"Once in a generation", I've heard that describe at least five calamities since I began my career. In each case, the data backs it up — based on observed priors, each was truly a "once in a generation" occurrence: the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent low interest period, climate change and the resulting weather events, COVID, the global rise of right-wing authoritarianism, and now another "once in a generation" geopolitical crisis — a war with Iran (and that's all without mentioning the deflationary impact of intelligence via AI).

I'm becoming numb to it — my baseline assumption now is that my son will have a worse life than I have had the privilege to have. Keeping him safe and giving him the best life possible feels more urgent and difficult than ever before. Due to some combination of my own naivety and societal expectation setting, I came to 'expect' that his life would be better by default as long as I didn't fuck it up too much. Not so much anymore — being a good, present Dad won't be enough.

Our society is more extreme, polarized — both physically and within our minds, meaning these "once in a generation" events will only become more common. So, what do I do? Work as hard as I can, become proactive, adapt and evolve. What follows are concentric circles of action — from how I work, to how I manage money, to how I protect my family, to how I connect with my community.

The way that I do my job has changed materially in the last 12 months and entirely in the last 4 years. It feels like we are at a point in time for software where a 'great filter' is approaching, sieving out all organizations that did not keep up or adapt to the new tools being made available. I'm working harder now than I have since I was in my first job trying to bootstrap that oh-so-important early experience. I'm adapting and evolving how I work and am fortunate to be at a company where everyone is encouraged and supported in adapting and evolving.

The way my wife and I manage our finances has completely changed. It was needed anyhow, but we're being proactive in better preparing for rainy days by cutting discretionary spending to focus on debt repayment. I see a high probability of continued housing market deterioration in Canada, at a time when we own two properties — both with mortgages. If either, or both, end up under water we will need a plan for what to do. So, we researched and wrote one. It's not pretty, it would be painful and feel unfair — but hey, "once in a generation" interest rate growth after "once in a generation" low rates means there's not a lot we can do otherwise.

Last weekend I was reviewing and discussing our emergency 'bug-out' plans with my wife, and with a newly minted PAL are putting together go-bag and firearm shopping lists. I feel crazy — but with an unhinged authoritarian running the most powerful military in the world only 100km from us, we see it as insurance. We're seriously starting to plan how we will get our cottage into an off-grid, year round shelter. Which, again, is something we always wanted to do for energy and climate reasons, but the priority feels shifted.

I'm going to put together small Easter packages for my neighbours with a note (re)introducing ourselves and including contact info. Build communities while it's still easy to do so — David Suzuki as well as the Globe and Mail both advocated for exactly this in the last month. Again, I want to say that I'm crazy — but I don't think so.

My hope is that all of this is completely redundant, my son will have a better life than I, and that status quo will be fine, but the probability that this is not the case is changing. The priors I use to make decisions have been updated. Maybe we should update our perspective on "once in a generation" as well.