Hi Sarah, I absolutely love your blog and your style! I’d love your advice on a somewhat personal issue. You’ve written some really great posts on anxiety and the future and I thought you’d be a good person to turn to. I’m a 30-year-old woman and have been with my boyfriend for over 4 years. Lately, I’ve been feeling really anxious about marriage and having a baby. My boyfriend is fine with the way things are, but I’ve just been feeling like we have to make all these important life decisions and that he has all the time in the world to make them. I’m a planner, and I don’t like all the ambiguity about where we’re going to live, if we’re going to get married and if we even want children. Do you have any advice on how to handle this? I’m not even sure I want to get married or have kids, but I guess I just wish I could feel more laid back about our path. It feels like everyone else in the world is making these decisions and we’re just trucking along as is. Any advice you can offer would be so appreciated. – Emily {answer after the jump}
hi emily, thanks for the kind words! your email really couldn’t have come at a better time! lou and i have been having some pretty heavy conversations about our future and it’s so completely overwhelming i can’t stand myself! some people are fortunate enough to KNOW they want to get married, have kids, live in a certain city, etc. but, like you, we struggle so much because we just don’t know. and we’re reaching that point where we’re being forced to make some hard choices or we may not have choices to make, or at least may face many more challenges and risks.
here’s what i can give you for advice though- make sure your boyfriend is at least open to the ideas of marriage and kids. you have a few years still to figure it out, but you don’t want to wait a few years and find out that he really knew all along what he wanted and you have different dreams. so really honest conversations about it are critical. and i think he’ll be more open to chatting about these things if you’re clear that these aren’t decisions you need to make now, but they’re things you have to at least talk about now!
similar to you i also feel unnerved by not knowing what the future will bring, but having lots of discussions about how we see our lives or the options we have takes some of the pressure off. it helps me see that we’re on the same page (lost, but at least lost together!).
once you’ve had those chats with him i think you’ll feel better, and the two of you may discover something in the process about what it is you envision for your lives together. you’re smart to be thinking about this, it’s important to look down the road in order to craft the kind of life you want to have for yourself! and you don’t want to wake up one day and realize you avoided the hard questions or didn’t spend the time really thinking about what you want.
does anyone else have any advice for emily? all thoughts are welcome and appreciated! xx- sarah
photo of my friend elizabeth’s daughter via jose villa
