WE ARE CHILDFREE

Looking back from the age of 56, I see how fulfilling my childfree life as a younger woman was.

I embarked on a childfree life without fully realising it at the time because of the traditional culture I came from.

The more I explored my freedom – the more I achieved study and career goals, the more I worked in helping others, the more financial independence I gained, the more I travelled, the more social connections and loving I experienced, the more I learned how to self-care for my own mental and physical wellbeing – the more I realised a childfree life was for me.

My personal growth was on an exponential curve. It wasn’t easy. Navigating the sexist assumptions and pressures meant that it took a long time to find a partner who was on the same page but I have no regrets.

Now I don’t feel alone with my decision. I have friends who are childfree as well as other friends who have children. Plus social media has made me realise how I’m not alone in being childfree.

I’m doing what I want to without having to wait until ‘retirement’. I’m living a life that is incomparable with ‘keeping up with the Joneses’.

I’m often asked how can you live like this, and I quietly think luckily I’ve followed my own path.