Raising a family.

It's something that every girl dreams about; baby names, what age they want to have their first child, stuff like that.

It's not that I don't get the excitement of bringing somebody into the world who possesses the same DNA as you (that's actually super cool when you think about it); because I do. That's simply not my main goal in life. Yes, I'd absolutely love raising a child and be the type that parent they need, but that's not a must for me. It's not on my list of "100 Things I Want To Do Before I Die."

My dreams in life are much loftier than that. Just because women have uteruses doesn't automatically mean they need to carry a baby in it and I think we should normalize that. Parents reference their future grandchildren an awful lot, but what if I'm not sure if I want to have children? I mean absolutely no offense to parents because the idea of your children having children of their own someday is exciting, but they shouldn't simply assume that's what their child wants or will want in the future. Society tells women that they need to raise a family or somehow that makes them less of a woman; as if the only real women out there are the ones who are mothers.

My dreams? They're all quite broad, actually. My dreams are to be happy, successful (I'm not only referring to money), travel this vast world we live in and to love what I do. None of those require children or even a spouse for that matter. I'm perfectly content with myself and raising a family aren't the only ways I'd find fulfillment in my life. My children wouldn't be the only people I could influence by being here. We can make a profound impact on our friends, total strangers and most importantly, ourselves every single day simply by just being -- we don't need to produce offspring to have a lasting impact on someone's life. We make a difference simply by existing