Have a kid. There is nothing better than teaching a little person who trusts you implicitly. Showing my son all the cool things I loved as a kid and love now is one of the greatest joys I have ever experienced. Watching Across the Spiderverse in a theater with a 6 year old who eats, sleeps and breathes Spidey needs to be on everyone's bucket list. All it takes to be a good dad is a big heart and honesty. You don't need to be perfect, just be present. I believe in you man. You will be great.
Listening to this episode made a few things about myself click in my head. Usually, when listening to 1-Upsmanship, I get incredibly frustrated with Adam's attitude towards the games, how he misses the "art" of video games in favour of the raw dopamine chase, and how shallow it makes his interest in the medium feel. Listening to this, however, I found myself instead getting frustrated with Michael and how driven by base emotions his decisions and feelings around child-rearing are, and I found Abe's more input-output "robotic" feelings towards life a lot more relatable to me. All of this is to say I think I find myself realising that I make life decisions like an absolute robot and don't let myself feel much of anything in my "real" day to day life, instead funnelling all of my emotional experiences into video games/comics/film and other artistic mediums, probably because they feel like a more "safe" place to experience feelings. 🤔
Have a kid. There is an inescapable selfish element to it. But that’s okay. Raising kids is hard. We inevitably fail or disappoint them. Show them grace so that they will, in turn, have grace for you one day. Each of us is doing this for the first and last time.
Just saying, there absolutely are parents who regret having kids. My dad is but one i example that i know. He loved us and cared for us but never had a problem saying that if he got to do it over he wouldnt have kids so he coulda kept partying and die at 40 instead of 60. And while ive felt the call myself now that im in my 30s, ive gotten a lot out of being an uncle. But at this point in your life if you think you wanna i think its a safe bet that you do, and youll love it. Edit: since you asked, sounds like you want the kid. Do it.
Millenia of your ancestors survived disease, war, political upheaval and saber tooth tiger attack. Honor their success by continuing the bloodline 😂 As a father of four I can say it’s not the only thing I’ve done in my life but it’s the most meaningful, go for it!
Babies were still being birthed throughout the black plague, and Europeans at the time legitimately (and for arguably good reason) believed they were living in the end times... but humanity ultimately carried on...
About losing your job and being financially worried, even if you were making 105K a year it wouldn't be enough. But that's not to say you shouldn't do it. You figure out ways to do what you need to. and they drive will never be higher than when you know you have a child to feed or clothe. I haven't finished the episode but A lot of the fears you have go away once your child is born and are replaced with the need to do everything you can for that child. And as far as the reasons to have a child......everyone's reasons to have a child are selfish and I don't think that's a bad thing.
Have a kid. There is nothing better than teaching a little person who trusts you implicitly. Showing my son all the cool things I loved as a kid and love now is one of the greatest joys I have ever experienced. Watching Across the Spiderverse in a theater with a 6 year old who eats, sleeps and breathes Spidey needs to be on everyone's bucket list.
All it takes to be a good dad is a big heart and honesty. You don't need to be perfect, just be present. I believe in you man. You will be great.
Listening to this episode made a few things about myself click in my head.
Usually, when listening to 1-Upsmanship, I get incredibly frustrated with Adam's attitude towards the games, how he misses the "art" of video games in favour of the raw dopamine chase, and how shallow it makes his interest in the medium feel. Listening to this, however, I found myself instead getting frustrated with Michael and how driven by base emotions his decisions and feelings around child-rearing are, and I found Abe's more input-output "robotic" feelings towards life a lot more relatable to me.
All of this is to say I think I find myself realising that I make life decisions like an absolute robot and don't let myself feel much of anything in my "real" day to day life, instead funnelling all of my emotional experiences into video games/comics/film and other artistic mediums, probably because they feel like a more "safe" place to experience feelings. 🤔
Have a kid. There is an inescapable selfish element to it. But that’s okay.
Raising kids is hard. We inevitably fail or disappoint them. Show them grace so that they will, in turn, have grace for you one day.
Each of us is doing this for the first and last time.
Just saying, there absolutely are parents who regret having kids. My dad is but one i example that i know. He loved us and cared for us but never had a problem saying that if he got to do it over he wouldnt have kids so he coulda kept partying and die at 40 instead of 60.
And while ive felt the call myself now that im in my 30s, ive gotten a lot out of being an uncle.
But at this point in your life if you think you wanna i think its a safe bet that you do, and youll love it.
Edit: since you asked, sounds like you want the kid. Do it.
Millenia of your ancestors survived disease, war, political upheaval and saber tooth tiger attack. Honor their success by continuing the bloodline 😂
As a father of four I can say it’s not the only thing I’ve done in my life but it’s the most meaningful, go for it!
Babies were still being birthed throughout the black plague, and Europeans at the time legitimately (and for arguably good reason) believed they were living in the end times... but humanity ultimately carried on...
About losing your job and being financially worried, even if you were making 105K a year it wouldn't be enough. But that's not to say you shouldn't do it. You figure out ways to do what you need to. and they drive will never be higher than when you know you have a child to feed or clothe. I haven't finished the episode but A lot of the fears you have go away once your child is born and are replaced with the need to do everything you can for that child. And as far as the reasons to have a child......everyone's reasons to have a child are selfish and I don't think that's a bad thing.