What are your career expectations? (4 replies)
Children do cost a lot of money and so not having any means that we are naturally under less financial strain than those with children. The implications are that we do not need as much money to live on and so we can have a change of career and follow our passion instead. I have always felt passionate about empowering others and so being unable to have children and coming to terms with it has given me the chance to empower others still struggling to do the same.
I know for a fact that I am now higher up in my career than I would have been if I'd had children. My two best friends have turned down promotions which they would have been brilliant at, and it's because she didn't want to spend more time away from her family - which is, of course, absolutely fair enough. I'm not saying that having a career is a replacement to having children, but it is certainly a positive that needs to be remembered.
The thing with not having children is that it forces you to see life differently. You are made to believe earlier on in life that there is only one path and so when circumstances force you to follow a different path than the conventional one, you realise like we have, that there is far more to it than you had ever anticipated. For example, the fact that you don't need that much money to live on as mentioned previously, the realisation that your relationship will remain the main focus, the fact that you can pursue all sorts of hobbies and dreams without worrying about the implications on the children, since you haven't got any and the list goes on. There is so much out there to enjoy, which to me shows again that there is more to life than having children.
I agree, Nina. When dealing with not having children, the mind absolutely has to have other things to focus on, and a career is an excellent opportunity for this. I doubt that I would even be able to work full time at all if I had children, let alone in a job that took a lot of hours outside of work as well, so it is certainly something to think about.
As I've said before on here, I strongly believe that it is very important that we are positive about our situations as we can possibly be.
One of the positive sides of not having children is the fact that you should be able to progress in your career more easily - because you will never need to take gaps.
Personally, if I had children, I don't think that I would be able to progress in my career because I would have wanted to spend a lot of time at home, however now I am able to chase promotions, and am actually already working as a supervisor.
I hope that in the future I may either be able to manage my office, or even branch off on my own and open a company - although that is several years in the future yet!