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ilias partsenidis's avatar

Beautiful piece, thank you Lucy! Fertility rates have been decreasing in most countries and a significant proportion of the population is childless/childfree so it is interesting to see how people reflect on this new reality and how they embrace it.

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Lucy Handley's avatar

Thank you, Ilias. It feels like a big shift, and I’m glad to be part of the conversation. Thank you for being here.

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Abby Wolfe's avatar

I love the part about how you might be sad about something, and that's okay. We (maybe just me?) try to avoid or push away our negative feelings, and I think that causes us to do things we might not really want or might not be ready for. I'm 35 and at this point my husband and I have decided not to have children. For the most part, I feel okay with that. Sometimes I think I might be sad about it or regret it in the future, but I have to remind myself that the possibility of those feelings five or ten years down the road is not a good enough reason to force myself into doing something now.

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Lucy Handley's avatar

Thank you, Abby. You are so right about being sad, and it being ok. I sometimes push my feelings away as well - so I hear you. I also think other people sometimes want us to be happy and might not want to see/let us be ‘in’ those sad feelings because they care about us - and also our sadness makes them feel uncomfortable. There are nuances! Thank you for commenting about your experience. X

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Katie Holloway's avatar

Thank you for sharing this, it really was honest, but beautiful, too, in its way. I saw you on Writers' Hour just now, and I'm glad I stopped by to read and subscribe!

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Lucy Handley's avatar

Ah, thank you so much Katie! I'm glad you stopped by too x

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Zenoushka's avatar

This is beautiful Lucy. Thank you.

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Marianne Power's avatar

Gorgeous, thank you.

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