Over the past 3 months, I have realized everything that, 5 years ago, I would have said is “enough”. I moved into a dream home. My dream wife and I welcomed a baby into this world, and I reached a point of stability professionally. I have so much to be grateful for, yet like everyone, I find myself swept up in the day to day hustle. I lose the perspective that I now have things that I want most for my life (family, security, and meaningful work). Maintaining this anchor and appreciation is key to long term happiness, I think.

As I think about raising a well-grounded child, I wonder how to give them a similar anchor. People turn to religion for these lessons, but I want to create a more open experience for my child. I want to have several hours of each Sunday devoted to helping others. I love the idea of them choosing who to support, discussing those decisions with them, and giving them a sense of ownership.

Unfortunately, 4-week old babies aren’t much good for making community gardens. To get in the habit of leaving this time on Sunday, I am leaving open my calendar from 8AM - 10AM MST on youcanbook.me.

Calendar from youcanbook.me link

I am envisioning helping people learning to code and/or attempting to break into the software industry. I think it is important to say that I may not be able to help anyone and am prepared for nobody wanting my time. But I believe it is a first step to try and offer something more involved than money to help others as I was helped. I don’t know all the languages and frameworks and can’t get anyone interviews anywhere. But I can lend an ear, give another perspective, and tell you how I would move forward in a situation. If we are lucky, I may be able to help solve technical issues (mainly in Javascript, Elixir, or general design or architecture choices). I am good at asking questions and can talk through an idea, plan, or proposal.

Week one was taking the time to write this and set up the system that, I hope, can be of use to someone. Next week will be refining that system (email, better links on prying.io) and maybe chatting with someone during one of those time slots!