‘Your clock’s ticking, y’know.’ It’s a warning every single woman in her late 20s has heard at least once. And at its best, it’s nothing more than a gross reminder that sometimes, to the world, our roles as a woman amount to more than what we aspire to be as an individual.
Well, this woman’s story may inspire women everywhere to surpass the restriction of these roles and to go after what they love.
“I froze my eggs when I was 31. I was single, had an established career, and a great life. I was happy. I dated a lot but I just hadn’t met ‘the one’. I felt that being single was certainly preferable to being with the wrong person.”
At 31 her fertility tests were less than favourable but that didn’t stop her from doing what she could to secure herself a shot at a family whenever, and this part is important, she was ready.
“I knew I wanted the option of having my own biological children one day but wasn’t willing to rush into just any relationship. Freezing my eggs was the best decision I’ve ever made.”
“Having a backup plan was reassuring and allowed me to stop panicking about time. Also, when I shared this information with men I was dating, the response was actually pretty favourable. They saw me as a confident woman who wasn’t going to settle rather than the ‘desperate woman in her 30’s stereotype.’
The woman decided that her own ambitions and desires were too important to postpone in order to accommodate a societal expectation to settle down. Her love for travelling, in fact, is what brought her together with the partner she’d been waiting for.
“When I met Karl, he was 42, had never been married, and didn’t have children. We had so much in common including that we both took the time to establish careers and really figure out who we are and what we want out of life.”
“If I have a daughter, I would pay for her to freeze her eggs in her 20s (younger eggs = healthier eggs). Because I never want my daughter to think she is a ticking clock whose value depreciates with age.”
Read her entire post here:
Hers is a story of true resilience in the face of the countless conflicts every ambitious, independent woman faces. If we take anything away from it, it should be this.
“Society puts so much pressure on women and I think it’s important we empower ourselves, explore all our options, and never settle.”
Feature source: Facebook, Masthead source: The Happiness Onion
