What has been your experience as a woman without kids?
Today is my 32nd birthday and I'm feeling nostalgic, sentimental and retrospective, as one sometimes gets on birthdays.
Through a combination of choice and circumstance (you can see my post history for more details, if interested), I'm looking at embracing life as a childfree woman. I don't have many models for this due to where/how I grew up.
Imagine, say, the rural Nebraska of Canada, where a specific type of constraining religion was prevalent that stated women's sole purpose was to be (heterosexually) married and have babies. This makes it harder for me to envision an alternate life for myself. I'd really love to connect with other women who have made a similar choice/don't have children.
I really want to add right off the bat that I understand voluntary childfreedom can look and especially feel very different from involuntary childlessness and infertility, that I am sensitive to these differences, and that I welcome both perspectives. My own story also blends elements of both experiences.
I could add that I'm married and have a cat, as other anecdata. Friendships are important to me, and I love books, travel, and history. I work at a museum where I do curatorial work and programming. I work with kids often and do get to tangentially be involved in teaching them things and helping them grow.
I consider myself career focused and would love to hear what your professional backgrounds are, as well as your personal stories, if you're willing to share them.
I suppose my questions are the following:
- What has been your personal experience as a woman without kids?
- What is/has been meaningful to you as a woman without children?
- How does your life look different than you imagine it might have as a mother?
- How have you dealt with being different from large swathes of your peer group?
- What have been your biggest joys? And biggest challenges?
- What advice would you give to someone fairly new to this path?
Thank you all so much in advance. ?? |
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