WE ARE CHILDFREE

I’ve always known that being a parent to children wasn’t the right choice for me and I’m grateful for the privilege in this certainty.

Being childfree by choice has allowed me the constant freedom to pursue my incredibly fulfilling career, nurture meaningful relationships with those around me, prioritise myself and what excites me and deep dive into healing from my childhood trauma.

The choice to be childfree does feel rooted in my essence and innate self AND I acknowledge that I had a front row seat to the realities of parenting – particularly the unfair burden on women as unsupported and disrespected caregivers – from as early as I can remember. My mum was a single parent who faced a great deal of logistical and emotional challenges in this role and both had to put herself to the side to manage and wasn’t able to provide me the care and nurturing that I required to flourish.

In short, I could see how hard it was. I saw it as a miserable existence quite frankly and I knew I wanted as much freedom and spaciousness as I could find.

At 39 now, I’ve never for a moment hesitated on or regretted my choice and I simultaneously have, at times and in spaces, felt that the status quo of being a parent has meant I gaslight myself e.g. the loss of other women around me to their parenting role has been hard and I wish I’d known better in the past how to be direct in how I feel about this and honour that how I feel matters too.