A Look Back At 2015: Part II

Everyone makes New Year lists. And yes, later this week, I too will reveal my New Year list. After a few years in remission, Better Bryan will be rejuvenated as Better Bryan XVI.

But for now, I wanted to take a look back at how I did on my goals for 2015. So each day this week I'll be taking a quick and short look at one of my goals and how I did. Then we can mock how pitifully it all went and later this week I can wipe the slate clean and set up new goals. In yesterday's post we looked at two goals I completely dropped the ball on. Today tees up a more satisfactory result.

More outreach. I'm very interested in growing the readership here by guest posting and commenting more on some of the sites I read, and generally interacting more with them.

I had some of my posts appear on other sites during 2015, and I did some light commenting on other sites. I participated in quite a few link ups. All of which resulted in better page views for me. This blog started way back in April 2012, but it began in earnest in September 2014. Every single month in 2015 was better than any single month from the last three months of 2014. Most months my readership exceeded November and December 2014 combined.

FAIL LEVEL: NONE - SUCCESS!

Comments

NIGHTMARE: Three Kids; One Invite

Its a triplet parents worst nightmare, really. I only have triplets, so most of what I;m about to say about singletons is conjecture and assumption, but here goes: I imagine that when you have three kids of different ages its easy when only one of them is invited to a birthday party. Any younger child is probably interested in where an older sibling is going, but is easily refocused. Older children probably just don't care what a younger child is doing, but to the extent they are invested, I'd think its easy to explain to them. After all, they are probably in different schools, or at least different grades. They have different teachers, different classmates, and while they may share some friends, those are largely different as well. Not so with triplets When you have three kids all the same age they attend the same school; often in the same class (as ours do). So when only one of them receives an invite, as our daughter did, its hard not to feel slighted. After all, ...

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Yesterday Was A No Good, Very Bad, Day

Yesterday was a no good, very bad, day. Not just yesterday, the last two or three days, really. I'm not even sure why. I am sure I have not been a good Dad or person these last few days. Maybe I'm not sleeping well - though I think I am. Maybe I'm not happy - though I think I am. Maybe I'm stressed out - though I have no reason to be. Heck, January was the best month for this blog by nearly any measure. The Robes broke up shortly after this show. Our piano player was moody. I've been short with the kids. Little things that really should roll off my shoulders have dug claws in me, edging me toward irritation. I've snapped. I've raised my voice. I've been very, very short. To the point my daughter has had to remind me to "take a deep breath, Daddy." A short aside: I'm so, so very proud of her for that. Because it really does defuse the situation; it really takes me out of the moment and allows me to reset. But when your 4-year-old ...

Triple The Dad

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