"I Can Never Let Anyone Down...Ever" with Owner of Wolferich Insurance Eric Rich

Fatherhood On Fire

Eric grew up with his Mom and Grandmother. Six month's prior to Eric's birth his grandfather passed away. So his grandma decided to go back to college and his mother decided to go back to school as well. For the first eight years of his life he spent a lot of time between babysitters and occasionally even going to college with his mother when they couldn't find a sitter. She juggled two jobs and would often wake Eric up late at night to say I love you after a long shift. Eric's biological father was an addict and an abusive father and abusive towards Eric's mother. As a young man he didn't quite understand it, but he knew when "the man with mustache" came around it wasn't going to be good. Having not grown up with a strong father figure in his life, Eric really struggled envying other families that seemed to have it all together. Now that he has four kids of his own he reflects back on those feelings and how hard his mom worked to provide for him as motivation to be engaged and deliberate with his kids. Balance has become a new focus for Eric. He recognized that work was dominating his life and his wife, kids, and God were getting the left overs. It stems from the feeling that he can't ever let anyone down, ever. Because of his childhood experience growing up with a father whose an addict, abuser, and deserter, he's swung the pendulum so far the opposite direction to ensure no one ever see's him in that light. So focusing on balancing his time hasn't meant so much his schedule as much his attitude and focus. To be deliberate and ensure that though time is limited, he doesn't focus on quantity but the quality of the time with his kids is high. He's on their level, he's listening. And learning to say no. We talk about Eric's choice to get baptized as an adult and the health scare that led him to that decision. Earlier this year Eric had a biopsy done that indicated he could be looking at the early stages of lymphoma. The fear of dying became very real in that moment. After seeing another specialist and enduring a battery of tests the doctor concluded that the cancer was benign and issued Eric a clean bill of health. During all this time Eric continued to praise God and trust in him. After weathering this health scare he decided to get baptized and wanted to publicly declare his faith in Christ. He says doing so raised his family's awareness of Christ and opened an opportunity to grow closer to Christ. Eric accepts that his number one responsibility on this earth is to point his wife and family and towards Christ. Final advice: "Don't be so hard on yourself" Find two to three other fathers that you can reach out to for support and encouragement and most importantly to share when you feel like you're maybe not being a great dad. Cell - 765.810.8935 [e-mail] Wolferich Insurance Season 1 Episode 21 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fatherhoodonfire/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fatherhoodonfire/support