Welcome to the Daily Dad podcast, where we provide one lesson every single day to help you with your most important job, being a parent.

I'm Ryan Holiday, and I draw these lessons from ancient philosophy, modern psychology, practical wisdom, and insights from

parents just like you all over the world. Thank you for listening, and we hope this helps.

The first thing becoming a parent teaches you, as we've talked about before, is the idea of

unavoidable reality.

Each new father, David Brooks once explained, suddenly discovers that they're not in control

anymore. The kids are. Or rather, the reality of having kids is. You don't decide how things go

anymore. This new life you're in does. It's humbling, but it's also freeing,

because now you can simply be. You can sit in the car while you wait for dance practice to wrap up.

You can sit by their bedside, soothing them back to sleep while they're sick. You can endure the

endless stories that never go anywhere. You can watch the shows they want to watch, and you can

actually somehow

enjoy this because you've assented. This is what your life is these days. Well, good, but now don't

forget it, because it's never changing. Even when they graduate from school, it's still your life.

It's your job to be around for the phone calls, to answer the phone whenever it rings, to be on call.

Even when they have families on their own, it's your job to fly to their house and do the dishes and the laundry so that they can have a break.

It's your job to make all the same trips to Disneyland in the park and wait for nap time to be over all over again.

You're not in control. No dad is. Obama in the White House wasn't,

even as an ex-president multimillionaire, he never will be again. And neither will you. So welcome to this

unavoidable reality. Go with it. It's wonderful. You're listening to a daily dad podcast, one meditation a day inspired to help

you do your most important job, which is be a great father. These are meditations inspired

by ancient wisdom, psychological research, and just great strategies from normal dads just like you.

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