Balancing Fatherhood And Wellbeing: A Guide
As a father, you know how it feels to truly care for another person and put their needs before your own. You should know, however, that being a father doesn’t mean that you have to give up entirely on tending to your own wellbeing. By making that fatal mistake, not only will you make your life a lot harder than it needs to be, but your child’s life will be impacted, too. After all, a man who doesn’t tend to his wellbeing makes for a grumpy father!
You should seek to find a balance between fatherhood and wellbeing, as that is the only way you are going to be able to enjoy fulfilling family life. To see how this can all-important balance can be achieved, be sure to read on.
Make time for yourself
It’s very possible that your time is currently split between physically being there for your family and working so that they can afford the standard of living that they deserve. If you continue to live and work in this manner, however, you will undoubtedly suffer from fatigue sooner rather than later. This fatigue will then, slowly but surely, feed negativity into your life, and that will have a devastating impact on your wellbeing. Quite simply, don’t be afraid to take some time for yourself, no matter how selfish doing so may feel.
In this instance, you might find it helpful to break your schedule down to ensure that you micromanage it better.
Spend your time engaging in fulfilling activities
Once you’ve managed to find a bit of ‘me time’ for yourself, it’s time to start filling this free time of yours with fulfilling activities, and unfortunately, sitting there and watching the TV for hours on end does not class as fulfilling. The time that you take for yourself should be spent partaking in activities that bring something to your life and tend to your wellbeing, not just rest you in preparation for your next shift at work.
In order to be able to devote 100% of your free time to the activities that tend to your wellbeing, you might need to kick a few unhealthy distractions first. Whether this means partaking in a Forwardrecovery.com substance abuse program in order to deal with the physical distraction of alcoholism, or whether this means meditating in a bid to overcome the mental distraction of overthinking and worrying, you need to do whatever it takes to stop bad habits and personal plights from encroaching into your free time. This time is there to help you tend to your wellbeing, so it needs to be protected from all potential distractions at all costs.
Spend some time with other fathers
If you know of any similarly situated fathers, whether they’re men that you work with, live close to, or have been friends with for years, seek to spend more time with them. By opening this kind of relationship and the level of conversation that it breeds, you will find yourself able to open up more about your personal problems. As a result, you will discover facing the difficulties that arise in your bid to find a balance between fatherhood and your wellbeing far easier to manage.
If you want to balance fatherhood with tending to your own wellbeing, you must heed all of the advice laid out in the guide above.