I am a professional reminder-er and permission granter who moonlights as an artist, author, professional speaker, and publisher of The Adultitis Fighter, which helps people create lives filled with adventure, meaning, and joy. I enjoy Star Wars, soft t-shirts, and brand new tubes of paint. My wife Kim and I homeschool our three weird kids and live in Wisconsin, where we eat way too many cheese curds.
Greetings from Sheboygan, where I've got some big news to share! But first, let me tell you about an interesting note I received.
A young man sent me an email looking for advice. He recently graduated from the “comfort blanket of college and chucked towards the open jaws of real life." He was hoping to receive guidance for young people in his situation to "make the world outside not seem so threatening and overwhelming."
The first step is to understand that although the world can be very overwhelming and threatening, it is also amazing and magical and overflowing with opportunity.
The problem is that when confronted with uncertainty and overwhelm, most people hide under the false security of the status quo. A paint-by-number approach to life is tempting. We believe that if we do what we’re told, play by the rules, and color inside the lines, everything will be ok. That path seems safe, but it draws you away from living the life you were made for.
My advice to young adults is to start chasing their dream now and stay the course. You don't need to know all the steps or exactly where it will lead. Just take the obvious next step, no matter how insignificant it appears. This path will get hard, yes, but it only gets harder later. You have the advantage of naïveté, energy, low overhead, and very little to lose. Kim and I went years living on her kindergarten teaching salary, eating Hamburger Helper, and not running the air conditioner in our dumpy apartment. It was never fun or easy, but it was easier than trying to do it with three kids and a mortgage.
Don’t wait to get established.
Don’t wait until you have figured everything out.
Don’t wait for the timing to be right.
And for heaven’s sake, don’t give up.
I have a message of even greater importance for everyone else, the ones for whom graduation is a distant memory from a simpler time.
As the old saying goes, the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second-best time is today. Yes, there are certain advantages when starting young, as I outlined above. But it’s worth keeping in mind that although I didn’t have the pressure of three kids and a mortgage to contend with back then, I also didn’t have the wisdom and experience I now have, which I’m sure would have helped shorten my learning curve.
Don’t surrender the rest of your life wishing you had started sooner or lament the choices you’ve made this far.
Make new ones.
You may not yet have everything you need to finish the race, but you have everything you need to start.
Speaking of starting, I'm excited to announce the start of a new chapter here at Escape Adulthood by inviting you to explore our newest creation, The Wonderground!
The Wonderground is a hidden pocket of the internet for Adultitis Fighters. It's a place beneath the noise, above the negativity, beyond the algorithms, and outside the rules that don’t exist.
The Wonderground is where like-minded rebels gather to:
connect in meaningful ways.
celebrate wins, support each other, and spark new ideas to fight Adultitis in real life.
peek behind the scenes of our art, writing, and shenanigans.
get access to exclusive content and experiences you can't get anywhere else.
recharge and return to the world with a little more wonder.
We created The Wonderground to be the kind of online space we wished existed: warmer, kinder, more playful, more human. There, curiosity outranks cynicism and play is taken seriously. It's a place where joy is welcomed. Weirdness is celebrated. And nobody has to pretend they’ve got everything figured out.
If you’re tired of doomscrolling, believe joy isn't optional, and still carry a spark of childlike wonder—and want more of it—you're gonna love The Wonderground. Create a free profile and start exploring!
What are you finally going to start this week? Share your thoughts with me, join the conversation in the Escape Adulthood League, or spend time this week recording them in your journal.
Stay young and stay fun,
P.S.
🎁 We have PRIZES to award people who populate The Wonderground with good stuff! All you have to do is post something to the main feed (aka Show & Tell). Post a photo representing a victory you had over Adultitis this week. Share your favorite summertime tradition that helps you escape adulthood. Ask a question of the community. We will be awarding a Mini*Print of your choice to 5 random rebels who post something in Show & Tell over the next week!
NEW! Summer Mini*Print Collection
Check out the new set of summer-themed Mini*Prints only available until September 1, 2026.
On a mission to help people break free from Adultitis to build better lives, businesses, and teams.
I am a professional reminder-er and permission granter who moonlights as an artist, author, professional speaker, and publisher of The Adultitis Fighter, which helps people create lives filled with adventure, meaning, and joy. I enjoy Star Wars, soft t-shirts, and brand new tubes of paint. My wife Kim and I homeschool our three weird kids and live in Wisconsin, where we eat way too many cheese curds.
View online • Get this from a friend? Subscribe here! Shenanigating Since 2000 | 2026 Special Issue 🌼 Happy Thursday, Reader! It's the season of Dads, Grads, and Summer, and the Lemonade Stand has you covered! Of course, we have t-shirts, socks, and prints for Dad, along with limited edition playing cards and even an original painting that might tickle his fancy if he's a Star Wars nerd. Two of my books — Penguins Can't Fly and Must Be Nice — are tailor-made for the graduates in your life....
View online • Get this from a friend? Subscribe here! Shenanigating Since 2000 | 2026 Issue #19 🌹 Happy Sunday, Reader! Greetings from Sheboygan, where I'm writing a new book. Or rather, I am redoing an old one. (I shared a little bit about that in this video.) I spent six days in a very old monastery overlooking the rolling hills of Wisconsin. The kitchen was dark and creepy, but the weather and views were spectacular. I made great progress on establishing the structure and flow of the book,...
View online • Get this from a friend? Subscribe here! Shenanigating Since 2000 | 2026 Issue #18 🧢 Happy Sunday, Reader! Greetings from Sheboygan, where I'm looking forward to the first series of the year between the Cubs and Brewers that begins tomorrow. (Feel free to do a wellness check on me Thursday morning.) Having lived in Wisconsin for two-and-a-half decades, the struggle is real. Being a Cubs and Bears fan while living behind the Cheddar Curtain is no picnic. I've spent the majority of...
