Do you ever feel like our collectivist cultures and all the models we grew up with of what a fulfilling life could be make it seem like not having kids is a strange, or even selfish choice? How do we talk about not wanting kids and still being able to live fulfilling lives without feeling like we're missing out on something or feeling guilty? Listen to this episode where Shabnum and her friend Avani Patel speak candidly about when they started to feel they may not want kids and how they think this choice is perceived by their family members. Shabnum and Avani talk at length about how fulfilling lives without kids weren't really modeled to them, and how as South Asians it's hard to find models for these even today. Not enough is mentioned around the choice to not have kids, and so the two take a moment to really sit in this discussion around all the different thoughts they've had about what kind of life they see themselves living and why we feel we don't hear about this choice enough.