I’m feeling especially happy to be childfree and wanted to share. I have off from work and am spending the week home with my husband and dogs. The house is so peaceful. I’m getting in hours and hours of digital painting practice. I can’t fathom why anyone would voluntarily choose to care for a kid for 18yrs, rather than have that time for relaxation and to pursue interests/hobbies. Working fulltime already makes me feel like I don’t get enough time to simply enjoy life.
Why do communities exist for - to pick an example - atheists? In lots of parts of the world, there is huge social pressure to conform to a specific religion. If you decide not to, or leave the religion, or have questions, it can be a terrifying and lonely experience.
It’s the same here. Lots of us feel huge pressure from family, friends, co-workers, and society to do something that we don’t want to do. So it is nice to have a community where we can discuss that and reassure each other. Because it is difficult to do what is right when everyone is telling you you’re wrong.
Must admit, I didn’t see it from this angle. Perhaps because of my personal experience in life and the few people in my social circle have never been pressured into having kids, it’s just not really been a thing in my 40 odd years on the planet. Perhaps cultural differences etc, either way adjusting my view point to be that of people constantly being pressured to have kids when they don’t want kids/can’t have kids allows me to understand the community’s existence.