We all know that becoming a mother changes all the fundamental things about a woman, but it's seldom that men open up about how becoming a dad impacts how they look at themselves.
Getting serious for a second, 2FM funnyman Carl Mullan has given a voice to dads everywhere who may have struggled or may be struggling with fatherhood.
Yes, welcoming a child can be the most amazing thing but it's also an absolutely terrifying time, as he explained in a deep and meaningful conversation with the Irish Times.
Carl, who is dad to Daibhí, three, and Éala, nine months, told how he accepted professional guidance to help him adjust to life as a dad while also keeping his relationship with his wife Ais going as well as all the balls in the air in his professional life.
In his line of work, Carl opens himself up to an audience who can sometimes be harsh for no particular reason. 'I’m going home and something that someone said is playing on your mind. But then you’re like, "I need to be here for my kids and for my wife. I don’t want to be distracted." And then you start to go in on yourself and go into a bit of a spiral,' he said.
As is the case with many people who go for professional help with one area they are struggling with, the process opens up the floodgates to deal with other underlying issues that may never have cropped up otherwise.
Carl admits he had issues with his body image. 'I would be very hard on myself. My little one Éala- she isn't sleeping. And you're up early, you're going into work and you've had a couple of hours sleep. You have to switch it on. And then you're not getting to exercise as much and you don't feel good about yourself- and that actually does have an effect on me.'
Carl used to consider himself simply 'self-conscious', but now he realises that it was having more of an impact on his day-to-day life than he realised.
He has also started to recognise aspects of him that could be considered traits of someone with ADHD- a condition he didn't really understand before and could explain a lot about his life- for example his time management skills.
'To be honest, even when I was speaking through it, I actually felt huge relief when I thought, "actually, hang on a minute, there might be a little bit of neurodiversity there",' he said.
Carl feels that his anxiety and possible ADHD could lead to the guilt he sometimes feels as a dad when he gets easily distracted, but knowing these things about himself helps him to refocus on what's important.
He said: 'If my kids can say "he’s a class dad" that’s my job done. I would never want my anxiety to impact my ability to be a great dad.'
