you're not careful it makes for a pretty good excuse to sacrifice hobbies, friendships, and playtime, and at times it well should. But don't loose yourself. There's a kid in there still. Feed him too. People around you like you better this way I promise. This has helped me a ton, and in the end am a better father for it. 

What I'm saying is that a lot of dad's are burnt out, and we suck at taking care of ourselves, aaaaand we're not always so great at managing friendships. I can't tell you how many dudes I know that do this to themselves. 

Here's my point. 

We need each other bro.

Part of my mission with Twig&Fin is to connect with dudes struggling to keep their stoke alive. And maybe try to help in some form. I'm no therapist or anything like that. Most of us just need a friend and an adventure on the calendar, and i realize a lot of us have a hard time finding both. 

So stay connected with us on Instagram or via the newsletter at the bottom but from time to time I'll have a meet up or demo day thing and I'd love to see ya there. 

If you're real serious about reigniting your stoke then maybe hit up my buddy Daniel. He does this kind of stuff as a job and might be able to help in ways i couldn't. 

Regardless, take care of yourself. Feed the kid inside every now and then. See ya around. 

-Aaron