Lessons for a father - The Most Underrated Part Of Parenthood

Parenthood is, and should be, the hardest thing that we ever commit ourselves to. So many things depend on us doing the right thing. That also is, sometimes, the tougher road to take. 

With the immense amount of work and care needed to raise a child, why would we choose something that is, from the very beginning, tough?

May be because we have lost our marbles? Or because we like putting ourselves in uncomfortable situations? 

Actually, we are all just trying to do the right thing, hard or not.

And, to try and do that all the time, we all require our health to be as close to perfect as possible.

The problem is this: we get so involved in sleeping and waking up (or not sleeping at all) and cooking and cleaning and playing and making the house child safe and driving and parenting that we do not take care of ourselves as much as we should.

Like the air stewardess says on the flight: If you are traveling with a child or someone who requires assistance, secure your mask on first, and then assist the other person.

Secure your mask first. Take care of yourself first. 

In other words, make yourself fit enough to help others before putting yourself in that position. We do that in the flight because it is the law. We seem to, as parents, not be doing such a great job at keeping ourselves in top shape in our daily lives.

I cannot say what it would take to make you healthier. For me it is usually a combination of good food in moderation, exercising and surrounding myself with happiness received from good books and great friends and family.

Everyday I commit myself to the following list:

• Exercising
• Reading a good book
• Interacting with positive people
• Constantly learning, absorbing and evolving
• Thinking of and thanking God for what I have and what I can offer.

With the holidays upon us, we will have multiple opportunities to indulge in abundance. Let us pause and make sure our decisions of today do not reflect badly in our tomorrow.

Image: Flickr(Fruit and Vegies)