# @chrisyandle on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DbWKqu0Dzp6
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/68569071-chrisyandle-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/b71c0cd421.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-07-28T18:18:51.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Chris Yandle, Ph.D. (@ChrisYandle) — https://gondola.cc/ChrisYandle

## Caption

Ten years of notes. Two kids at crossroads. One dad still figuring his out.

August 14, 2017. Addison was attending her fourth school in five years. I noticed she'd gone quiet in a way I didn't know how to fix. So, I did what any dad would do - I wrote her a simple note. 

Nothing profound. I wanted her to know she wasn't alone.

I had no idea it would become 2,400+ notes. A spot on TODAY. A Kelly Clarkson Show segment. A book on shelves in South Korea.

I really had no idea I'd be writing this post 10 years later.

In less than two weeks, Addison leaves for college. Next week, Jackson starts high school. And I'm standing at my own kind of crossroads — 20 years into this career, and I still don't think I've hit my stride.

That used to embarrass me. Shouldn't two decades be enough to feel arrived?

Then I looked back at what actually kept those notes alive for 10 years. I didn't think I would keep doing it for 10 days!

The form never stayed the same. First, it was a Ziploc bag. Sometimes it was a napkin. Then, it's current form - a Post-It note. Jackson will keep getting his in that form, while Addison moves away and she'll get text messages from dad in between classes.

Same dad. Different medium. The showing up was the point.

I think careers work the same way. If you're still doing the exact same thing, in the exact same shape, 20 years in — that's not stability. That's a note that forgot to change mediums.

So here's where I've landed on the restlessness: it's not a red flag. It's information. It means I finally know what "more" is supposed to feel like, and I'm not interested in a smaller version of it.

Raising a good kid doesn't happen in the big moments. It happens in the ordinary ones you're tempted to skip.

Maybe careers don't either.

Maybe the stride I haven't hit yet isn't waiting at some big cinematic moment. Maybe it's in the ordinary decision, made today, to keep changing shape instead of standing still.

If you're at your own crossroads right now — parenting, career, both — I'd love to hear where you're standing in the comments.

#DadLunchNotes #Careers #PublicRelations

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## Tags

dadlunchnotes, careers, publicrelations

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