A somewhat old post from Art of Manliness, but a really interesting look at the concept of manliness. They quote Roosevelt from his autobiography…
Looking back, a man really has a more objective feeling about himself as a child than he has about his father or mother. He feels as if that child were not the present he, individually, but an ancestor; just as much an ancestor as either of his parents. The saying that the child is the father to the man may be taken in a sense almost the reverse of that usually given to it. The child is father to the man in the sense that his individuality is separate from the individuality of the grown-up into which he turns. This is perhaps one reason why a man can speak of his childhood and early youth with a sense of detachment.
In the past year or two, I feel like I’ve been going through that process of fathering the man I’m becoming (that’s probably the weirdest sentence I’ve ever written). Obviously it would be silly to call myself “old” but I’m shedding off my boyhood pretty rapidly.
I think this change has made those things I want to get better at this year seem more urgent. The longer I go without those improvements, the more my current ways will become habits for “the man”. AoM continues…
Just like one day you’ll need to be intentional about fathering your biological children, right now you need to be intentional about fathering your future self. Will you be an absentee dad who leaves your 30-year-old self feeling lost and adrift? Or will you raise a man who is intelligent, virtuous, and able to tackle life with confidence and vigor? No one can control the kind of biological father they are born with. But every young man can strive to be the best possible father to his future self.
The author goes on to lay down nine foundational habits for a young man to raise himself right. It’s almost creepy how those habits lineup with the ones I wanted to achieve this year.