Well you have a dog, right?

This is normally the follow-up question after someone asks myself or my husband if we have kids and we give them our answer, "no." When that second question also gets a no, I usually then try to ease the silence and/or shock by saying something along the lines of, "I am not making it easy to relate to, am I?" (insert awkward laugh by both parties here) I literally just and I mean JUST as in about a day ago decided that I wanted to open up about this topic in this type of format. I jokingly said, "I should write a book!" and then quickly thought to myself- that takes a lot of time, effort, and likely money to do that. Not to mention the immediate fears of: would anyone even buy it, be interested or care? Might as well dip my toe in and try out a blog instead!

Whether you are reading this because you are a friend showing love and support (and i appreciate that more than you know) or you are someone who has considered this lifestyle, welcome! To give a super brief and corny intro of myself because I feel like I kind of have to do that (do I?!) I'm Holly. I'm 32, soon to be 33. I live in Columbus, OH with my husband, Darren. I'm a registered nurse and am super lucky to have a work-at-home position which allows me to do a type of nursing that I never knew existed over ten years ago when I got my degree. Darren and I enjoy concerts, traveling and rooting for the Dallas Cowboys, sigh....

You'll hear and see more about these things as we go on because they are all part of what I now openly refer to as my #childfreelife

Let me start by saying that this blog was not created to try and convince people that they shouldn't have kids. It is also not me saying "if you have kids or want kids, you're wrong" I am putting myself out there and sharing personal shit because it is time to normalize the idea that going against "the norm" is okay. In fact, it is MORE than okay. Who gets to decide what normal is anyhow?

I suppose I am getting ahead of myself with all of this. Being childfree isn't something that just happened to me. It was a decision -a choice, one that wasn't taken lightly I might add. There were twists and turns. There were tears, guilt, shame, internal struggles, self-evaluation. I guess what I am saying is that I didn't always think or know deep down that I would be #childfree. It was actually quite the opposite, but we will get into that another time because quite frankly I don't think I have the energy to unpack all of that at the moment.

What we will get into right here and now is that this is a space for anyone who may resonate with that last paragraph. Maybe you are currently exploring the idea of not becoming a parent. Maybe you are feeling confused or torn about this topic, and I wouldn't blame you one bit! It is a BIG decision. I might be bold here by saying this, but I think it is the biggest decision you will make. Bigger than taking a job offer, buying a house or even getting married. Those things can change...

My main goal with creating this is to simply spread awareness.

1. Awareness that being childfree is an option. Because if you are like me, you had never really even considered that before

2. Awareness that being childfree does not equal hating kids or hating people that have kids

3. Awareness that if you do decide to embrace the childfree life, that you can still be fulfilled, happy and complete

So now that some awareness has been spread, I can finish this very first post by saying thank you for taking the time to read my jumbled thoughts.

-Holly