Austin Kleon — What I realized after I had kids was every single...

What I realized after I had kids was every single thing people think about what it’s like to be a parent and to have babies is not what it is. All you know is television or diaper commercials, and there’s always, like, talk about “Oh man, you’re going to have to do diapers.” And that has actually nothing to do with the emotional experience of creating life and being responsible for it. All of your priorities suddenly change. I spent my whole life, you know, worrying about a job and doing comedy and meeting someone I could share my life with, and suddenly all of that takes a back seat to something else. I didn’t anticipate any of that. Someone told me, you know, you go from being number one in your world to number four instantly. And then a lot of guys don’t talk about it, and they’re quietly having a nervous breakdown because they’re not the king of the castle anymore, they’re the last person that’s being dealt with in any situation, as it should be, but I didn’t think about any of it. And it wasn’t in any of the baby books. No one’s written a good baby book that explains the emotional change, you know, that thing that happens where you have a kid, and you’re up at three in the morning with your ear next to their mouth making sure they’re breathing. You know, that’s what it’s about.