It's no secret that I have been absent from the blog for a few weeks now.

That's the bad news. 

The rest of the story is good news.

See… last year I made a promise to myself, to my family, that I would fight for them. For us. [click to tweet]

I promised to stop the stupid things that I did, like my my laziness and messed up priorities. And I promised to fight against anything else that sought to invade the boundaries of a healthy marriage and family life.

Six weeks ago the fight required more troops. More time. And more focus.

Something needed to give.

There was no single event that required me to buck up and hustle.

But the culmination of the move home, settling into the new home, tending to the house, starting a new job, and all the transition challenges that face two- and four-year-old kids boiled over and I needed to step back for a bit.

These few weeks taught me a lot about myself and my family, our strengths and weaknesses.

It also taught me a lot about you.

Last year nobody would have noticed if I stepped back from the computer for a few weeks.

But this year you are here.

So many of you wrote to me and asked if I was OK. That was awesome.

Naturally, given the name of this blog, me not posting for a while might be cause for alarm.

So thank you, so much, for reaching out. It means a lot to me to know that you care.

And while I did step back from the blog for a few weeks, I did quite a bit of work behind the scenes to set things up for moving forward with the book and a few other related projects.

For example, I worked behind the scenes to prepare to launch the Confessions of a Terrible Husband podcast, which will be launched soon, where I continue my self-exploration behind a microphone.

And I will also use that forum to bring you thought leaders on relationships to help us all look inward and take personal responsibility over improving our marriages.

I will also be including a “we did it!” segment that features success stories of regular folks like you and me, who overcame adversity, the hard times, and everything you might imagine, endured, committed, and succeeded in their relationships. 

But still, why not work on the blog instead of behind the scenes new projects? 

Two main reasons.  

First, it is important to me that this is a two-way blog. I don't post just for the sake of posting. I post to provide value to you. I post to invite you into the mind of someone who screwed it up and is working tirelessly to improve. Someone who is breaking himself down to the tiniest little pieces and slowly building himself back up as a better husband. 

And, like relationships, that requires me being “present,” and not “just present.”

It requires me to engage, relate, respond, reflect. I couldn't commit to those things. So I worked behind the scenes on what I could commit to.

Second, a lot of people don't read blogs. A lot of people don't read books. Some people prefer to listen to their content.

Instead of blogs, they prefer audio or video podcasts.

Instead of reading books they prefer listening to audio books.

So I'm working to share this content through those platforms, too, so that I can continue to engage with awesome folks like you who might not find themselves here or reading the upcoming book. 

I also believe so strongly in my message that taking personal responsibility over what you can control in a marriage that I want to scream it from the top of a mountain! I’ve been so blessed by the value and support I've received here. And I have received so many wonderful messages and success stories from husbands and wives who have turned their fingers back at themselves that I want to be sure I can relate to folks on other forms of media.

This will always be my home base. And it will always have updated content, news, etc.

But bringing the content to the audio world has been a plan and desire of mine for a long while.

And since I could work behind the scenes on that when my family didn't “need” me to be present, it was a great opportunity to start setting that up. More on this later!  

But now I'm back. [go ahead… try not to sing that in the “I Will Survive” melody… I dare you…]

Thanks, again, for sticking around. 

So what did I miss?

How have YOU been these last few weeks?

How have YOU improved YOUR marriage?

What’s been challenging you?