AIBU to think I'm always going to feel lonely

[spiritsgreen]

I lost my parents young. No surviving grandparents either so that was pretty much it for family.

I had a number of very difficult and in some ways dysfunctional years although in retrospect I achieved quite a lot but now I have a partner who has just announced he doesn't actually want children.

I feel screwed. I feel like if I accept not being a mum I'm accepting a life I don't want. If I split with partner I probably won't meet anyone else in time to be a mum anyway (please don't suggest sperm donation or adoption.)

I don't know what to do.

And AIBU to think I'm always going to feel lonely and always feel adrift and like I'm not belonging properly anywhere?

[StillDrSethHazlittMD]

I have just lost my beloved nan. I only have my parents left, as I have no siblings. My parents and I get on but we are not close. I have been single 6 years, not been on a date in 5 because I'm a man who doesn't want children or to be a stepparent which means my dating pool is tiny. I am incredibly, incredibly lonely. I have friends, but it is not the same, especially now I have no single friends whatsoever and I have started to socialise less with my friends because being surrounded by couples makes me feel even more lonely.

May I ask how old you are? Statistically you are far less likely to be single and remain childless than those of us who, like your partner, don't want children. You may well still have time to find someone and become a mum. I have a friend who has been single 10 years since the age of 29 and she's just met a man. I have another friend who is 44 and currently pregnant.

[spiritsgreen]

Thanks