"Fork & Spoon" by Jason Kotecki. Prints available here. I’ve been married for almost 18 years. Every single night that I’m at home, I sleep on the right side of the bed. Why? How did that come about? I don’t ever remember having a discussion about it with Kim, and yet, here we are; our assigned spots have not changed since the day we got hitched. Weird. Why do we do any of the things we do? The little habits that make up our days, where did they come from? Which way do you take to work? How do you typically run your meetings? On-board new employees? Welcome new customers? Deal …
Julie Ann Sullivan, April 2018 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. Julie Ann Sullivan used to be a CPA and spent decades in the financial services industry. It's a profession few people would consider to be a hotbed for Adultitis Fighters. But Julie Ann breaks the mold! She's now a …
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A New Way of Looking at Life Balance
"Life Balance" by Jason Kotecki. Prints available here. I want to die at a ripe old age, completely close-minded, resistant to change, and stubbornly set in my ways. Said no one ever. And yet, that’s the path most of us find ourselves on. As we grow older, we tend to grow more rigid, both in body and mind. We’ve had plenty of time to institutionalize our preferences and weed out the things we don’t like. Meanwhile, we become a perfect host for Adultitis. One way to stay young and lively is to continue inviting new experiences, environments, and points of view into our …
Don’t Be Afraid to Get Your Princess Dress Wet
"The Princess Dress" by Jason Kotecki. 30 x 30 Oil on canvas. Original is SOLD. Prints and canvas reproductions available here. This painting was inspired by my daughter. Our family loves going on walks. A half mile from our house, there is a row of lakefront homes. A small sliver of land between two of them serves as a public access point to the lake. A few years ago, an hour before the sun tucked itself in for the night, we pushed our strollers through the skinny green passageway to enjoy the pint-sized plot of beach that was ours. It wasn’t long before my oldest began wading in …
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“Go Big or Go Home” is a Dumb Way of Doing Things
I was speaking in Reno about one of the most controversial "rules" I wrote about in Penguins Can’t Fly, which is “Thou shalt not swap sides of the bed.” Just the mention of it can give people who have been in long-term relationships the heebie-jeebies. Shortly thereafter, an attendee named Laura emailed me to tell me she had tried it with her husband. “He was hilarious,” she wrote, “and he did not like it at all. We were laughing so hard through the whole thing!” That same day, I got a note from Jeff, who heard me speak in New Orleans the week before. He reported that my talk really hit …
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Joseph Basehart, March 2018 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. Joseph Basehart is a real clown. Seriously. They get a bad rap sometimes, but the clowns I've met who take their craft seriously are some of the best Adultitis Fighters around. Even sad clowns have a way of connecting …
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What We Lose as We Grow Up (and How to Get it Back)
"The Captain" by Jason Kotecki. 20 x 20 Oil on canvas. Original is SOLD. Prints and canvas reproductions available here. I present to you a painting I made of a pirate ship sailing in an ocean of milk amidst floating Cap'n Crunch cereal. I thought long and hard about conjuring up some deep meaning on this one. Something that would make you shake your head in amazement and say, “Wow. He is a truly brilliant artist and thinker.” But you know what? There isn’t any deep meaning. The truth is, I was thinking about Cap'n Crunch cereal, which I love, and thought about a tiny pirate ship …
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Why You Shouldn’t Accept That Promotion
What idiot says no to a raise? Chip Gaines, co-star of the hit TV show Fixer Upper, writes this about his dad in the book Capital Gaines: "When I lived at home, he was willing to forego promotions and advancements at work just to have more time to throw a baseball with me in the evenings. He was teaching me the game, but on another level, he was showing me how to be a man and a father. He taught me the value of investing in one’s family above anything else.” We almost always consider promotions and advancements at work to be the best thing for ourselves and our families. And they …
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Why Do Buffalo Roam?
"Roam" by Jason Kotecki. 30 x 24 Oil on canvas. Original is SOLD. Prints and canvas reproductions available here. Starting at younger and younger ages, kids are expected to begin thinking about what they want to do with their lives. I feel bad for them, because between increasing homework loads and more demanding extra-curricular commitments, they are given less and less free to time to figure out who they are, and what lights them up. No matter how old you are, a little space to roam can make a big difference. After three grueling years producing his show Sam and Friends, Jim …
Lessons in Adultitis Fighting from the Revolutionary War
"War Games" by Jason Kotecki. Digital. Prints and canvas reproductions available here. I was thinking about the American Revolutionary War the other day (because I like keeping up on current events), and a few things struck me. I imagine it would have been easy for the American colonists to look at all the advantages held by the British and wallow in the land of “Must Be Nice”... They have the most powerful navy in the whole world...must be nice. They have way more professionally trained soldiers than we do...must be nice. They have a ton of money to buy food, supplies, and …
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