To Breed or Not to Breed, That is the Question
Between life talks around the campfire this weekend and recently reading this post about eight women who chose not to have children, the idea of having or not having kids has been on my mind quite a bit.
For many people, the idea of getting married and having children is a completely natural progression for life. A widely, almost universally accepted idea within our culture. Yet, somehow it just doesn’t seem right for me. Something I go back and forth on quite often.
The constant reminder from social media that basically all of my friends are married with children has me questioning, should I be dating more? Will I feel differently once I find the right person? Will it be too late by then? Which always brings me right back to the same question, time and time again, do I even want children?
My mother never kept it a secret that she wanted grandchildren. In fact, you she was extremely vocal about it even from the time my sister and I were in our early twenties. Thankfully that pressure has been relieved since my sister has given her a grandson and has another baby on the way. Thanks Chris.
Sometimes I feel like I have two different people living inside of me. Part of me feels completely content on the idea of never having children [the husband part I’m still open-minded about, but I’m slowly becoming comfortable with the idea of being alone forever, and not in the sad depressed wahhhh why am I alone kind of way]. Then my heart does a 180 and all I can think is when will I find my person and finally settle down and start a family. I’m a nurturing person. I love taking care of people and considering my job title has been ‘nanny’ for the past 3 years, it seems only natural for me to follow my motherly instinct.
Alas, I have a nomadic soul. I get the itch to get up and go whenever I’m stationary or settled into a lifestyle for too long. It’s not impossible to live the life of a nomad with children in tow, but considering it’s been a bit of a struggle for me as an individual, the idea of being responsible for another person feels pretty daunting. I love naps, free time to enjoy my own hobbies, and extra spending money to do whatever I want, whenever I want. Those things don’t exactly mix well with children.
I think like many of the difficult questions in life, only time will tell.
Now, fur babies? I can give you a very clear resounding YES on that one. I want all the fur babies. Bring on the fur babies.