37. Get out of Survival Mode, Self-sacrifice, and Avoidance with Larry Hagner of the Dad Edge
Survival mode, self-sacrifice, and avoidance are not strengths. They are the drift.
Fatherhood doesn’t fall apart all at once, it erodes quietly. You keep showing up, you keep providing, you keep telling yourself this is just a season, and then one day you realize you’re exhausted, disconnected, and not totally sure how you got here.
In this episode, I sit down with Larry Hagner, host of the Dad Edge Podcast, one of the original and most listened-to dad podcasts in the world. Larry calls this slow erosion the Dad Drift. It’s what happens when survival mode becomes normal, when self-sacrifice replaces emotional presence, and when your marriage and parenting start to feel transactional instead of connected.
We talk honestly about emotional leadership and why anger is almost never the real issue. We unpack why white-knuckling your way through fatherhood can actually push your family further away, how validating emotions changes everything at home, and why so many marriages quietly slip into roommate mode even when both people care
In this episode, we explore:
Why do so many dads feel burnt out, even when life looks good on paper?
What is the Dad Drift, and how does it sneak into marriage and parenting?
Why anger is usually a signal, not the real problem
How emotional leadership creates safety and connection at home
What it actually means to lead your family without white-knuckling it
Resources Mentioned
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Skds Formula
Sining Prairie meat sticks
La leche league
Watch the Full Episode
Joe Carr is an entrepreneur, advocate, and passionate educator on fatherhood and partnership. Driven by a desire to provide high-quality, nutrient-dense baby food for his daughter Della, Joe and his wife founded Serenity Kids baby food brand after experiencing their own health transformations through clean eating. Now, alongside his work in revolutionizing baby nutrition, Joe is on a mission to help new dads navigate the transformational journey of fatherhood. Through his podcast and social media platform Dadicated Joe, he shares real, honest conversations about showing up for your children, supporting your partner, and embracing the identity shift that comes with becoming a dad.
👉 Get 15% off your first Serenity Kids order with code: DADICATED15 https://myserenitykids.com/
Larry Hagner is the founder of The Dad Edge—an organization dedicated to equipping men with the tools and community they need to thrive as husbands, fathers, and leaders - and the host of the globally recognized Dad Edge Podcast, which has surpassed 40 million downloads.
With over 1,000 interviews to date, Larry has welcomed an impressive range of guests including Matthew McConaughey, Jon Bernthal, Kirk Cameron, Mike Rowe, Chris Daughtry, Sean Patrick Flanery, Greg Olsen, Bear Rinehart, Nikki Sixx, and many more
Follow Larry on Instagram: @thedadedge https://www.instagram.com/thedadedge/
Listen to The Dad Edge Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/ge/podcast/the-dad-edge-podcast/id986223478
