Childfree women - did you ever feel like an outcast because of your lack of desire to have children? Did it ever go away as you grew out of your 20s/30s?

When I was younger, I was sure I'd have kids "one day."

While I'm still relatively young (27), as I get closer to this mythical "one day," the concept becomes less and less attractive. I'm not 100% child-free but if I'm being completely honest, there's very little desire in me to have kids. There's fear of regret, fear of missing out, fear of being left out of things, fear of ending up alone because it's difficult to find a child-free partner - but very little to no ACTUAL DESIRE to have kids.

And the older I get, the sadder all of that makes me feel.

I feel like an outcast, like an alien, like there's something deeply wrong with me.

I can't relate to other people and, most specifically, other women who seem to crave motherhood more than anything else. It's like I'm unable to understand the need, like my brain can't comprehend it.

I am by no means some kind of kid hater - in fact, I actually like children quite a lot, I just feel no desire to raise them. And that alone makes me feel so lonely and alienated.

Which leads me to my question - does it get better? Will I ever feel more secure in my stance? Does it get better in your 30s, 40s, 50s? Or am I destined to feel like an outlier, never truly relating to other women?

I'd appreciate any words of comfort because I'm honestly quite depressed about it.