I’ll be 23 in a couple months and I have no idea if I want to have children. I get asked by my family a lot when I plan on having kids and honestly I have no clue. I come from a family where getting pregnant young is pretty much the norm.

I don’t even have a partner yet and I’d want to work on that first, get married then think about kids. I don’t have a love for children. I can tolerate them but that’s about it. Even family members kids. Not saying I don’t love my family members but I am not drawn to children and honestly they make me feel uncomfortable.

I don’t have a lot of patience and I like to be alone. It’s such a permanent decision and honestly it really scares me. I don’t want to regret not having any, but also I’m not sure if having them would be a good choice because I have a lot of mental health issues, I love being alone and spending time by myself and get very overstimulated easily. I don’t think I have the emotional capacity for children right now and I’m not sure if that will ever develop for me.

Has anyone else gone through this and how do you decide if you want kids?