Getting older and what it means both at a personal and professional level

By Nina Steele 

I really love getting older. I can now be myself without the need to feel as though I have to explain myself. I have always been confident. The difference between now and then is that that confidence has been taken to another level. The work that I do running nonparents.com has played a big part in my growth of course. Knowing how much difference the website makes in people’s lives shows that having the courage to say things others won’t say, really matters.

I still remember the time when I contacted a PR agency to help me promote the website. It was in the early days. They turned me down because they didn’t want to be associated with a website that tells people that it’s ok to not have children. I didn’t let that get to me too much and carried on. As it turned out, the website ended up being featured in the Telegraph and other prominent platforms, including the BBC.

I never tried to make the website into anything else other than what it is. If people don’t like what they read, they are free to move on. Whenever you try to be all things to all people, it shows and you lose credibility.

Evidently, the evolution of nonparents.com is a reflection of my own personality. Now that I am getting older, I am even more unrepentant about who I am. I like telling it like it is, not because I want to offend, but for my own peace of mind. No good can ever come from always trying to please others at one’s own expense. As they say, life‘s too short to care what other people think.

Going back to nonparents.com and the difference it makes in the lives of others, I take great pleasure in reading feedbacks from users, particularly when I look back at all the obstacles I had to overcome in those early years. One lady recently posted a thread on the forum about where she is in her life now. She came across nonparents.com over 3 years ago, after her husband left her because they were unable to conceive. She is from Nigeria and had to deal with the extreme stigma childless women face in that country. To hear that she is thriving fills my heart with joy, because for every success story, there are stories of women who, years after they discovered nonparents.com, are still not at ease with the idea of being childless, let alone embracing the childfree life.