Royse City author debuts book on men’s habits before Father’s Day

A Royse City father of three is aiming his debut book at a habit many men treat as strength: the reflex to say, “I got it,” and keep pushing long after help would make more sense. Dennis Bairos will release Wired Like This: Why Men Push Too Far and Still Say ‘I Got It’ on June 3, 2026, putting the book out 18 days before Father’s Day, which falls on Sunday, June 21.

The book is built as an observational field guide rather than a five-step fix. Across 27 short chapters, Bairos walks through the patterns many men recognize but rarely name out loud, from climbing too high on ladders and turning hobbies into obsessions to staying up late to finish work no one sees. The format is designed to sound familiar to fathers balancing work, family and pride, not polished or corporate.

Bairos said the idea started at a bathroom sink, after his wife told him he overdoes everything. From there, he turned a personal moment into a broader look at how men overextend, avoid asking for help and define themselves by being the person who handles everything. Bairos lives in Texas with his wife and three kids and says he has spent the last 20 years in the fitness and business world, experiences that shaped the book’s examples from gym culture, work culture and the daily routines of active dads. He said he saw the same patterns in himself, his father, friends, guys at the gym and dads on the sidelines.

That theme lands at a time when help-seeking gaps remain visible in the data. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 19.2% of adults received any mental health treatment in the past 12 months in 2019, and women were more likely than men to have done so. The National Institute of Mental Health says men are less likely than women to have received mental health treatment in the past year. The Texas Department of State Health Services says thousands of Texans experience a mental health condition each year.

The local backdrop makes the timing notable in Rockwall County, where growth has been rapid. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the county’s population at 140,738 on July 1, 2025, up from 107,819 in the 2020 census. Royse City grew from 13,508 in the 2020 census to an estimated 20,037 in Census Reporter’s 2024 ACS profile. For families, churches and men’s groups across Rockwall County, Bairos’s book turns an ordinary habit into a timely conversation about overwork, pride and the cost of never slowing down.