Ryan Reynolds sees his anxiety as a parenting tool.
After all, The Proposal actor, who has been open on his struggles with mental health in the past, recently shared how his worrying actually helps him as a parent to his and Blake Lively's four kids.
"I think it makes it better," the 47-year-old explained to People in an interview published May 29, "because your focus is less on yourself and more on your kids."
Ryan, who is father to James, 9, Inez, 7, Betty, 4, and a 15-month-old whose name has not yet been shared, even admitted that fatherhood helped him accept his mental health strife.
"Now I love that I have anxiety, I love that I've had anxiety," he added. "Because when I see my kids experiencing some of that, which is probably genetic, I know how to address it in a way that is compassionate, that actually allows them to feel seen."
He continued, "I know that I can't just fix it—I can communicate all that stuff to them and with them. I'm always grateful for it."
In addition to helping him with his little ones, Ryan even believes that his anxiety helps him in his career.
"My job benefits greatly," he gushed. "People who have anxiety are constantly thinking into the future. You're constantly, 'What if this happens? What if that happens?' You're always telling yourself stories."
He even related it to his and longtime friend Hugh Jackman's new movie Deadpool vs. Wolverine.
"When we're shooting, I'm not just shooting the movie, I'm also sitting in the audience as a cautious critic going, 'I don't like that. I don't buy that.'" Ryan noted. "So anxiety creates that ecosystem of awareness."
As for how parenthood has changed his wife of 11 years, Blake has said becoming a mother lit a fire under her emotions.
"I know I'm a skin-covered nervous system because that's the anatomy of a human, but my nervous system feels electrified since having a child," she admitted on Amber Tamblyn's Much Ado show in February. "I have experienced every single emotion in the human spectrum of emotions and then some. The greatest highs, the greatest fears, the lows, all of it. So what I feel in my body is everything."
Keep reading for more of Ryan and Blake's quotes on parenthood.