I recently read a letter from someone inquiring about the necessity of accepting social invitations when it conflicts with one’s daily routine. This person stated that she lives her life according to a set schedule (wakes up, goes to work, makes dinner, plays with her dog) and is quite content with it. She says she is put in a tough spot when co-workers ask her to meet for a drink after work or participate in another activity that would make her deviate from her predictable agenda.

The dilemma: Should this person accept the popular “do you” mantra or shuffle her schedule to be social?

I sympathize with this individual as I have craved routine since I was young. I think living a structured life is productive. I mean, what is wrong with going into each day with an established plan?

Well, as someone who continues to learn about life on a frequent basis, I have evolved my thinking to believe that we as humans can sometimes be too rigid. Perhaps we go overboard trying to compartmentalize the 24 hours we are gifted with each day.

Just an example: In order to have a good day, I made it a strict requirement that I needed to make my early morning gym session. If I didn’t exercise, it would eat at me throughout the day. I would feel like a slacker and sense strength leaving my body.

I have confined myself to other aspects of a set daily schedule as well. Devoting time in the evening to Don’t Blink and making sure we watched Jeopardy at 7:30 p.m. seemed key to the perfect day.

Over the past few years, I have realized that missing a morning at the gym won’t make me destined for “My 600-lb Life.” I also know that I can do the bulk of my Don’t Blink work on Sunday and that DVR does wonders for recording Jeopardy. Although having a kid made me realize that having a set schedule isn’t just unpractical – it is impossible – it also made me realize the importance of embracing social events as well.

I have always enjoyed doing fun things with friends and co-workers, but it wasn’t uncommon for me to pass on certain events if it meant seriously blowing up my routine. I thought I was being dedicated, but perhaps I was just being safe?

Look, there are still times when siding with routine is going to be your best bet. No need to attend every single holiday party you are invited to or go to a spontaneous happy hour on a Monday night. But, after living on this earth for three decades, I think we can choose fun over routine a little more than some of us “serious types” typically do. When you look back on your life, memories made with friends will probably shine brighter than the hour your spent in front of the TV or the computer. Don’t Blink.

Happy New Year, my friends. Although today isn’t my favorite holiday, I do respect what it signifies and I appreciate the positive starting point it offers so many people. As we begin another year, let me just offer three quick tips on how to set yourself up for success in 2019…

First, get organized. Start the year fresh. Clean your house, tidy up your office, and wash your car. Get a haircut, clean out the fridge, and eliminate clutter. Hang up a 2019 calendar and briefly look through it. Make note the days of the week that certain significant dates fall on. Fully prepare yourself for the next 365 days (or 364 days) by going in rejuvenated.

Second, set goals. Make sure to shoot for something. Your mindset should be to finish the year as a better person than when you started it. Write your goals down and hold yourself accountable!

Third, develop a healthy routine. Aim to live each day of the year by introducing a couple of good habits into your daily schedule. Think of these habits more as resolutions than goals. For example, read a few pages from a book each day and eat veggies every night with dinner. Or, pray every morning and do some at-home exercises before going to bed.

Live your best life in 2019. You don’t need to win a Nobel Peace Prize but you can definitely improve yourself. I hope this is the best year ever for you. Don’t Blink.

This special end of year blog post is dedicated to Bill Plate, the vice president for University Communication and CMO at Coastal Carolina University. Bill was the man who hired me and if not for his offer to join the team at #CCU, my life would not be nearly as fulfilling as it is today. On Jan. 4, Bill will work his last day at CCU. He has accepted a similar position at Utah State. He will be deeply missed and I will always remember how he positively impacted my life.

Going into 2018, I anticipated a change of pace. For the first time since 2013, I didn’t anticipate a major life event defining the year. With a move across the country (2014), an engagement (2015), a wedding (2016), and the birth of a child (2017) highlighting the past four years, I looked forward to 52 weeks of simple living in 2018.

For ¾ of the year, that is what happened.

From January – June and October – December, life was routine and relaxed. We worked our jobs, watched Sloan grow, and took everything one day at a time. We weren’t really building toward one big event, which, after several years of doing so, was kind of nice.

It is kind of intriguing to see how 2018 shifted when you look at the calendar. As I mentioned, life was smooth and predictable the first six months of the year. But after June 30 passed and the second half of the year began, the stakes were raised…at least for the first three months.

July was characterized by career mobility. With no major personal milestones taking place in 2018 (marriage, birth, etc.), I told those closest to me that I wanted to focus on reaching my full potential in the higher education digital industry. It all came to a head later in the month when I had a big decision about how I wanted to do that. I ended up accepting a promotion with Coastal Carolina University, becoming the assistant director for digital media. To continue working at an institution I love while staying close to Sid’s family was a big win.

Then came August. Those scorching hot days were spent preparing for a move! With our decision to stay in Myrtle Beach for the foreseeable future, we found a beautiful house in our desired location. If you have moved houses before, you know it is a monumental task. Despite it being an extremely busy month even without moving to a new home, we managed to pull it off thanks to the help/encouragement from Sid’s parents and our friends.

Of course, we will always remember September. Hurricane Florence took us on a roller coaster. The week leading up to landfall was emotionally taxing. One day things would “look good” and the next day things would “look bad.” We stopped playing games once national weather personalities and local meteorologists put Myrtle Beach in line for a direct hit. We evacuated the state and spent several days in Jacksonville, Florida. Although our community escaped catastrophic damage, the hurricane did lead to terrible flooding. Coastal Carolina didn’t hold classes for over two weeks. Horry County Schools shut down for a total of three weeks. It was a surreal time filled with frustrations. However, we escaped unscathed and the experience brought our little family closer together.

Things slowed down once October hit and would continue at the leisurely pace throughout the remainder of the year. But don’t think that nothing worth writing about happened during the first six months of the year or the final three. While July, August, and September might have defined the year, the other months brought highlights of their own. To name a few…

Sid started her fifth year of teaching, I started with the Knights of Columbus, and Sloan started at a brand new daycare. These endeavors widened our social circle and brought great people into our lives.

We traveled out west during the summer to visit my family and we vacationed at Lake Keowee with Sid’s family. My parents visited us in the spring and my dad returned for a few days in the fall. We attended a reunion for Sid’s mom’s family in October. We capped the year off with a short but sweet trip back to Spokane.

We spent countless days marveling at Sloan’s growth and laughing out loud at her silly and loving personality. We worshipped at St. Andrew and grew in our faith. We held gatherings for our friends and attended their functions as well.

Basically, we thrived as a family and it was so rewarding.

Now 2019 is on our doorstep. I once again have a big goal that would define the year. Will it come to fruition? Only time (about 12 months of it) will tell. Thanks to everyone who played a role in our lives during 2018. We value you and hope to continue to cultivate our relationships in the new year. Nothing but the best over the next 365 days! Don’t Blink.

For the fifth straight year, I am proud to continue a cherished Don’t Blink tradition. At the end of each December, I countdown my top 10 favorite posts from the expiring calendar year. Because this entry celebrates the best of the best and because I name a #1 blog post of the year, I affectionately refer to what you are reading right now as the Big Blog Post.

My blogging productivity dipped to under 200 posts this year. It was my first full year as a daddy and toddlers require plenty of attention. I still managed to publish content 190 times in 2018, meaning I wrote on more days than I didn’t during the year. Picking 10 posts out of 187 (the best 5.2%) is still a monumental task.

I hope you enjoy my 2018 Don’t Blink countdown. I think there is a little bit of everything in this year’s edition. As always, when compiling this list I rely mostly on my personal favorites but I also take into account the reader response as well. Thank you for another great year of blogging.

10. The Problem With Brent (August 7) – When you have a name like mine, you better be ready to face adversity. In this post from late summer, I explained how, because of a single letter, I am frequently called something that deviates from my birth name. I dug into the vault and offered up a couple stories from my childhood that dealt with “being a Brent.” This post was silly and carefree but it was also fun.

What could be bad about having the name “Brent”? I gave the details in 2018.

9. A Wedding Clipping to Save (July 2) – In early July, the Royal Wedding was still fresh in my mind, so when I read a newspaper clipping describing an extravagant nuptial event, I almost thought it was about Harry and Meghan. Oh, no. Rather, it was from 76 years ago when my grandma and grandpa got married. I was blown away by the detail used by the local Walla Walla newspaper when reporting on the happy day at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in 1942. In my post I dissected the tabloid-like article and shared some of the finer points. In all honesty, I learned more from writing this blog post than I did with any other in 2018. To visit a different age of journalism, be sure to read this one.

This article was written about my grandparents’ wedding.

8. My Top 5 Favorite Beers (May 23) – In 2018, I wrote “top 5” lists for everything from vegetables to ice cream truck treats to mac & cheese spinoffs. But nothing compared to the list I did on beer. I wrote from the heart and put down the beers I genuinely like best. But oh man, I got torn apart! What can I say? I am definitely not a beer snob. This post generated so much engagement that I still get made fun of on a daily basis for my bad taste in beer. Sounds like a successful blog post to me, right?

You can’t go wrong with Bud Light. Photo is of me with my cousin Cody in the summer of 2017.

7. A Disappointment for Myrtle Beach (January 3) – It was as if Christmas was about to come twice. The year was only a couple days old when Myrtle Beach forecasts started to call for snow. Local meteorologists predicted with utmost certainty that Winter Storm Grayson would bring our area something that we only get once in a blue moon.  On the night when the dump was to occur, all the area stations had news crews out on the streets and kids were bundled up in their winter clothes ready to play once the white stuff started to fall. It wasn’t meant to be. I chronicled one of the biggest disappointments of the year, explaining the weather bust through the eyes of a snow-deprived region. My post was retweeted by the popular hot-shot weatherman Ed Piotrowski and was a resource for heartbroken beach bums who just wanted to see some snow.

Myrtle Beach was supposed to get 3 inches of snow! We ended up getting absolutely nothing.

6. The Journey of Lent (February 14) – In order to truly celebrate the holiest day on the Christian calendar, we need to prepare. This was my main point when I published my first post about Lent in five years. Although I made it clear that it is important to perform our Lenten deeds in a private manner, I also made the point that we can (and should) journey through Lent as a community. In my opinion, there is no better time for spiritual growth than the 40 days prior to Easter and I used this post to explain why. Because this entry was a little deeper than most of the stuff I write and because it addressed some misconceptions that society might have about Lent, it was a no-brainer to give it a spot in the countdown.

Lent is both for the individual and the community.

5. Our Impromptu Trip to Disney World – Heading into 2018, I never thought we would visit Disney World. Then again, I never thought we would be evacuating from our home either. Because we fled to Jacksonville to avoid Hurricane Florence, the opportunity to visit Disney World presented itself. We seized it. This blog post outlines the one-day experience we had at the happiest place on Earth. From the rides to the parades to the food, I documented it all. Complete with numerous photos, this blog post spared no detail about the sweltering hot afternoon we spent at Magic Kingdom. 

In 2018, we made an impromptu trip to Disney World. I wrote about it in great detail.

4. Happy 1st Birthday, Sloan – If I wanted to be really annoying, I could have filled this entire countdown with blog posts exclusively about Sloan. Instead, I tried to limit myself. However, no self-restraint could keep me from leaving off the birthday tribute I wrote in honor of Sloan. On March 17, I expressed how she changed me as a person. I looked back on her first year and looked forward to her second. I issued gratitude to those who played an instrumental role in Sloan’s initial year of life, giving special thanks to my wife. Sure, it was a little sappy, but was it warranted? Damn right (Bonus: The Top 10 Moments From Sloan’s First Year).

Sloan sporting her new sunglasses during her birthday party.

3. Evacuating (September 12) – The time has come. We are activating our family evacuation plan. With those words, I wrote one of the more emotionally-charged blog posts in the history of Don’t Blink. The night before I published this entry, all news outlets had shifted Myrtle Beach into the direct path of Hurricane Florence, forecasting a devastating result. In a state of vulnerability, I wrote about the uneasiness of what could possibly happen to our home and city while also admitting my relief that we were getting far, far away. Florence ended up sparing Myrtle Beach and thankfully my fears expressed in this post never materialized. However, the words still remain and each one carries with it the authenticity of a regular guy who could do nothing but move his family out of harm’s way.

We prayed to God that our home would be protected.

2. Remembering That Special Moment (August 13) – A year after Sidney surprised me with the news that she was pregnant, I decided to reveal how she did it. All it took was a Curious George stuffed doll and a sign to do the deed. I was at work, completely focused on the tasks of the day, when I received a picture message from Sid. I looked at it and just about had a heart attack (out of surprise of course). I immediately called Sidney and asked her to explain, half thinking that she must be talking about getting a dog. She confirmed that we were going to be parents and it was one of my happiest and most surreal days. My social media and blogging audiences were tickled by the story and I enjoyed giving Sidney credit for what she did, thus making this post the 2018 runner up.

Sidney told me the good news with this photo.

1. Our Fierce Fighter (April 25) – At the end of April, Sidney published something significant to Facebook. For the first time, a year after the fact, she made it publicly known that Sloan was critically ill with a rare condition called Pyloric Stenosis. It took us time to come to grips with the traumatic experience but on this particular night Sid wanted to speak out. Her purpose was simply to offer support to other families who might have a baby with PS.

Using Sid’s act of bravery as motivation, I followed up the next night with a blog post. I wrote about the emotions we felt as parents as we watched our baby daughter throw up any and all food that entered her system. I testified to the undeniable fight we watched Sloan exhibit throughout the entire frightening experience. I also made sure to offer education on what Pyloric Stenosis is and how it can be treated, heaping praise on Dr. Robert Cina (the head surgeon who performed Sloan’s procedure) and his entire crew at MUSC.

My post was shared on Pyloric Stenosis social media pages and I was put in touch with parents who were going through the same thing we did with Sloan. Because I believe this blog post actually helped people (opposed to the 1,500+ other posts I have written that are just annoying), how could it not be #1 for 2018?

During Sloan’s bout with Pyloric Stenosis and for over a year afterwards, we kept it between immediate family. Sidney and I are so thankful for the support of our parents. This photo shows our moms and dads with Sloan at MUSC.

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This post is always a joy to write. Thanks for looking back with me as we jumped from month to month to identify the best of the best in 2018. For those on the fence about starting a blog, consider the pleasure of going back and reviewing your work over a period of time…I love it! I hope to bring you more content in 2019 that is worthy of a countdown such as this one. Don’t Blink.

My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2017
My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2016
My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2015
My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2014

What a blessed Christmas holiday we enjoyed! We attended the Christmas vigil mass at St. Andrew on Christmas Eve and it was beautiful. We followed it up by spending Christmas day with Sid’s family. We gathered for breakfast and presents in the morning and then reunited in the evening for a delicious prime rib dinner.

It was a great Christmas day with Sid’s family.

Yes, Sloan absolutely loved all the Christmas festivities. Her playroom is now a unicorn utopia and if you are ever in our neck of the woods please stop by, Sloan would love to cook for you with her new kitchen set.

Sloan received a lot of Unicorn “stuff”, a kitchen play set, and other items.

The Christmas holiday for us is far from over. Today we make the long trip to see my family in Spokane. I have shared the logistics of getting there several times before but for those who need a refresher, this is what we have in front of us: We will leave Myrtle Beach at noon to drive to Charleston to catch a 5 p.m. flight. The plane will take us from coast to coast as we will land in Seattle. We will then do a little bit of backtracking via a short westward flight from Seattle to Spokane. My parents will pick us up at Spokane International Airport at 12:30 a.m.

We can’t wait to spend time with my family during this holiday season. I think they are going to flip out (in a good way) when they see how much Sloan has grown and what a silly, social little girl she has become. It will be a short trip, with barely enough time to shake our jet lag, before we head back to Myrtle Beach early in the morning on New Year’s Eve. But we fully intend to make every single minute count and we are just so happy to see everyone that the duration of the trip doesn’t really matter.

Watch out Spokane! We are coming for you.

The next time I post to Don’t Blink will be for my special end of the year blog posts. On Dec. 30 I will publish my Top Ten Blog Posts of 2018 and then on Dec. 31 I will publish my reflective year in review. I hope you will keep your eyes open for both of those posts.

Until then, I hope you enjoy your holiday week. If you have a couple minutes, please pray for our safe navigation across the country and for plenty of stamina for Sloan. Happy holidays! Don’t Blink.