As a single Dad I bet the last piece of furniture you ever “debated” keeping when you and your Ex split up was a coat rack. Who needs a place to hang up coats and hats when you have that almost new couch in your Family/Living/Dining Room. That is about all it is good for, throwing coats and unfolded laundry on..you sure aren’t going to enjoy sitting on it for very long. So why does a Divorced Dad (or even Divorced Mom) really need a coat rack? I have found that the single most important piece of furniture I have is my coat rack. Care to know why it is so important to my life as a successful single Dad?
I tried for years to set a good example and hang my coat up. OK, truth time, I tried for a couple of months and then found the couch and/or dining room table was way easier to use. But I did try. After all, the experts said I was supposed to keep my house as cleaned up and “homely” as my Ex kept her house. Funny thing, I realized very quickly that all those “expert” authors had names like Betty or Rett or Lynette. Got me to thinking someone had way too much time on their hands if keeping coats off the furniture was important to Family life. What next, a ban on scratching in the house?
Which is a lot of words to say that about 6 months into being a Single Dad I ended up with my coat rack ( and not the small bedroom TV I could have gotten) ended up in the garage awaiting garbage day. Problem was, I kept forgetting to take it out to the curb on garbage day. Flash forward, it is a year later and there it sits, ready for a trip to the curb. Sometimes I’ve even cleaned around it while sweeping out the garage. My Mom came to town for a visit and asked how long I planned to keep a coat rack in the garage. I answered what rack and got a big laugh out of her. Do you think I put it out that week? Nope, Mom left before garbage day, so I forgot all about it. I can’t tell you how very glad I am that I forget to haul it away.
On my way home from work one night, I got tired of listening to how the Bills might win next Sunday if only they would 1)score more points and 2)not allow the other Team to score more points (why didn’t I go into radio with my expertise on sports? Missed the boat on that one Big Time). So I switched to local “talk” radio and caught the tail end of some Counselor dude talking about hanging up work when you get home from work before going inside to be with the Family. I wasn’t really listening; at least I didn’t think I was. However, a funny thing happened when I cam home that evening. I was very stressed about a work situation and was planning how to cook a quick meal, plop the kids in front of the TV, and get to work figuring out what I was going to say at the sales meeting the next morning. As I went to go into the house, I saw “IT” my wonderful beautiful awesome Coat Rack. What the heck, maybe the guy on the radio was at least as smart as the sports guys, so I took all my work stress and “Hung it Up” on the coat rack. Left it there all night. Next morning on the way out I took the stress off the coat rack and put it back on.
I could not believe how lighter the stress felt. Plus I was pumped because I had beaten my little kids at Chutes and Ladders the night before. Life was awesome and I was riding high on the hog. It was at that moment I decided to never take stress into the house again. I wasn’t perfect in remembering to hang my troubles up. But I got pretty darn good at it. In fact I went pert near 4 years remembering. I attribute this simple gesture (yes I physically took off my stress and hung it up when I went inside and then took it off the rack and put it back on when I left the house) to much of the success I enjoyed as a Single Dad. I encourage you to try this (you don’t need a coat rack..a nail in the wall will do) and see the difference it makes in your life.
Now go do what you have to do to…
Make it a super day,
Kevin
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