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 Holliday, 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.

You're stretched to a new capacity.

There's no question that becoming a parent has stretched you beyond limits you ever thought possible.

You are busier now than you ever were in your life.

You managed to survive on less sleep than you ever thought humanly possible.

You've been stressed, worried, and upset in new ways, into new heights.

But of all the ways that you have been forced to expand,

one is the best and most beautiful, your ability to love and to feel.

My heart has stretched to a capacity that I didn't know about.

The actress Jennifer Lawrence recently explained about becoming a mom.

How perfectly said, did you know you could cry during a TV

commercial before? How quickly did you realize that you were willing to die for your kids or do

things for them that you never thought you'd ever do for anyone else? And as some of you have likely

noticed, that capacity for love extends beyond your family.

Suddenly you feel this expanded enormous capacity to love, to connect to all living things, all

parents. You now notice the mom struggling to get a stroller up some stairs and you rush to help.

The parents with a crying baby on a plane don't bother you, and instead you feel intensely for them

for their struggle. Your kids have given you so much. They have quite nearly given you a heart

attack on many occasions, but they compensate for this by giving you a much bigger heart. They

stretch you, they expand you. They make you better.

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