How To Make Things Happen

Johnny Cash is singing his cover of If You Could Read My Mind and I am working hard at silencing the noise inside my head.

There is a mile long mental ‘to-do’ list that is has far too many empty check boxes and there is little doubt it will probably grow before it shrinks.

My children want to know how I can be so focused on the same old stuff and I laugh.

“Dad, you are not being reasonable.”

They are right, I am not reasonable about some stuff. I gave up reason and sanity for Lent, which is a pretty neat trick for a Jewish kid.

My role during this moment in time is to get some things done and that is not going to happen by being passive.

Now is a time for action and a refusal to just accept what is fed to me. It is time to fight the inertia of the human condition and make things happen.

You don’t move the needle or make substantial changes without taking risk.

Our comfort zone is the equivalent of a frenemy. There are days when it helps us and days when it hurts.

There are moments when the kids look at me and I see them wondering if their father has lost it.

Sometimes I tell them how I remember thinking my parents were nuts too but they don’t really appreciate or believe me.

Can’t totally blame them because some of the changes and things that are coming aren’t fleshed out enough for them to see how much work is going to be involved.

Since we don’t have more specific details there hasn’t been a need to get into all of the possibilities of what could or could not happen.

There is a certain amount of excitement tied into all this.

Because you know that in a short time you are going to make some big changes but you have to let things develop so that you know just how many and how big they are going to be.

Life Is An Adventure

The music moves to a clip of The Soup Dragons singing I’M Free and I am taken back to a moment in college.

I can see myself standing around a fire pit with a bunch of the guys, beers in hand, the million stars above symbolizing the million dreams of youth.

That kid isn’t any happier than I am now but he is far more relaxed. No responsibilities and no idea about how very different life would be than he sometimes imagined it.

I am fairly certain if you magically allowed the present version of myself to speak to the younger one that kid would ignore the advice of the old guy.

He knew better.

Which reminds me, if I get a chance to go back I’ll give myself a boot to the ass just because.

How To Make Things Happen

That is the conversation I would have with him if I could.

It would be direct and focused upon doing a few things that I passed upon, not from the position of regret as much as just because.

Just because I hear that whisper in the back of my head to sit some people down and have the conversations we haven’t had.

The whisper that pushes me to do some things that I haven’t done yet because tomorrow isn’t guaranteed and life doesn’t always go as we think it should.

That is not me selling fear. It is me talking sense.

It is me saying that the different paths we sometimes find ourselves on don’t have to be bad or worse than what we had expected or thought.

They might be better, you don’t know unless you try and these days that is a big part of what moves me.

I have some ideas about what could be and I want more than suspicion. I want confirmation and you don’t get it without trying.

So I am here to make things happen.

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By Joshua Wilner

Hi, I am Josh Wilner and I am happy that you have decided to visit my corner of cyberspace. I am a writer/marketer/friend and family man. My professional background includes more than twenty years in working with businesses to help them do a better job of connecting with their existing and prospective customers. More specifically I have worked with companies of all sizes from the Fortune 500 to the new start up to help them build, develop and grow their social media and marketing plans. I love spending time with my family and friends. I enjoy music, reading, writing, playing sports and laughing.

4 comments

  1. Lucky - The Wise Sister of Pablo – This is the website created by my dear brother, Pablo. He was the loveliest boxer pup. Sadly, we lost him on 31 Jan 2021 at age 12. He was the one who first welcomed me into the family when Jose and Corinne took me off the streets. His was the shoulder I slept on and later the one I bullied! I am carrying on this website now to honour my brother, my friend, and the friend to all dogs!
    Corinne Rodrigues says:

    Change! We all long for it and it happens at a variety of paces and we must not compare ourselves along this journey……. That was a reminder to myself. I’m trying to make things happen too and the progress seems dismal – to me, at least.

    Reply
    1. TheJackB – Someone complained that this page doesn’t tell you what to expect to find here in this blog so I aim to rectify this with the next line. I am a father who writes about life, parenting, business, politics and fiction. I don’t use an editorial calendar because I don’t map out what I am going to write that far in advance. The primary focus will be on things that relate to children and parenting. But the nifty thing about that is that encompasses a wide range of things. Sometimes I work with companies on their PR/Marketing efforts. If they provide products or services I will disclose it. Here is an incomplete list of companies that I am currently or have recently worked with: Nintendo, Philips Norelco, Subway, Frigidaire and Mattel. Want to know more about me, keep reading. If I wanted to provide a professional description it would looks similar to this: Jack has a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from California State University Northridge. He has been writing for print and web publications for more than twenty years, covering a wide range of topics including: business, technology, parenting, politics, education, sports and religion. That is far too serious so I prefer to use something like: The Jack B. is a writer and author of 39 unpublished books and three screenplays. A former athlete and would be superhero he still fights for truth, justice and the American Way. Though he may look like a grown man, don’t fool yourself he is still a boy at heart. When he is not engaged in Walter Mitty like fantasies he is a husband, father and friend and blogs at TheJackB. Hmm…obviously I have since moved from Random Thoughts over to this place, but that is ok. This page is a work in progress which is a good description for me. I’ll probably tweak this on a regular basis so feel free to keep checking back in because you never know what might show up. I am a prolific writer and update frequently so don’t forget to scroll down the page to see what nugget of wisdom you just might have missed. Here is a short selection of posts to get you started. A Father Describes Parenting A Father’s Burden How Sister’s Helped to Train A Father of “Daddy’s Girl” Inside the Blogger’s Studio- A Dream, Er Nightmare The GermoPhobe What I Dream About I am In Love Becoming a Dad Dad’s Most Important Job A Decade of Dad Grandpa Donuts Why Your Post Sucks and Everyone Hates Your Blog A Letter To My Children- Things That Matter A Letter To My Children-2011 Dad Balances Fear Versus Reality Q&A With Daddy Blogger JackB Save The Last Dance For Me- 75 Years of Marriage An Uncertain Certainty Four Generations & A Wedding The Best Thing My Father Ever Said To Me 1 Foolproof Way To Become a Better Writer The Story Of A House- The Final Days He Died A Hero Twenty-Five Links That Will Make You A Better Writer/Blogger Thanks for coming by, I hope you like it. If you want to reach me use the contact form or try talk-to-jacknow-at-gmail-dotcom You can also find more information by clicking About Me and reading my profile there. Also, I encourage you to sign up for my newsletter using the form on the top right hand side of the page.
      Joshua Wilner says:

      To me it often feels like it is too fast or too slow. I wish for the mythical middle ground.

      Reply
      1. Lucky - The Wise Sister of Pablo – This is the website created by my dear brother, Pablo. He was the loveliest boxer pup. Sadly, we lost him on 31 Jan 2021 at age 12. He was the one who first welcomed me into the family when Jose and Corinne took me off the streets. His was the shoulder I slept on and later the one I bullied! I am carrying on this website now to honour my brother, my friend, and the friend to all dogs!
        corinne says:

        I agree. I wish there was a formula to make it happen. But then that’s the beauty of life, isn’t it?

        Reply
        1. TheJackB – Someone complained that this page doesn’t tell you what to expect to find here in this blog so I aim to rectify this with the next line. I am a father who writes about life, parenting, business, politics and fiction. I don’t use an editorial calendar because I don’t map out what I am going to write that far in advance. The primary focus will be on things that relate to children and parenting. But the nifty thing about that is that encompasses a wide range of things. Sometimes I work with companies on their PR/Marketing efforts. If they provide products or services I will disclose it. Here is an incomplete list of companies that I am currently or have recently worked with: Nintendo, Philips Norelco, Subway, Frigidaire and Mattel. Want to know more about me, keep reading. If I wanted to provide a professional description it would looks similar to this: Jack has a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from California State University Northridge. He has been writing for print and web publications for more than twenty years, covering a wide range of topics including: business, technology, parenting, politics, education, sports and religion. That is far too serious so I prefer to use something like: The Jack B. is a writer and author of 39 unpublished books and three screenplays. A former athlete and would be superhero he still fights for truth, justice and the American Way. Though he may look like a grown man, don’t fool yourself he is still a boy at heart. When he is not engaged in Walter Mitty like fantasies he is a husband, father and friend and blogs at TheJackB. Hmm…obviously I have since moved from Random Thoughts over to this place, but that is ok. This page is a work in progress which is a good description for me. I’ll probably tweak this on a regular basis so feel free to keep checking back in because you never know what might show up. I am a prolific writer and update frequently so don’t forget to scroll down the page to see what nugget of wisdom you just might have missed. Here is a short selection of posts to get you started. A Father Describes Parenting A Father’s Burden How Sister’s Helped to Train A Father of “Daddy’s Girl” Inside the Blogger’s Studio- A Dream, Er Nightmare The GermoPhobe What I Dream About I am In Love Becoming a Dad Dad’s Most Important Job A Decade of Dad Grandpa Donuts Why Your Post Sucks and Everyone Hates Your Blog A Letter To My Children- Things That Matter A Letter To My Children-2011 Dad Balances Fear Versus Reality Q&A With Daddy Blogger JackB Save The Last Dance For Me- 75 Years of Marriage An Uncertain Certainty Four Generations & A Wedding The Best Thing My Father Ever Said To Me 1 Foolproof Way To Become a Better Writer The Story Of A House- The Final Days He Died A Hero Twenty-Five Links That Will Make You A Better Writer/Blogger Thanks for coming by, I hope you like it. If you want to reach me use the contact form or try talk-to-jacknow-at-gmail-dotcom You can also find more information by clicking About Me and reading my profile there. Also, I encourage you to sign up for my newsletter using the form on the top right hand side of the page.
          Joshua Wilner says:

          It does lend itself to making life a little more interesting.

          Reply

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