Why Moving 800 Miles Didn't Fix His Life Crisis with Jake Kennington

Why Moving 800 Miles Didn't Fix His Life Crisis with Jake Kennington

From Modern Masculinity by Hector Santiesteban

January 23, 2026 · 34 min

About this episode

Jake Kennington discusses his life changes after moving for a job and how he redefined success.

Jake Kennington is a structural engineer, children's book author, and founder of Actively Human who discovered that achieving his career goals left him feeling more lost than ever. After moving his family 800 miles for what he thought was his dream job, Jake realized his priorities had fundamentally changed—but he was still living a previous version of his life. In this conversation, Jake shares his framework for redefining success (REDAC: Redefine, Realign, Reconnect), why working on yourself isn't selfish when you have a family, and how a simple morning routine transformed his marriage. He opens up about the uncomfortable moment when he saw his own bad behavior mirrored in his son, why creating something and sharing it is the key to human connection, and what 15 years of fatherhood has taught him about growing up alongside your kids. This episode is for any man who feels like he's checking all the boxes externally but struggling internally, wondering if there's more to masculinity than just providing and performing. Chapters: (00:00:00) - The Moment Everything Changed: When His Son Mirrored His Worst Behavior (00:01:00) - Jake's Current Challenges: Balancing Fatherhood…

People in this episode

Host: Hector Santiesteban

Guest: Jake Kennington

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Actively Human

Books & works: children's book

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