Every choice has a consequence, including the choice to do nothing

Every choice has a consequence, including the choice to do nothing.

Every three years you delay getting married and having children represents, on average, one child you’ll never have. A major part of the childlessness and low fertility epidemic is simply this: people wait too long. By the time they’re ready, there’s only time for one or two children, if any.

From a few years after I got married until nearly my mid-thirties, I suffered from extreme ill health. I had to put off having kids until I recovered. If that hadn’t happened, I’d have at least three more children by now.

I’ve been married long enough that, had I started a family earlier, I could already be a grandfather.

Every day you put off moving forward in your life is a day you lose forever. There is a cost. You can’t get that time back.

The only thing you can do now is stop wasting what you still have.

(Below is a rough AI-generated approximation of my family’s appearance. For privacy and security reasons, I chose not to use an actual photo of my wife or children. We’ve received threats in the past, so I avoid posting real images of my kids online.

You’ll notice three silhouetted cutouts in the background. These represent the children we never got to have, due to health issues that delayed our ability to start a family. They are there to remind us of the unseen cost of lost time.)