When you tell people you’re going to be a dad, they very often tell you that it will change your life. For some reason they tend to tell you this as if you didn’t know.
You’re taking on responsibility for another human being, one who will take many years to become independent of you. If it doesn’t change your life, you’re doing it wrong. In fact, you’re probably doing something else entirely different and have somehow mistaken it for raising a child.
It’s also not a terribly helpful thing to say. Change is a difficult thing to deal with. Even people who’ve wanted children all their lives can be daunted when it suddenly becomes an impending reality. So to be constantly reminded that this massive, irrevocable change is on its way isn’t actually reassuring.
Don’t panic. Just take everything as it comes. It’s a huge experience and a lot to take in, and you shouldn’t come to it with too many preconceptions because everyone’s experience is different.
It’s inevitable that you’ll worry about coping with it all, but when the time comes you’ll probably find you’re able to tap into new reserves of strength (not physically – it’s not like being the Incredible Hulk), and that your other problems are put into perspective.