Why It's OK to Be Selfish

Don't feel sorry for me. I'm not infertile. Neither is my Husband for that matter. We just decided a long time ago that we would never have children. Yes, I know I'm only 27 and you might think that I don't know what I want but I can assure you that I, that we, do.

"But, won't you change your mind?"

No.

"Who will look after you when you're old?"

Probably the same people who will look after you when you're old.

"Don't you feel guilty?"

Don't you?

I'm used to playing this particular game of 20 questions, I must play it at least twice a week - such is the curse of being a 27 year old married woman without children.

Don't feel sorry for me. I'm not infertile. Neither is my Husband for that matter. We just decided a long time ago that we would never have children. Yes, I know I'm only 27 and you might think that I don't know what I want but I can assure you that I, that we, do.

It's not that I don't feel the carnal pull from my traitorous hormones who try unsuccessfully every month to persuade me to chuck my beliefs out the window and make a tiny little baby, equal parts my Husband and I whom we would love beyond any love we have felt before. And we would. We would also be exceptional parents. I know this because we are open minded, thoughtful, compassionate and caring.

These are all the same reasons we choose not to have children.

You don't have to look very hard to see the imperfections in our world, they're in the horror stories that make the news and in the poverty that often doesn't. They're in the politics that we rely on to do right by us and in the justice system that rarely does. They're on the faces of everyone who sees life for what it is, a hard slog with no real purpose other than to keep pressing on.

I see photograph after photograph on social media of children who will never be entitled to privacy. Who's every achievement, failure, embarrassment and of course occasional 'poo pic' is offered up for the world to see regardless of whether that information should be public knowledge.

And the poor 'tweens' who instead of playing with their Barbie dolls are practicing their duck faces in the mirror and worrying that they look fat because our society teaches us that beauty really is only skin deep.

I wonder what the next generation of children will turn into when their teachers are afraid to punish them for fear of being assaulted by parents or sacked. I wonder why so much power is given to children who seem to call all the shots and I loathe that adults no longer feel able to admonish a badly behaved child in public in case they are attacked.

I worry that the overpopulation of our planet has already damaged it beyond repair and that the future is not bright for any of us.

I feel sad that a child will never grow up not knowing what a terrorist is. What a paedophile is. What a SELFIE STICK is.

I feel that the world is not good enough for my children.

And so instead I choose to spend my life travelling the world and experiencing all that life has to offer. I choose to donate my time and my money to people less fortunate than me and I choose my Husband to be my one great love.

If this makes me selfish, I'm okay with that.

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