This is my journal entry from December 7, 2025, part of my daily autobiography Divorce Day — my real, unedited days, published in order.
I woke up this morning with total clarity. No wobble, no second-guessing. I absolutely, definitely want that house. I submitted the application immediately and texted the owner to let her know it was in. Not long after, she checked the application and messaged me back asking about my income, wondering if I could send a bank statement.
In the past—and anyone who’s read my books would recognize this pattern—I would’ve been ready with a long explanation. I could feel that impulse rise up: explain the philosophy, explain the system, explain why I don’t need to show this or that. Instead, I stopped myself and did the simplest thing possible. I sent her my most recent personal checking account statement. It showed a reasonable amount relative to the rent, but from her perspective, I could also see the concern. The deposits weren’t traditional payroll income—there were transfers from my ex-wife and from Coinbase.
She responded that it didn’t show much regular income and asked if I had any other proof of income. She also asked for a reference from my current landlord. I replied by asking if she’d seen my financial affidavit, which reflects my most accurate income picture. I gave her my landlord’s name and phone number. Then she followed up asking if there was anything else I could provide to support my income.
So I sent her documentation showing my crypto transactions over the last few months, along with what I still had remaining, plus additional support coming from my ex-wife. That’s the reality of my situation right now. I haven’t made a ton of direct income recently outside of crypto, but I’m genuinely excited about where my business systems are headed once the house is settled. The house is the first priority. After that, it’s time to really focus on the business.
That whole back-and-forth took a couple of hours from start to finish, and then, around 2:00 p.m., she messaged me: All’s looking good. I think we’re ready to move forward. Can we talk tomorrow morning? I said yes immediately. We’re set to talk at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow. I also noticed that the Zillow listing was gone, which feels like a very good sign.
After that exchange, I talked with my ex-wife and my mom. My daughter is back today from New York, which feels grounding all by itself. But before getting too far ahead, I want to note that after submitting everything this morning, I went to yoga at my yoga studio for the 10:00 a.m. class. Real talk—I was definitely curious to see if a woman from yoga would be there. That’s part of the motivation. But beyond that, I genuinely wanted the practice. Yoga is stabilizing for me. It gets me out of the house, into my body, and out of my head. I’m not willing to let anything disrupt that. Yoga, working out, movement in general—being well-rounded matters. I don’t need to do yoga every single day, but three or four times a week feels right. Tennis fits in there too.
A yoga instructor led a nice flow today. I saw a bunch of people I know, which felt good, but I didn’t linger or talk to anyone afterward. I went, I practiced, I left. It felt clean. Grounded. Like I’m finally moving in alignment instead of forcing things.
I went home, went back and forth on messages about the income for a bit, and then made myself a big, fat salad. My ex-wife texted to say my daughter was home, so I went over there and had some really great snuggles with her. I ended up spending about two and a half hours at my ex-wife’s house, talking through everything—plans for the week, the house, logistics, and the fact that the divorce hearing is now scheduled in a couple of weeks. That part feels especially good. There’s relief in knowing this chapter is going to be wrapped up cleanly and relatively quickly.
Everyone’s reaction to the house was really positive. My ex-wife loves it. The kids love the idea of being near Crescent Lake. My ex-wife especially likes the idea that she could take the dogs to the dog park and meet the kids there when I have them for multiple overnights in a row—say Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. She could come by with the dogs, see the kids, say hi, and still keep her own space. That setup actually feels perfect for everyone involved. My ex-wife loves seeing the kids, and she also appreciates having time and space to herself. This place makes that balance possible in a really natural way.
At the same time, earlier in the day—back when I was still in the headspace of what if this house doesn’t work out—I had messaged the owner of another house on the same block, just as a backup. They got back to me almost immediately. That reinforced something I already feel deeply: location matters more than almost anything. Where you live shapes your life. Every single person I’ve talked to says Crescent Lake is an awesome area, and that being there puts you in the right position. To me, that’s the whole game. It’s not luck. It’s positioning. You put yourself in the right place, and good things are far more likely to happen.
While I was at my ex-wife’s house, I also did some practical things—took the trash out, helped where it made sense. I told her that until I’m having consistent overnights with the kids, I’m happy to help more, take them to school, do what needs to be done. She appreciated that. At the same time, she was clear about boundaries too—she’ll handle the dishes, but taking the trash out helps. That mutual respect feels really good. I’m genuinely grateful that we get along as well as we do.
I noticed something important about how I felt there today. I felt really good being at her house—and part of the reason I felt so good is because I haven’t been hanging out there constantly for the last couple of weeks. That space has made the time together feel lighter and healthier. It’s all about getting the balance just right, and it feels like we’re finding it. Looking back over the last two weeks, the transformation has been huge. Things feel stable, aligned, and calm in a way they didn’t before.
After hanging out there for a couple of hours, I went back home and got to work. And I’m finally clear on something that feels obvious now. When I’m at home, I know exactly what I’m there to do. At home, I sleep. I groom. I eat. And I work. As long as I’m single, that’s the rhythm. I don’t need to be swiping on dating apps. I don’t need to be distracting myself. Now that it looks like I’ve found a place to live—or am very close to it—the focus shifts back where it belongs. Work.
I spent time talking with ChatGPT today, and what came out of that conversation feels like an incredibly solid business setup. I’m fully committing to books, to being an author, and to helping other people write their books. We talked through whether it makes more sense to pursue a traditional book deal or to focus on being a local author. I already knew the answer, but saying it out loud helped clarify it even more. Being a local author is immediately monetizable. It’s real. It’s tangible. It puts me in direct contact with people instead of waiting for some gatekeeper to validate me.
Over the last few days, and especially this morning, I put together a very clear plan. As soon as I can, I’m going to write a letter and start sticking it in door cracks all around my neighborhood. I’m going to hit as many houses as possible before I move. I’ve got about a month, and I’m aiming for hundreds, possibly thousands, of homes. The letter will be a single page, front and back. The first half will say, I’m a local author, I’m your neighbor, here are my books, and they’re available on Amazon, Audible, Kindle, and Spotify. If you like audiobooks, I’d love for you to listen. The second half will be simple and direct. If you want to write a book, I can help you. I’ve published seven books in the last few months. Books are my life. I listen to them, I write them, and I help people get theirs out into the world.
That’s the monetization right there. Some people will want help validating an idea. Some will want help marketing a book. Some will want help with the entire process from start to finish. All of that is valuable. I genuinely believe there is a lot of money to be made doing this in this area. And the only things I actually need to do are write my books, give my books out, and go door to door when I have time and don’t yet have enough clients. Old-school guerrilla marketing fits this perfectly. Once I have clients, the focus shifts to serving them well, and referrals should naturally come from there. But to get this started, walking the neighborhood and putting letters in doors makes complete sense.
If I hit a thousand houses, I’m confident I’ll get at least ten clients who collectively pay at least $10,000. The math is almost laughably simple. One minute per house. One thousand houses. That’s about 1,000 minutes, roughly 17 to 20 hours of walking. It’s exercise, it’s productive, and it’s aligned with what I actually want to do. Everything lines up. For someone who, two weeks ago, was at a real low point and had no idea what to do with my life, no clarity about dating, no clarity about where to live, and no clarity about how I was going to make money, the contrast is wild.
What changed is that I asked for help. I accepted help. I actually received it. Then I changed my mind where I needed to, and I made amends where it was appropriate. And suddenly, things started lining up. It’s almost shocking how clear everything looks now. For dating, I don’t need some complicated strategy. I just need to pay attention, be friendly, and put myself in the right position. The rest doesn’t need to be forced.
When I think about the marketing for my business and the position I’m putting myself in with this house, it all fits together in a way that feels almost obvious now. You picture me as a single dad with kids running around outside, and it’s easy to imagine meeting a single mom in that environment. You picture me walking around Crescent Lake, and it’s easy to imagine meeting an attractive woman out for a walk. You picture me wandering over to play pickleball on a day when I’m feeling a little lonely, and it’s easy to imagine meeting a woman there too, especially since the courts are within walking distance. Even the marketing itself opens doors. As I’m walking door to door, there could easily be a grandmother who has a daughter who’s a single mom, or a mom who has a daughter who wants to have kids. I might help the mom with a book, and then somehow the daughter ends up dating me. That’s not luck to me. I don’t believe in luck. I believe in positioning and intention. I’m intentionally placing myself in environments where the kind of life I want can naturally unfold.
What excites me most is that all of this is being documented in real time in my books. That’s the part that’s hard for a lot of people. Being almost divorced, having money but still uncertainty around income, feeling burned out and defeated by dating apps, and wondering what comes next. I’ve shown in these last few books how my life got wrecked in very real ways, and then, step by step, the thoughts I chose, the emotions I processed, and the actions I took to put it back together. This isn’t a cleaned-up success story after the fact. It’s happening live.
In the time I had to work today, I focused on getting a friend’s book from audio into written form. I’ve got most of it done now. My goal is to have it back to her within a week so she can start reviewing it and we can move toward publishing as soon as possible. Definitely before I go do the massage trade with her. After working on that, I went over to my mom’s house to meet the kids around 5:30 p.m. She reaffirmed that she loves the house and loves the location. I got so many snuggles from the kids. My daughter was especially snuggly tonight, and my son snuggled too. That mattered more to me than I expected. When I was in Michigan, I had this quiet fear that the kids would be fine without me, and in a literal sense, they would be. They’ve grown up with a dad who loves them. They have that foundation. But nights like tonight remind me how much they appreciate having their dad physically present, someone they can curl up with and feel safe around.
Yes, I could have moved to Michigan and made it work. Especially if the rest of my family there supported me, and the kids came up for summers and school breaks. That path wasn’t impossible. But being here, near Crescent Lake, feels like it’s going to go a lot better for everyone involved. It feels like the ideal scenario. Throughout all of this, even when I wasn’t consciously naming it, my underlying intention has been simple. Be open and find the most joyful outcome for everyone. I want to show up as the best version of myself I can be, as a father, an ex-husband, a future husband, a son, a brother. Seeing all of this come together makes me deeply grateful.
Tonight, I also went to the AA meeting that I’d had a resentment toward for a while, which has thankfully cleared up. It could honestly be my home group again someday. I messaged one of the regular guys from the 4:00 p.m. meeting and told him I might need to close that meeting. I said I’d still come tomorrow, but once I start having regular overnights with the kids, I can’t be relied on to be at a 4:00 p.m. meeting every weekday when I’m picking them up from school. Starting that meeting was a cool experience, and tonight I saw the woman who helped start it with me. She said she wouldn’t be sad to see it closed, that it was fun and worth doing. I could technically keep it going, but my priority now is overnights with my kids. If no one else wants to take primary responsibility for the meeting, then it’s better to close it cleanly than to have people show up expecting it to be there and find no one.
At the meeting tonight, there was a guy I know who shared and did a great job leading. I stood up front, cracked a few jokes, and shared my experience, strength, and hope. After the meeting, three different guys came up to me and told me they’d help me move. Literally three. That hit me hard in the best way. What an absolute honor. When I think about it, once I have a move-in day, that’s already five of us. A neighbor, plus three guys from AA. At this rate, it almost feels like I might have too many people offering to help me move. That’s an incredible problem to have. I’m deeply thankful for that. The people in that meeting genuinely have a lot of love for me, and I feel it.
I talked with one of the guys afterward who’s engaged to a woman he met at that meeting. I asked him for advice and told him I really wanted to hear his story. I explained that lately I’ve been intentionally staying away from dating women in meetings, even though I’ve been more open and social everywhere else. I told him I honestly don’t know how to do it properly in AA. I know I don’t want to come across like a pickup artist or come on heavy to someone in a meeting. He echoed the same thing the couple had told me a couple days earlier. Be friendly. Be honest. Be patient. Wait until you feel the energy. He said he felt that energy from the very first time he met his fiancée.
He also shared that he caught some criticism from people in the program about dating her, especially since she was new when they met. I told him straight up that I’ve been proud of him since day one. He has long-term sobriety. She now has a few years herself. I think it’s a good thing when people in recovery find real connection. I’ve never believed people are better off isolated forever. I think people are generally better together than separate when it’s done with honesty and care.
After that, the conversation naturally shifted to books. One guy told me his father is working on a book and said he’d set us up to talk. Another guy said he knows someone who helps entrepreneurs write books. I just stood there thinking, holy shit. If the universe could send me any more obvious signs that books are the path, I don’t know how it could make it clearer than this. I made a mental note right then to remember this moment. Books. That’s it.
I’ve been a content creator full time for over a decade. That part of me isn’t going away. The only thing that’s changing is the medium. Instead of videos, it’s books. And honestly, it feels like books are making a comeback. It reminds me of that line in Pulp Fiction where Lance and Vincent are talking and one of them says coke is dead, but heroin is making a comeback. I catch myself thinking the same thing now. Videos feel dead to me. Books are making a comeback, and I’m all in.
So here’s to books. Here’s to the next hundred years of books. I hope someone is reading this in 2125 and thinking, damn, I wish I’d known this guy back in 2025.
If you connect with how I live and think, you can follow the rest of my days on YouTube in my Life playlist.