Escape Adulthood

Archives for February 2017

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Kim Stanfill-McMillan, February 2017 Adultitis Fighter of the Month

An Adultitis Fighter is someone who rallies against rules that don't exist and engages in ruthless, senseless acts of silliness that undermine Adultitis and its unadventurous version of adulthood. Once a month, we shine a light upon the most remarkable among us, holding them up as a dazzling example of what we should strive for in this epic battle against a formidable enemy. Kim Stanfill-McMillan is our February honoree because she is a Queen of Intentionality. She stayed in touch with her inner child, ultimately living out her childhood declaration of being a potter. When she was 14 …

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The Hidden Treasure in Hard Work

We recently spent two weeks in Florida and the best lesson I learned came from a pirate. Or at least a dude dressed up like one. We encountered "Captain Jack" at Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach. We thought it would be fun to stop for a photo. It was a windy night and the crowd was light, so he spent quite a bit of time with us, engaging with the kids and regaling them with advice. "What's yer name, princess?" he asked my oldest. "Lucy," she replied. "How old er ya?" "Eight." "Lucy, I'm gonna tell ya something. Don't be like those 'messarounds' in school, the ones who …

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Saying Yes to Piggy Back Rides

One of Adultitis’ best tricks — and the one that trips me up the most — is getting us to believe that the most important things in life are merely distractions. My youngest daughter routinely asks me for piggy back rides. Most of the time I say yes. But sometimes I'm tired, or want to keep reading the book I just opened five seconds ago. And sometimes I’m too focused on the latest pet project that I'm convinced will deliver a windfall of profit and impact. The justification for brushing off this minor “distraction” of my daughter pestering me for a piggy back ride is that, in the end, …

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Celebrate Your Way to a Better Relationship

Isn’t it strange how when you’ve just fallen in love, the object of your affection's weird idiosyncrasies seem cute? And then, after twenty years of marriage, the way their nose twitches when they tell a funny story, the unusual way they cut their steak, or the specific way they order at a fast food drive-up window, makes you want to wallop them with a rolling pin? Happy Valentine’s Day to you, too. ;) Interestingly, studies show that divorce isn’t usually caused by an increase in problems. It’s often caused by a decrease in positive feelings. Shelly Gable, professor of psychology at the …

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Beware the Diminishing Returns of Chasing Success

Once you achieve a certain amount of success, it's easy to ruin it by chasing more. Especially when you start singing someone else's song. I have a speaker friend who, by his own admission, has a great life. He has more speaking requests than he can handle, has clients all over the world, and makes a very good living. He has an incredible amount of freedom in his day. Plus, he’s a happy newlywed. But he’s been talking about doing something about all the gigs he’s had to turn away. After all, he’s leaving money on the table, right? So there are plans to create a training program for …

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