Let me first preface my response by saying that it does not behoove you, to imply that people who choose to procreate are bonkers. They could easily say the same about you.
Having said that, I choose to be child free and if I think about it, I made this choice when I was about 16-17 when I participated in a women's march and I proudly wore a bright yellow button that said ; I FUCK TO COME NOT TO CONCEIVE Babies in carriages never turned my head like it did my female peers. However, I am strongly empathetic and I am quite maternal when it comes to my DH, friends, family, animals and anyone who needs a hug, support or just a friendly smile of encouragement.
Flash forward to today and I am happily married to my husband of 15 years who shares the same feelings as I do. We don't believe in leaving a legacy, however, we strongly support those that wish to. We are both Aspies (ASD) so that may colour our personal choice not to.
Having said that, I personally think that parenting is the most important job a human being you can have. I believe in nurture more than nature. I believe that people each have a predisposition to become certain things and the environment that they are raised in is the catalyst that causes them to become the human being they tun out to be.
For an example, both my husband and I have a predisposition to becoming alcoholics because it runs in the family, however, both he and I were very fortunate to not be raised in an environment that perpetuates alcoholism. Because we have this "alcohol gene" for lack of a better phrase, we choose to be teetotalers. This may seem radical, but I feel the same way about mental health. I believe it runs in families (it runs in mine) and I believe if the soil, or the environment (which includes parenting) is rife with toxins then the plants will have a hard time thriving. If the soil is filled with vitamins and water and sunlight then the chances of you yielding a better crop is much better. Which is why I think that parenting is easily the hardest and most important job that a human being to have. You have the daunting task to either raise a potential Hitler or a Ghandi. ( and I know Ghandi had his issues, but I am using him as an example to illustrate my point of someone who incites hate versus someone who promotes peace) I'm sure this may not be a popular opinion, and I will get flamed for that statement because it puts the accountability of a say, Robert Thomson and Jon Venables (James Bulgers killers) smack dab into the hands of their parents.
Having said that, I cannot imagine the pressure that is put on parents to parents to parent responsibly. I think it is, for the most part, a frustrating and thankless job sprinkled with intense joy, gratitude and sense of belonging which is probably why most parents love it. This constant pressure of being the "perfect parent" is why I think places like MN are invaluable. We as a society need to support parents. They are what make society. Because of this, most parents( I say most, because we all know, as in the case mentioned above, some parents need to have their feet held to the fire for abuse and neglect) need compassion and support not judgement and hindrance.
In conclusion, if I were to be completely raw and honest with myself, I would say that there are times I would have liked to be a mother. However, my urge to procreate is not nearly strong enough to cancel out my feelings not to do it. My biggest fear is losing my husband. I think that fear would be softened if I had children with him. I then would be able to have a piece of him that is alive in our children. Thankfully, that bridge has not been crossed yet.
At present, I continue to enjoy the freedom of being with the love of my life, relishing in the copious time we spend with each other, and feeling very fortunate and grateful for being able to walk with him, hand in hand, side by side, on this wondrous, sometimes challenging, but always interesting road called life. 