Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Rob Kenney – Lemons to Lemonade

As per my usual Sunday pattern, today I am highlighting Rob Kinney, as someone to be admired and respected for turning lemons into lemonade.

From the Epoch Times, Inspired:

“Born in Louisiana, Kenney was the seventh of eight children. His family followed his father’s work, moving from Kansas to Louisiana, and eventually to Seattle, Washington. Life was good for the family during Kenney’s childhood years. However, after moving to Washington, Kenney watched his family disintegrate.

His mother, who originally hailed from a big family, coped with feelings of loneliness and anxiety by turning to alcohol to sedate herself, and as a result, she became unable to care for her children. Meanwhile, Kenney’s father gained custody of the kids, and then he, too, began to fade into the background. With the older siblings grown and moved out of the house, Kenney’s father would habitually provide groceries for the younger kids during the week and then just disappear.

Finally, when Kenney was 14, his father came home with the news that he was “done raising kids.” Kenney remembered hearing his father say that the younger kids would either go to foster care or live with their older siblings. That year, Kenney moved in with his newly married 23-year-old brother and his wife, Rick and Karen.

“I was bitter for a long time,” Kenney recalled. Due to his past, he harbored bitterness and frustration toward his parents, which “wasn’t healthy,” for a long time.

During the Covid-19 pandemic and the isolation that ensued, Kenney saw a real need for people to connect with one another, and he luckily had a library of “Dad wisdom” stored up, along with his daughter’s persuasion to start a YouTube channel for “advice.”

“My daughter kept bothering me to do it,” he recollected. “I ran out of excuses, and so, I finally had my first upload on April 2 of 2020.”

His production, which is low on bells and whistles, is a compilation of simple recordings made on his phone camera. No makeup, and no fancy equipment, but just like a simple conversation with Dad.

“I’m just trying to be myself and trying to communicate like I would be talking to my own kids,” he said.

Originally, he thought his YouTube channel would help “maybe 30 or 40 people,” but he and his family watched in surprise as the number of subscribers climbed, from 300 to 1,000, and now it’s up to 4 million people.

Kenney’s challenges have helped him to have empathy for the pain of others who have been wronged. He reads comments on his channel about the “tough stuff” people have been through, and he said that his heart breaks for what people endure, and yet, he knows that living in the past is futile.

“You kind of waste your life, right? Years go by and you’re missing out on opportunities because something happened to you in the past,” he said. “Bringing the past into the future—it’s not beneficial.”

Thus Kenney hopes to help others forgive, move forward, and take ownership of their own lives, rather than dwell on the things in the rearview mirror.”

Kudos to Rob Kenney. A real life example of turning lemons into lemonade.

6/26/22

140 Replies to “Rob Kenney – Lemons to Lemonade”

  3. Woah! I’m really enjoying the template/theme of this
    website. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s difficult
    to get that “perfect balance” between user friendliness and visual appearance.
    I must say you’ve done a great job with this.
    Also, the blog loads super fast for me on Firefox. Exceptional
    Blog!

  4. I like the valuable info you provide in your articles.
    I will bookmark your blog and check again here frequently.
    I am quite sure I will learn many new stuff
    right here! Good luck for the next!

  5. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I really appreciate
    your efforts and I am waiting for your next post thanks once
    again.

  6. I always emailed this webpage post page to all my associates, for the reason that if like to read it after that my links will too.

  8. It is appropriate time to make some plans for the future and it’s
    time to be happy. I’ve read this post and if I could
    I want to suggest you some interesting things or tips. Perhaps you can write next
    articles referring to this article. I desire to read more things
    about it!

  9. I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website
    yourself or did you hire someone to do it
    for you? Plz answer back as I’m looking to create my
    own blog and would like to know where u got this from.
    cheers

  11. Fantastic beat ! I would like to apprentice while you amend your website, how can i subscribe for a blog site?
    The account aided me a acceptable deal. I had been tiny
    bit acquainted of this your broadcast offered bright clear idea

  13. Hey There. I discovered your blog using msn. That is a very neatly written article.
    I’ll be sure to bookmark it and return to learn more of your useful
    info. Thank you for the post. I’ll definitely comeback.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.