I appreciate your comment about feeling concerned about the absence of emotion at the moment of your child’s birth. To be honest, this is how I felt when my daughter was born. I thought I would be moved to tears upon holding her wriggling body in my arms, but I was not. The feelings of love and connection with my child did not form until weeks later. It is only now that I am overcome with emotion when my child smiled at me.
Thanks for sharing Dan. I can understand that for sure. For me the feelings also grew over the weeks afterwards. I think we can really get in our own way with this stuff: expectation / anxiety can drown out natural responses (or maybe they are the 'natural' responses?!). It can all get confusing. Glad to hear you're in a happy place now!
Agreed. There is sometimes a gap between how we think we “should” feel and what we actually feel. I just posted my ten week update over on my substack and I delve into more detail on how having a child has radically reframed how I see the purpose of my own life. It has given me intense focus, like you mentioned on your other post.
Desired emotions we often ignore. In working toward balance and regulation we're almost always trying to figure out how to move through the painful, bad guys.
Thank you for shining your light on the struggle of love.
I appreciate your comment about feeling concerned about the absence of emotion at the moment of your child’s birth. To be honest, this is how I felt when my daughter was born. I thought I would be moved to tears upon holding her wriggling body in my arms, but I was not. The feelings of love and connection with my child did not form until weeks later. It is only now that I am overcome with emotion when my child smiled at me.
Thanks for sharing Dan. I can understand that for sure. For me the feelings also grew over the weeks afterwards. I think we can really get in our own way with this stuff: expectation / anxiety can drown out natural responses (or maybe they are the 'natural' responses?!). It can all get confusing. Glad to hear you're in a happy place now!
Agreed. There is sometimes a gap between how we think we “should” feel and what we actually feel. I just posted my ten week update over on my substack and I delve into more detail on how having a child has radically reframed how I see the purpose of my own life. It has given me intense focus, like you mentioned on your other post.
Desired emotions we often ignore. In working toward balance and regulation we're almost always trying to figure out how to move through the painful, bad guys.
Thank you for shining your light on the struggle of love.
Thanks Margo. I often wonder what the barrier is. I'd blame 'society', but it happens when I'm alone too!
I think we have very little vocabulary for feelings. And we're so very linguistic.
The pain of difficult feelings compels us more than the relative ease of pleasant ones.
And also for the delightful pictures ❤️
Love this. Very happy for you Sam and a beautiful piece of writing. Fatherhood is clearly suiting you!
Thanks boss