Ep. 9 Matt Martino on fatherhood, false starts + re-finding yourself when a marriage falls apart

Matt Martino is a 49-year-old designer, artist and father of 3 boys who has had his quarter-life crisis, survived the hurt, loss and hard work of a marriage separation, and come out of it softer, more weathered and a whole lot wiser about the importance of being an optimistic man, conscious father and respectful ex-husband. 

He believes life is comprised of 7-year cycles, and that men’s biological clocks start ticking at about 28. By 35 you’ve got your house and family, and then BOOM! - at 42, your mid-life crisis kicks in and you start questioning yourself, the world around you, and what you have or haven’t achieved in comparison to others.

Matt has certainly lived his ‘7’s’, and had time to make sense of life’s cycles.

He’s been a father in Mother’s Group, and knows how desperately lonely it is behind the thankless curtain of stay-at-home parenthood when your day-to-day experience is a world away from your working partners.

He’s had to lose himself to find himself again when his marriage fell apart. And he’s done the work to go deep and get to know who he really is so he can show up - more fully present and alive - in his every day.  

But hitting 49 has been a big time of change for Matt, as he and his ex-wife continue to navigate how to co-parent their boys with respect and trust, and he learns to prioritise the importance of nurturing himself and his sons to live by the mantra of treating others as you wish to be treated yourself.

Join Human Cogs Hosts Sabina Read and Madeleine Grummet in this conversation with Matt Martino, which runs deep to the heart of what happens inside a man when a marriages ends, provides useful advice on how to successfully co-parent - and is ultimately an affirming story of the power of personal growth through pain.

Guest: Matt Martino 
Websites: The Father Hood - Open Letter from Matt Martino

Hosts: Sabina Read and Madeleine Grummet
Producer: Daryl Missen at Purple Wax

Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website.

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