A short phrase for how life changes as a parent
Here’s a great pithy description of what changes once you have a baby:
“Your life gets objectively worse, but subjectively much better.”
I heard this from Andrew Wilkinson (who probably heard it somewhere else). Most of the quantitative metrics in your life go the wrong direction. Amount of sleep goes down, free time goes down, bank account goes down, trips to the doctor/grocery store/etc. go up…
Despite all that, however, on the subjective side, am certain I feel like my life is more rich, satisfying, meaningful, and joyful now than it was before I became a dad. It’s worth the objective costs, for sure.