Hi. You may know me. But if you don t, my name is Ryan O Bryan. I m a 44-year-old father of a 16 and 14-year-old who solidified my place as a middle-aged dad during a recent shopping trip.
I have never been one to sacrifice comfort for the sake of style. Fortunately, my job has a pretty flexible dress code. It s basically don t show up to work naked. Other than that we re pretty much free to wear whatever (within reason, of course). For me, that s t-shirts, shorts, and sneakers in the warmer months (sometimes even sandals if I m feeling frisky and want to let me feet breathe a bit). When it s cold, the t-shirts hide under a sweatshirt, but the jeans and sneakers remain. Honestly, I m not sure how I d handle a job where a button-down shirt, dress pants, and a tie were required. I ve never had one where that was necessary.
Ally Bruener is a comedian, writer and inspirational speaker living in Kentucky, US.
Although most of my university years were a blur of booze and self-loathing, one unexpected Business Ethics class tripped my green guilt switch and left me longing for practical balance over a decade later.
The professor had us carry and utilise our own personal trash bag everywhere we went for the entirety of a week. Our grade depended not on how empty or full our new sidekick ended up, but on how willing we were to carry the literal weight of our rubbish throughout our daily routine.