This is Daily Dadspeak—daily reflections on becoming a dad, while still growing up myself. You can find the full mini-pod audio list here.
November 30, 2021
Halloween was already one month ago. It was my kids’ first Halloween in the US, and Barcelona doesn’t do trick-or-treat, so it was a big night.
We got dressed up and walked down the streets full of ghouls, goblins, and other nightmares. One house had built a haunted tent in their yard. And all night, Jason drove his blood-splattered Chevy around town in a hockey mask. It was freaky as hell.
This morning on our walk to school, my youngest told me, rather randomly, that Halloween wasn’t so scary in the end. This was quite a change from the way my kids were feeling in the weeks leading up to it, when they first started seeing the creepy decorations around town.
I suppose an obvious lesson here is that, sometimes confronting fears is the best way to overcome them. But I think there’s a deeper point to notice.
When switched on, negative emotions often feel like they’ll never end. When we’re down, it can feel like the whole world is caving in. If we don’t get a promotion, or an invitation to that party, we wonder if we’re really good enough.
Now, I don’t mean to say that many people don’t suffer from very real, chronic mental health concerns. But in most cases, every negative feeling that you’ve had in the past is now gone. And the next time you feel one of these emotions, it too will pass. If only it were easier to recognize this in the moments when those bad feelings arise. Like Halloween, all things pass.
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