We Can Choose Our Parents
The Daily Dad
Daily Dad
4.6 • 630 Ratings
🗓️ 19 March 2021
⏱️ 3 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“We were given two parents. Or maybe one. Or maybe more. All of our upbringings were different, and outside of our control. We didn’t get to decide who our mom was or who our dad was, if they got divorced, if they were present, if our stepparents were a blessing or a nightmare.”
Ryan discusses the ability that you have to choose who you model yourself after, on today’s Daily Dad podcast.
The Boy Who Would Be King is out now, written by Ryan Holiday in the depths of the pandemic (not unlike the one Marcus ruled through), this new beautifully crafted book is available now. Go to dailystoic.com/king to order now and you’ll automatically get the free audiobook.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Daily Dad podcast where we provide one lesson every day to help you |
| 0:12.3 | with your most important job being a dad. These are lessons inspired by ancient philosophy, |
| 0:17.7 | by practical wisdom, and insights from dads all over the world. |
| 0:22.8 | Thank you for listening, and we hope this helps. |
| 0:32.0 | We can choose our parents. |
| 0:35.2 | We were given two parents, or maybe one, or maybe more. All of our uprings were different |
| 0:42.0 | and outside of our control. We didn't decide who our mom was or who our dad was if they got |
| 0:47.6 | divorced, if they were present, if our step-parents were a blessing or a nightmare. But what we do |
| 0:54.1 | control, as Seneca said, is whose children |
| 0:57.0 | we decide to be. We decide whose model they'll follow. We decide what tradition to carry forward |
| 1:04.1 | in which to reject, which lineage to inherit. Maybe your parents sucked, and so you decided to be |
| 1:10.7 | the child of a grandparent, |
| 1:12.4 | who showed you what unconditional love and support was. Maybe your parents were great, |
| 1:17.7 | and you've decided to follow their model. Maybe you didn't have any parents, so you channeled |
| 1:22.7 | the example of a Mr. Rogers or Ashari Lewis. Stephen Pressfield's fantastic new novel, |
| 1:29.2 | A Man at Arms, is the story of two young children who lose their guardians. |
| 1:33.9 | They find inspiration and protection and a tradition and a nomadic warrior. |
| 1:38.4 | It takes them on a mission. |
| 1:40.4 | As Pressfield has one of the characters say, |
| 1:42.7 | If the child indeed can identify no father of blood, |
| 1:46.2 | it seems to me that heaven will take scant offense if she chooses now one of her own. |
| 1:52.5 | So what will it be for you? Who will you choose? |
... |
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