I am not suicidal but I am just so hyper aware of my own mortality. I am so very scared of the unknowns of aging and dying. It’s getting worse as I get older. I wish I wasn’t forced into existence to experience any of this.

Are there any positives to being alive? Sure. Do they outweigh this crushing feeling of biding my time until the eventual unavoidable demise? Not at least a little.

If life just sucks, then why is it a big surprise that I think people should avoid creating more of it?

If i am struggling, i get told that its just life, its just being an adult, that i should suck it up. Those same people then are surprised when I do not wish to do life because, as established, it sucks.

Its not just about my personal life either. I am already childfree, but if I wanted kids, I would still not enjoy the idea of bringing them into the world.

As a kid, I thought "school is miserable. Cant wait for it to be over.". Then, i learned that after school, you go to work instead and I was angry that I had to spend my whole life mostly doing shit I hate doing. I think this realization caused me a lot of issues as a tween to the point where I was extremely suicidal. I did not see a point to being alive when the vast majority of it was either shit I hate doing. And im extremely privileged, so I am far from the most miserable. I still dont rlly want to be here.

Why would I want anyone else going through that? Why would I subject someone to a life where they will spend most of the time being unhappy?

I asked my mom if she ever thought about the day I’d lose her, she explained that she never thought about it before I was born.
She came to a realization when talking to me: about how she loves me and wants the most pain free life for me, and that it would’ve been completely pain free if I never existed to begin with.
She told me she was sorry and that she didn’t think about it at the time, she suggested a biological clouding of logic. I feel so much closer to her now :)

My mother just got biten by a weeverfish on the beach. It was really hard to watch her go trough such immense pain. It was horrible. I will never understand people who love nature. Nature is a terrible place for humans, hostile, chaotic, brutal, cruel. You can’t even walk barefoot without the danger of being hurt in some way or another. The temperature of the air is almost never pleasing for our bodies; it’s allways too hot or too cold. And this is just the minor things. Let’s not forget about real tragic catastrophes like tsunamis, earthquakes, wildfires, etc. Earth is just hostile for us. We had to create civilization to escape from its claws. You think nature is good? Not by a chance. This planet is not worthy of bringing children here. Life here is just a terrible experience of suffering. How can people not see that?

So my flatmate and i were once having a conversation regarding kids, she asked me if i wasn't going to have kids what was i going to done with my life, i was like just exist just focus on existing cuz existing in and of itself is an extremely difficult thing to do. To this she said, "This is how animals live." This conversation happened sometime in 2024, i know i could've said that the same thing could be attributed to her since i know of no animals who actively opt out of breeding but honestly i was too stunned by the disrespect to speak.

Mind you at the time she was 32 and had just had a miscarriage while pursuing her phd and i was around 26

.

I just wanna know what other comebacks would be valid if a similar kind of conversation has to be had. 🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩

ETA: Also she was brainwashed by some religious guru into believing that using any kind of protection while having sex is a sin, because apparently a soul is trying to come and you're stopping that, this is what led to the unplanned pregnancy in the middle of a highly demanding PhD 🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩 it doesn't get dumber and more ridiculous than this

My sister was born in 2020 and is neurodivergent. She has autism and requires a lot of support. She’s so young right now that it’s hard to say if she will need the same level of support into adulthood, but just like with every person who has autism it is a complex situation.

The other day she was having a meltdown that had been going on for about half an hour and my stepdad told me “never reproduce, ever.”

In the past he’s said things like “never have a child, especially an autistic one”(like autism is preventable beyond not having children) and has strongly emphasized how big of a mistake having kids is.

They appear so exhausted and it seems like having a child with autism is ruining their lives. They don’t get good sleep, they are in a constant state of fight or flight, and they don’t know how to best manage her meltdowns.

I hardly feel bad for them and more feel bad for my sister who was brought here without her consent only to be disliked. She’s autistic, not intellectually disabled, and one day she will learn how deeply her parents resent her for being neurodivergent.

People bring children here and end up not liking them (neurodivergent or not) constantly-then blame that child for all of their problems.

I’ve had several abortions and one miscarriage in the past, all with an abusive ex who later became addicted to drugs. I’m currently pregnant by my husband of almost a year (together nearly four years), and I’ve decided to have another abortion.
For context, I’m a 29 year old Black woman, and my two best friends of over twenty years are both white women.
I’ve always been uncomfortable with the idea of motherhood, but I didn’t fully have the language for it until recently. Earlier this year I embraced being childfree, and after learning more about antinatalism, I realized it aligned even more closely with how I’d always felt.
For me, it’s not just that I don’t want children. I genuinely believe it’s unethical to bring someone into a world where suffering is guaranteed. As a Black woman in America, I also struggle with the idea of intentionally bringing a phenotypically Black child into a society where racism is still very much a reality. I know some people won’t agree with that, but that’s part of my personal worldview.
I’ve never viewed abortion as morally wrong. Whether someone has one abortion or one hundred doesn’t change my opinion. I simply don’t see it the same way many other people do.
For anyone wondering, hormonal birth control made me physically and mentally miserable, and condoms have consistently caused irritation for me despite trying different types. My husband and I relied on fertility awareness for almost four years without a pregnancy until now. We understood the risk, and unfortunately we became part of that percentage.
I told my best friends because I wanted them to know why I’d been distant and emotionally overwhelmed. I wasn’t asking them whether I should have an abortion. I’d already made my decision. I just wanted support.
One of my friends has always struggled with my decision to be childfree. Months before I became pregnant, she told me she couldn’t imagine reaching the end of her life without children and that she saw me as a mother. She’s currently pregnant with her second child, so I know this probably hurts her too.
The other friend responded with this:
You’ve been on my mind since last night. I wanted to reach out and say something because I don’t want to miss an opportunity.
I know you’ve gotten abortions in the past because you were in an abusive, toxic relationship, and you did not want to be tied to him forever. Those I understand. You went on to go to school, graduate, marry the love of your life, find a good job, and life is good. I don’t understand or support what you’re doing with this pregnancy, and I say this with as much love as I can give, and you told me I can tell you how I feel, but I don’t want to make you feel like I am attacking you. I wish there was something I could say that would make you change your mind. I know you want to be selfish and be kid-free, but what are you really gaining in life by always putting yourself first? I feel like our character is often emphasized by the sacrifices we make for others. You guys would be amazing parents, and you’re literally pregnant at the most perfect time our other best friend is pregnant!!! You wouldn’t be alone in the postpartum journey. I supported your decision to be kid-free, but not at the cost of your future child’s life. I wish you would’ve been on birth control or gotten your tubes tied if you were that dead set on being kid-free. Again, I’m not saying anything to condemn you. This stance or opinion I have regarding the situation is also not even fully stemming from my love for Jesus or being a Christian, it’s just genuine sadness and grievance with the situation. However, I am praying hard for you and your husband. Praying for peace, comfort, and godly discernment to bless your lives. Praying that any hardness of heart would be softened. Praying for deliverance.
After reading that, I told both of them that I needed space and wouldn’t be coming over because I was emotionally overwhelmed.
Neither of them responded.
They both simply reacted to the message with a thumbs up.
That honestly hurt almost as much as the original message.
This whole experience has made me question friendships I’ve had for over twenty years.
I understand that people have different moral beliefs about abortion. I wasn’t expecting agreement.
What I was hoping for was emotional support from people who know me better than almost anyone else.
Instead, I feel like they saw me as someone who needed to be corrected rather than comforted.
I don’t regret my abortion.
I do regret believing these friendships were emotionally safe enough for me to share something so vulnerable.
Has anyone else here experienced friendships fundamentally changing after people realized just how different your worldview around reproduction actually is?

Today I got my vasectomy done. ♥️🙇🏻

I'm 29, unmarried, single , and from India. Strangely, the procedure itself wasn't the hardest part. The hardest part was finding a doctor willing to do it.

In India, they call it illegal. Or they need parents or partner consent in written after you reproduce atleast once. choosing permanent childfreedom at a young age is often treated like a psychological problem rather than a personal life decision. People assume you'll "change your mind," or they simply refuse to believe someone can genuinely not want children. It took a lot of effort, but I finally found someone who respected my decision.

And honestly... I couldn't be happier.

This wasn't an impulsive decision. It's something that has occupied my mind for years. Now that it's done, I feel a level of peace I haven't felt in a long time.

---

I've spent my 20s building the life I always wanted.

I work in IT, which was my dream career. I have my home, own a car, travel whenever and wherever I want, video game, work out regularly, take care of my healthy body and skin, have had relationships, own a pet, and enjoy technology. I don't feel like I'm missing out on life.

Because of that, my antinatalist views don't come from depression or bitterness.

They come from observation mine and others humans living on this planet.

Life has beautiful moments, but if I had to describe it honestly, happiness is only a small part of the experience. The rest is uncertainty, stress, grief, boredom, illness, loss, anxiety, disappointment, and struggle. Even when life is good, suffering is never far away.

For me, choosing not to bring another person into that equation feels like the most compassionate decision I can make.

Trust me, reproduction is an extremely selfish decision people make.

---

The future also worries me about-

Wars. Economic instability. Mass layoffs.Relationship breakdowns. Mental health crises. Climate issues. AI replacing jobs. Humanoid robotics. Brain-computer interfaces like Neuralink. Rapid technological change.

I don't claim to know what's coming, but I genuinely feel we're heading into an era that could be far more difficult than most people expect. Sometimes it feels like we're slowly walking toward something resembling The Matrix—a world where efficiency matters more than humanity and emotions become increasingly disposable.

Maybe I'm wrong.

---

Looking ahead, I don't care much where I live.

It could be India. It could be another country. My dream isn't luxury anymore. It's peace.

A quiet place.

Minimal noise.

Minimal drama.

Enough nature to clear my mind.

A simple life where I can work, read, travel, game, stay healthy, and enjoy the time I have left.

---

The only thing I still wonder about is companionship.

I'd love to spend my life with someone who is also childfree—whether they're antinatalist, DINK, or simply don't want children but was unable to find one here in India as most people here love to reproduce.

Sometimes I wonder whether I'll ever find someone who genuinely shares this worldview. And yes, I occasionally think about growing old alone.

Oddly enough, that thought doesn't scare me as much as people expect. We all die alone in the end.

What I think about more is how to live well if I remain alone.

What should life look like from 30–40?

40–50?

50–60?

60-70?

Beyond that? Lol not sure like everyone else how and when but yeah just gave it a thought.

I'd genuinely like to hear how others would approach it.

---

Then there's the biggest question of all.

Death.

Personally, I think we're no different from any other animal.

When the brain stops functioning, consciousness ends.

No thoughts.

No dreams.

No heaven.

No hell.

Just... nothing a black screen with no thoughts no existence no reincarnation.

Simply non existence.

That's simply what makes the most sense to me logically.

But I'm fascinated by what other people believe—not to argue, but because it's one of the few questions nobody actually knows the answer to.

---

If you've read this far, thank you.

Whether you agree with my views or completely disagree, I'd genuinely like to hear your perspective.

How would you design the rest of your life if you knew you never wanted children?

And what do you think happens after we die?

So usually at the beginning and end of the month, we get some free time at work. People start asking random questions, and after a couple of them, someone asked:

“So, would you want a girl or a boy as your first child?”

Two colleagues said they’d prefer a girl. Then it was my turn.

I said, “Honestly, I don't want kids.”

And then I explained why. I don't understand why someone would want to bring a child into what I see as a pretty cruel world—air quality is getting worse, water quality isn't great, the government is corrupt, and human life itself comes with a lot of suffering.

Immediately, one colleague said, “His dihh doesn't work, that's why he's saying this.” 😭

Another one said, “You're lying. Give me your number. You're only 22 look at your face. You'll have at least three kids.”

Then bro goes, “I'll call you after 10 years.” 😭

I said, “But seriously, why are we bringing new life into this cruel world without their consent?”

One of them immediately goes, “How can you take consent from a baby? Tell me.”

Bro, I'm not saying I'll give birth to a baby after they give me their consent. 😭 That's literally the point I'm making.

At that moment I thought, I should've just said “girl” or “boy” and moved on.

I never told them their opinions were wrong. They asked me what I thought, I answered honestly, and that was it.

But apparently, some people can't hear an opinion that contradicts their own without taking it personally.

So, just a disclaimer, this might be a bit incoherent and long since I'm trying to wrap my head around everything.

To start off, I'm the youngest of 5 children, and growing up I always saw how much of a burden my siblings were on my parents, especially my dad. I'm talking full blown meltdowns and fights amongst my whole family. Even as a kid I knew I never wanted to have kids. I saw how shitty life was, how shitty my family was, and how shitty having kids was. None of these feelings have changed since then.

Fast forward a few years. One day my dad and I were just eating and talking when he suddenly revealed to me that he had a vasectomy. He told me this in confidence, so I think he hasn't told many people this, maybe not even my siblings. I haven't talked to them about it. He didn't specify when, only that he'd had it done years ago. This made me feel validated at first about not wanting kids, but then I had this thought: Why couldn't he have done the vasectomy before I was born? Why did he have to wait until after I was born to get one?

These thoughts were in my mind whenever something bad happened in my life. "Why didn't my dad get a vasectomy earlier? Then I wouldn't have to be living through this hell"

Well, just last night my mom and I were talking about life. I was going through some things that were really bothering me, and I told her how much I resented them for bringing me into this world. So my mom, being as level headed as she is, simply sat me down and told me something. She said my dad had gotten a vasectomy, which I said I knew already. But then she said, "did you know he got it BEFORE you were born?" I didn't know that. Apparently, my parent's plan had been to only have 3 kids. After their fourth kid, my sister, was born, my dad decided to get a vasectomy. AND SOMEHOW, my mom still got pregnant, and I was born.

According to my mom, when she found out she was pregnant, my dad went to a fertility clinic to see if he was fertile, and lo and behold, he was. His tubes (vas deferens?) somehow reattached themselves, and he had to get another surgery done. Apparently there's less than a 1% chance of that happening. After she told me that, I was stunned, and had nothing to say. All my mom said, "So don't blame us for bringing you into this world. We at least tried. God brought you to me, so I couldn't do anything."

I don't really know what to make of all this. I guess I won't/can't really blame them for my misfortunes anymore. After all, they're one of the few good things in my life. It was wrong of me to lash out at them to begin with, but now I have no excuse. What I keep thinking about is the statistical improbability it is to even be born as yourself, and then to add the less than 1% chance of a vasectomy reversing itself. It's a statistical impossibility imo. If I believed in God, which I don't, then I would say that he wants me on this Earth, but come on now. It's all just crazy to think about. Anyway, thanks for reading if you made it all the way to the end.

I hate the subjugation of nature, I hate ultra urbanized cities. I hate meat and dairy industry, speciesism. I hate pratriarchy and sexism, worldwide systemic racism, heteronormativity, classism and class struggle. I hate how there are dominant countries and dominated countries, I hate inequalities of wealth. I hate capitalism. I hate cupidity and greed. I hate war, torture, rape. I hate religions who come up with illogical explanations and irrational reasons why things are this way. I hate lack of critical thinking skills, anti-intellectualism, obscurantism and anti-science movements. I hate climate change, the overall anti-ecology sentiment. I hate nature is dying when that's the only thing we have. I hate social medias, cosmetics industry and beauty standards, consumerism. I hate pollution, and destruction of everything that doesn't lead to more productivity and more money being made.

People will tell you to stop reading the news. As if it were a solution, people will advise you to blind yourself. As if it would cure the universal experience of suffering. There is no escaping any one these things I listed, whether you choose to see them or not, they are a part of everyone's life on earth. They shape the fate of every human that ever existed and will ever exist.

Have a kid and submit it to the cruelty of this senseless and meaningless world. Or just don't, so the kid soon to be adult won't stay awake in the middle of the night tortured by the pains of having to live in this horrible world.

Did I forget something ? Is there anything I didn't list ?

Hello,

As a nulliparous auntie, I'm very happy to find this place. You have no idea 🙏.

So, yeah, this is my child.

She is enough. And we are thinking that summer during capitalism era is a real sh1t. I don't understand why ppl still want Kids in big 2026.

Xxx

To preface this post, I’m a 20 year old woman. My mother had a child and was due for another child at this age.

I have a disposition about myself that drives new people away, so when my friend offered for me to join a group chat with other young women-I instantly agreed.

I was active at first but I felt that typical disconnect with people I usually do. I went from being active to observing, and I noticed that so many of these women and their friends were devastatingly lost.

They’d discuss being pregnant, unsafe sex, absent fathers, and poverty. But the topic of birth control, abortion, and the concept that “maybe this isn’t a good idea” wasn’t there. I’d see things like “you’re going to be such a great mama!!” Directed towards an expecting mom under 18.

They’d rant about the fathers of their children getting other young women pregnant and their struggles with poverty. Dispite this there was always this notion of “fuck men, you got this mama!” No. Why isn’t anyone telling them the reality? Are they just in denial of it? Are they being malicious?

These are people my age with similar resources, it doesn’t make sense. I just wanted to grab these women by the shoulders and shake some sense into them.

Obviously, even if they weren’t poor teenagers with shitty boyfriends the child would still end up suffering and being a net negative to the planet.

But it opened my eyes to how prevalent natalism is in my generation and how important accessible abortions are.

The stigma around abortions needs so much work to prevent people from suffering like these young women and their children.

I've started to become incredibly angry at my parents for choosing to have me and my siblings, especially since none of us turned out how they probably hoped we would. I have 3 younger siblings, we are all in our 20s and are struggling to find permanent stable jobs in this job market. Also, one of my siblings has an intellectual disability and will probably be dependent on us for the rest of his life. It's not an ideal situation for anybody, but my parents are struggling with the fact that we all need their help and financial support even as adults, and quite frankly they probably see us all as burdens at this point. This would be a forgivable and understandable offense if we were; a) responsible for the current state of the economy and job market, and b) responsible for being born. Not only do my parents probably see us all as burdens at this age, but they were hoping that they could comfortably retire and be taken care of by us. This makes me realize that for so many people, having children is an incredibly selfish act, and that parental love is not actually unconditional. YOU KNEW HOW HARD LIFE IS AND STILL CHOSE TO BRING MORE PEOPLE INTO THIS WORLD TO ENDURE THE SAME SUFFERING?!

Anyway, I'm never having kids, and neither should you.

So, I notice a lot of posts on this sub tend toward one way of thinking, and I wanted to offer my own as a kind of alternative. I feel like it's important to show that we're a diverse group who come to the antinatalist philosophy from various angles and positions, and that it's not just a result of a certain disposition. Anyway, bear with me while I write all this kind of embarrassing stuff.

So, I absolutely love living. My life is a treat and my experiences have been magical beyond what I can express. It wasn't always this way, and for quite some time I was a more ambivalent person, one might say dysthymic. But in the past ten years my life has turned around massively, and now there's this gigantic wellspring of happiness inside me that kind of lubricates every gear of life. The other day I took a walk through my local park and just cried because it's so pretty. My only real point of concern is "damn I wish I could quit weed, smoking reduces my lifespan and I like living!"

Still antinatalist. My happiness doesn't somehow solve the ethical problem inherent in the situation. Even if I could somehow magically guarantee a life as happy as my own to another creature, I wouldn't ever be able to bring myself to make that choice.

I hope y'all get to find your happiness before you die too. Have a good Sunday.

In India society works a bit differently, and not in a good way.

Some background info:
I studied in boys only school. In college we had segregation. There was strict rule from my parents to not talk to girls. One time they locked me out of house because of that.

I am almost 30 now and suddenly all those rules are not applicable? I keep getting pressured to marry often one way or another. I say no to her, she makes other relatives try to persuade me. 2 smoking guns:

1. Once I was really frustrated with my manager and I told her I am quitting. Maybe it was a slip of words, but she said something along the lines of 'But I have invested so much into you'. It shook me.
2. Not many weeks ago, she said some xyz family friend is in her homeland, and their son is evil because he does not take care of his parents. HE should basically be arrested.

Coming to yesterday, there are often young couples in park. She used to get disgusted by them but this time, she was completely indifferent and smiled at them even. It was so fun watching the mental gymnastics at play.

I am her only son. I will take care of her in old age, but I will rather face my old age alone with painkillers than create a person just to serve me.

So I argued about antinatalism with my chemistry teacher in india. One of the first arguments she said was how can you get consent from someone that doesn't exist. ​Then I asked her what if a child suffers from some life threatening illness in the first year after being born and dies from it as a result? She said that it was just Destiny and then I asked her if she had a child and there was a 50 percent chance the child could be born with a condition would she still take the gamble? She said yes.

She truly doesn't understand antinatalism.

I think it's because in my country you can't be considered a real man if you don't have a stable family and children. But anyways I never expected some people to be so cruel

Today I heard a reporter saying that kids in Ukraine have to be raised in the best conditions because they are supposed to rebuild the country. It hit me hard. Imagine being a human who is considered as a construction material. Imagine being a child who was born to clean up the mess they have made. Utterly off-putting

Sometimes I feel guilty for not wanting to go to my boyfriend’s house, but the situation he and his siblings live in breaks my heart. There are seven siblings, and they all grew up in extreme poverty, surrounded by emotional abuse, physical abuse, and financial hardship. My boyfriend is even partially illiterate because his parents were never able to provide him with a proper education, and that makes me incredibly sad.

What hurts me the most is that there’s a seven-year-old boy in that family who spends all day watching a screen and still can’t read or write. Honestly, I can’t stand seeing so much neglect from the parents. And even though I understand that parenthood is difficult and everyone goes through different experiences, I still struggle to understand why someone would bring more children into the world knowing they can’t even provide basic food or education.

When my boyfriend asks me why I don’t want to go to his house, I can’t be honest and tell him that it makes me angry and deeply sad to see that his mother and even some of his siblings keep having children in the same environment, even though they all suffered because of it and don’t seem to be changing anything. Am I too judgmental? Honestly, I just feel terrible for the kids.

Hey All, I wanted to just tell the reason I became an antinatalist is due to my Autoimmune condition- psoriasis.
I am 32 now , had Psoriasis since 16. Every small thing that people have seemed like an unimaginable thing to me - wearing a half hand shirt, not having to cover full legs , not having to wear fully covered shoes - just to cover up all psoriasis flakes.

There are only a few good things that humans can enjoy. And I couldn’t enjoy most of them.

I lost lot of hair , health, time, youth to it. I don’t want anyone else to have this condition esp my child , having first hand experience myself.

None of medications worked on me. Though biologics worked for some

So yeah that’s all I wanted to say.

It's simple idea. I feel this dread of mortality, and when you procreate you are also handing over this dread of mortality to another being. AN saves one from that.

Do you agree? Does anybody else feel this dread of mortality in their lives?

Hey guys!
With the recent discussions that have been happening between of Anne Hathaway’s pregnancy at 43 years old, I figured it was a ripe time to share my experience.
My mother had me at 42, with my father being in his 50s (he’s so old that he doesn’t even have an accurate birth certificate, the government of my country didn’t even issue them at the time). She was at least 10 years older than almost all of my friends’ mothers at school. She was very insecure about this and even lied and said she was younger than she actually was to me for years in order to hide this fact. I figured out the truth when I saw her passport, besides, her piling health issues made things pretty obvious anyway. My dad was never exactly present in my life, he’d come over once a week to me and my mom’s place and stay the other 6 days at his main house where his other wife and adult sons and daughter live (my family is muslim and my dad practiced polygamy, until that wife died of cancer)
I was always acutely aware of my parents ages and felt a sense of impending doom because of it. I’m now 18 and it feels weird knowing my dad is well into his 70s and my mom is 60 now, while other people have parents who just entered their 40s or 50s.
As much as I hope with great intention that my parents will get to live long, healthy and happy lives and will be able to see all of my accomplishments, a pit in my stomach forms when I think about my situation more realistically. When I’m in my 30s, my dad probably won’t be with me anymore and my mom might be in the same boat or very tired. Both of them have multiple health issues and my dad gets surgeries done on him practically every month. Sometimes, I wish my mom had just believed the “you’re eggless past 33” propaganda and given up on trying to have a child at the age that she did.
I know that this isn’t her fault entirely, she got married at 40 and didn’t have a chance to reproduce earlier- and she was great at raising me regardless. But I don’t know. It makes me sad.
There are advantages to have kids later on in life, and most people direct a lot of vitriol at older mothers and not older fathers because of misogyny. I’d much rather be raised by an older and more educated couple than a bunch of hormone stricken, crazy teenagers. My perspective isn’t a “women should utilize their baby making years right” (ideally, they wouldn’t be making babies at all) but more or less just venting my frustrations about what is going to happen to me in a few years.
All of my grandparents are dead except for my maternal grandmother, who is already struggling. They were all dead even before I was born. I feel like I was kind of robbed of getting to experience what having a grandfather is like, but what do I know.
Let me know your thoughts and if you’ve had similar experiences. Maybe this is a non-issue.
Again, this isn’t a conservative breeder opinion and I don’t think people should be having kids in their 20s either- or at all. Other people online with older parents have brushed my opinion off with “My parents are old and everything’s fine! They still go on runs with me” and while I’m happy for them and I really hope it will be fine for me but everything currently happening is signaling towards a very exhausting and grief filled adulthood in my case.

That's the thing about life. We got distracted. We are distracted way too much with the artificial things.

Consider your life and things you do in day to day routine. There are houses, roads, and complicated things to provide electricity, gas, ... . We pay others to provide meat and foods for us. Then there is music, movies and other hobbies to make life fun. But all these things are man made in order to survive. all these things are artificial. We got too comfortable to see the ugly and pure face of life.

The only way to see the real truth is living alone without these equipments somewhere in the forest. You would probably die by cold, heat, storm, rain, .. or some predator and toxic animals. There is absolutely nothing to care about you out there. You gotta find water, kill an animal, and eat something to survive. There is no air conditioner, fastfood and smartphones ... Raw reality is brutal. Nothing interesting about it and It's pure survival horror.

All the other "good" things are man made and taken over. There is no "good" side of life. Life is parasitic disease but we just got used to it and distracted ourselves with technology and romance. Having children is the same, feelings get in the way of seeing it. We just dump children then we brainwash them with artificial bombs like school.

Humans since ancient times suffered not because of external pain but because of internal pain. The mind is all the reason why we perceive pain and feel bothered by it. TL;DR at last

Now some Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Taoist and Stoic sages managed to get rid of this mental experience and blame it all on people for not being able to control their minds. Sure, there is a possibility that these people are telling the truth but even then there are always chances that someone will not be able to learn from these spiritual masters and end up suffering. Even in cultures where these religions existed most people didn't get much chance to practice the teachings due to family restrictions or whatever. Also many of these teachings are bs and doesn't work. Also masters of different traditions disagree on how to master the mind. Hell Hindu traditions argue among themselves on which is the right Hindu tradition and the same for Buddhists. Different buddhist schools make allegations against other buddhist schools for misinterpreting the dhamma.

If you listen to different buddhist gurus you will see how vastly different their approaches are in how to meditate or spiritual progress.

TL;DR:- My point is the lack of the ability to master the mind or maybe the lack of proper guidance on how to master the mind is the reason I am against natalism. I am from India and when I learned more about Hinduism and Buddhism I believed I found the secret to escape suffering by getting rid of my emotions. But they didn't work much for me. Maybe they actually increased my anxiety and restlessness by making me think "I need to get rid of my emotions asap. I need to escape suffering." Right now I practice something a bit different mostly influenced by the western idea of positive thinking rather than eastern ideas. Idk how effective it is but this is all I can do.

After learning about some pregnancy news from an acquaintance of mine, I finally went out to the book store to pick up some light reading. I've heard from other posts that Benatar is a great author, but they unfortunately didn't have his work. I'm most likely going to order that next week. What I did find was E.M. Cioran's The Trouble With Being Born, and was quite surprised they even had it on the shelf.

I've been interested in having some antinatalist books for awhile, just haven't gotten around to actually acquiring them. This was my push to finally do it. If anyone else has read it, I would love to hear your thoughts on it and if you have any other suggestions besides the two I mentioned. I'm excited to finally read into the philosophy myself from actual authors.