The Daily Dad

This is The Cure

Mar 13, 2024

03:32

Snipd AI

Becoming a parent shifts priorities, humbling one's ego. Children offer a cure for self-importance. Importance of family over business ventures highlighted. Hoka Mach 6 kid-friendly shoes mentioned.

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Quick takeaways

Parenthood humbles individuals, emphasizing familial bonds over material pursuits.

Shared experiences, like surprising a child with matching shoes, strengthen parent-child relationships.

Deep dives

The Humbling Effect of Parenthood

Having children serves as a humbling experience, putting into perspective the importance of other aspects of life. The challenges and responsibilities that come with parenting help individuals realize the true significance of familial bonds over material possessions or societal achievements. Writer Stephen Marsh aptly describes the psychological transformation that occurs after having children, highlighting how it diminishes self-importance and shifts priorities. Parenthood acts as an antidote to ego-centered pursuits, guiding individuals towards a deeper understanding of what truly matters.

Parental Transformation and Ego Realization Through Parenthood

4min

It doesn’t matter how driven you were. It doesn’t matter how much money is on the table. Having kids humbles you. We said recently that having kids changes you because it brings you up close and personal with something that actually means something and all your other worldly stuff naturally pales somewhat in comparison.

As the writer Stephen Marche describes (he has a great little book on writing and life), “the physical changes that occasionally transpire with women after birth—eczema disappearing, once intractable allergies going away—have a psychological equivalent. The flesh of little children is the cure for self-importance. Everything matters less. Having children does not necessarily make writing harder, but it makes it a lot harder to pretend that writing matters.”

It makes it harder for that business trip to matter. Not when your son is struggling in school. It makes it harder for that big exit for your startup to matter…now that pursuing it has made your spouse contemplate an exit from your marriage (and now you’re staring down the heartbreak of shared custody). You thought it was all so important. You thought you were so important.

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