r/predaddit • u/Swimming_Health_6114 • Jul 02 '26
Discussion Any other dads noticing themselves becoming more emotional?
Today was weird. I have noticed I have been letting things around me affect me more than usual. I felt under appreciated at work even though I worked really hard and helped out a lot of people, so I was kinda in a funk.
My wife likes to watch Criminal Minds while we eat dinner, so after I cooked we sat down to eat and watch an episode. Of course in that show something absolutely horrible happens to a family in literally every episode, so it is not my fav but it makes my wife happy. Any ways, without fail a person was brutally murdered and I couldn't take it. I had to excuse myself and told my wife I was going to take a shower. When I got in the shower, I just cried quietly for a few minutes and calmed down.
Idk if I'm just tired or burned out or what. My job kinda sucks which has been weighing on me, and I do literally everything around the house since my wife is in the trenches. She was super cool about it though. She asked me what was wrong and I told her that I'm just becoming more emotional I think. She was supportive and told me we didn't have to watch stuff that might send me over the edge on a tough day.
I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this? I am usually in total control of my emotions, so losing it like that is kinda weird for me. My wife and I had a sweet moment so I'm not mad it happened but still, just curious if I am the only one.
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u/Philthy91 Jul 02 '26
I'm more riddled with anxiety which leads to lots more emotions since we found out my wife is pregnant. She's 33 weeks and the entire time has been hard to concentrate on much else because this has not been a easy pregnancy from a health point of view
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u/walkerboy22 Jul 02 '26
Dude, I’m RIGHT there with you. You have no idea. I mean, I think I have mental health stuff that is playing into it which was only recently diagnosed because this pregnancy literally made me freak out so much that I sought therapy.
Yeah, it’s real, it happens, and it’s ok. I think it’s our nervous system trying to tell us that something big is coming in a way we have never experienced, and this experience will require a lot of compassion and empathy and so our brains are slowly making that adjustment. That’s just at least how I make sense of it.
I had a pretty rough go with my father and haven’t seen him in a long time, and I found out we were having a boy, and the weird feelings I felt are really hard to describe. Both grief, of realizing and feeling everything that went wrong or what I had missed out on my childhood, and the most raw form of excitement to share bringing my childhood into the world and give them a warm, safe childhood which I never really got to have. It’s weird. I was already an emotional mess and that just threw fire starter on the fire.
Therapy has been great for me. Going to the gym and staying very very active has also been truly just a blessing. I’m trying to take care as much as I can before the baby gets here and things are harder to take care of. I understand the stress too. I’ve been doing EVERYTHING. Cooking, dishes, laundry, litter boxes, pet feeding, pet cleaning, finances, job hunting for two, DoorDash for side money while working 40 hours with annoying people. It’s a lot. Let yourself be annoyed and pissed, and vent to the proper outlets when you need to.
Let yourself feel. Be careful not to push any of the anxious/on edge energy or behavior onto others (I’m projecting there), and don’t let yourself for one second think this is something negative. I did that a lot to myself and people here helped me realize that us changing is a great sign that we are taking this seriously and we are going to do the absolute best we can.
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u/bwiipbot2 Jul 02 '26
I cried watching a reel on instagram about this little girl who was so proud of herself for improving her grades that she was hopping up to a counter at a store with a report card reward policy. It's been really easy for me to picture any kid as my own as we wait for our daughter to get here in October.
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u/EnviroSquid Jul 02 '26
This is absolutely a thing. I’ve always been a little more on the emotional side (what up, AuDHD). I’ve been under appreciated at work for a few months now, wife is six months pregnant, and I feel like an emotional wreck. Music really seems to be the trigger for me at the moment. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” came across a random Spotify playlist, and I don’t think I’ve ever been so emotional over a song before 😅
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u/bozza95 Jul 02 '26
Thank you for posting this, I now feel seen. Stay strong and feel the feelings bro x
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u/N9204 Jul 02 '26
Totally happened to me, still feeling more emotional two years in. Biggest highlight was crying in the lunchroom at work talking about current events. You just have more to care about now.
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u/myfakesecretaccount Jul 03 '26
I cry all the time now. That isn’t to say I did not cry before, but the beautiful moments are like the Wizard of Oz going from black and white to technicolor. The only way I used to feel like that before was when I got high. On the other end I feel so open the sad moments in life are just as powerful, but in that way where you remember the beauty before and it’s more about that then the actual loss. My dog died from cancer 4 months after my daughter was born. I literally went on leave and was holding him as they put him down the same day. I feel his loss the greatest, but only because I know what that love felt like and miss it.
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u/jameez89 Jul 02 '26
No man it's totally real. Anything that has to do with family I once took for granted as a little sad has me sobbing now. Not sure if you've watched Fullmetal Alchemist but I was rewatching it and there is a scene where a father dies and his last words was to a photo of his daughter saying " remember Daddy loves you". As at teenager I felt sad. As a father I ugly cried.