There’s this constant pressure to follow the script: Love and kids by 30. Career success. Perfect family. Big house. Always on.
But I wanna hear from the ones who took a different road — ignored an expectation and still landed on their feet.
What was it? How’s life without it?
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Have another kid. Fxxx no. Never doing that again.
Not get tattooed
Not cut my hair short
Not live my life like I want to
I’m vey happy I did what I wanted and am living an amazing life….
Staying married to an abusive husband because I didn’t have job to fall back on after a divorce. I stopped listening and never felt happier.
I traveled the world broke for a couple years. Tattooed my arms and hands. Never married. Never bought a house. Never had kids. I regret nothing and would do it again
Kids. Heard my whole life “You’ll fee differently when you’re older.”
No the fuck I didn’t. And I’m super happy with that.
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Have children. I’m happy with just my cat.
Going to college. I think it’s worked out great. No one I know my age who’s been to college is any better off career/salary wise, and I don’t have a massive debt to pay off.
I also have a relatively more work experience in my field because I started working full time right out of high school, instead of letting jobs take the back burner to classes.
Have kids and get married.
Not having kids it’s the best decision I’ve ever made in my entire life.
And while I do have a partner we’ve decided that marriage isn’t the way we want to go, at least not at this point.
Have kids. Both sets of our parents wanted us to have kids. We don’t have any and aren’t going to. Feels great not having any worries related to raising kids.
Have kids. I dont. I never will.
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Go to the alternative school while I was pregnant.
I was 18 and in my senior year of high school. I already had an abundance of credits for graduation and only had one required senior credit left. The alternative school is where the highschool put the delinquent students so they were in smaller classrooms and didn’t cause issues at the main campus or didn’t bring down the school GPA or reputation.
I fought the school and won. That semester I had the best GPA I ever had in school and a perfect attendance record. I proved to the school district that one stupid decision doesn’t define who I was. I never got an apology for the crap I got from the principal and councilors, but I was satisfied anyway.
Marriage and kids. I’m so damn happy without those things. I seriously have no idea why anyone would do that to themselves.
I thought I’d have kids by now tbh. But we waited to have kids for various reasons. We got married young and still needed to mature and feel financially secure beforehand. At one point, we had a period where we were feeling disconnected, so it didn’t feel right then either. Eventually, we started having unprotected sex but I didn’t start tracking, so we kind of left it up to fate. One day, I got a positive pregnancy test but unfortunately miscarried a few months ago. I can’t believe I won’t have kids by 30 tbh. It’s a weird feeling. But I’ve learned life doesn’t go as you want often times and you just have to accept that. The more I let go of those perfectionist visions for my future, the less pressure and stress I have.
get married and have kids. im not a martyr i dont need to put my feelings, emotions. plans aside for anyone. i have a clean apartment, good food, great friends and sex. take care of myself. tend to my family. go to work and no distractions. such a freeing happy feeling.
Stop doing chemicals that have profound effects on the brain and nervous system.
Not a huge thing, but in college I spent a semester studying abroad when a couple advisors were wary. They thought it would be better to focus on things on-campus.
It was one of the best experiences of my life. I’ll smile about it on my death bed, I’m sure. I feel the benefits even 10 years later of getting such a special life experience of living in a different culture for a while.
Come back to my old stupid job.
Years ago, I told my boss (real asshole) that I handed in my notice to go back to uni to get a MSc degree. He told me I’d be back at work soon.
So, I went to uni, finished my MSc, got my PhD degree, traveled the world as a postdoc researcher and now I’m back home as a professor at a very good university. Ha!
waiting for marriage to have s3x, not everyone but some people irl and on the internet
I was told to go work on a cruise ship. Nooo thanks. Id rather not.
Have kids. My life is phenomenal and comfortable because I didn’t. I accomplished everything I’ve set out to do. I’m content and happy.
Because I didn’t have kids, I can now support the kids in my orbit. I have the time, money, and patience to do so.
If there is one thing I can say I’m glad for, it’s that I avoided getting pregnant like it would be the literal end of my life. Because it probably would have been.
Go to law school. I had a full scholarship to a very good law school and I ended up turning it down a few weeks before I was supposed to start. That was 25 years ago and I’m still not sure it was the best decision. My parents have definitely never gotten over it LOL
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I didn’t have kids and I didn’t buy my own home. I was told doing both would make me happy and fulfilled. Hard no. Everyone we know with a house and kids is stressed, broke and miserable. My husband and I are happier with a cat and renting. We’re renting a luxury condo and we have extra money for shopping, hobbies, travel, etc. If we owned we would be paying 3x more, we would be living in a sh*thole and we’d be broke 24/7.
Get married and have kids.
I don’t want to get married, but I’m not immune to a nice little ring just because I love jewelry.
I’m not having kids, I’ve lost 85 lbs so far and I plan on losing 30 more, I’m not screwing up my body for any man/entity that doesn’t exist.
Kids, like many here. I am perfectly happy with my pets, husband and friends. I’m good, and I think I am living better sans kids than I would be with them, especially since I have long covid and heart damage now, I can’t imagine running after an errant 6 year old. 😂
My mom had me in her mid-20s and believed it was the perfect age to have children, emphasizing the long years of watching them grow.
I chose a different path, and life has turned out wonderfully. I’ve avoided the burden of debt, enjoyed navigating life at my own pace with a supportive partner, and been able to pursue my passion for writing, a career that wasn’t well-regarded in the Philippines.
Have kids. I skipped that, much to other people’s chagrin.
Did not get married & have kids.
Life is great! I love my life. Just bought my second house (sold the first one after 10 years), great job, hobbies, friends, planning vacations for next year. I just wish my family lived closer.
Get my drivers license. I never truly had an interest in driving. I don’t even need it when things like Uber and Lyft exist. There’s even taking the bus or walking if needed, since I live close to a lot of things. Life is just fine without it. People who told me I needed it were wrong and small minded.
I didn’t go to uni straight from school, and thank god because I definitely would’ve failed/dropped out/been kicked out.
Kids, as other have said, no thanks.
Stay in my 9-5 that was good(ish) money but literally destroyed my soul. I hated it and whilst money is tight I get by and find a way and I’m ultimately happier
Have kids. No regrets.
Husband and I were together for 8+ years before we got married. I can’t tell you how many times I heard that he would never marry me, and I should end it if that’s what I wanted. We bought a house together after year 5, and that was “a mistake”, and we were only “playing house”, so how very dare we tangle our finances up together. We’ve now been married for 2 1/2 years, together for 12. We have paid off half of our house, after 5 years, paid for a wedding without going into debt, and waiting allowed us to build up our savings account enough to allow us to pay for our recent kitchen remodel and my Masters degree in cash. Not only are we good financially, we’re happy. Very little changed with the wedding, except the comments that I continually got have now stopped. Our life is as good as could be.
Growing up, I thought to myself when I get older and get married/ have children, because that’s what you’re just programmed to think. I got older and was almost 40 when I looked myself in mirror and said, I do not want children. It was the truest thing i’ve ever said. Not one regret.