A woman is being praised on TikTok for showing followers what a child-free life can look like after deciding she didn't want to have kids.
Jackie Dives, a photojournalist and artist, says she has always known that she didn't want to have kids, but was told many times over the years that she'd eventually change her mind.
Contrary to what everyone told her, Jackie didn't change her mind and is now 39 and happily child-free.
Jackie lost her partner of five years when he decided he wanted to have children and she decided she didn't.
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But she even that major loss in her life couldn't sway her to have a child. She just didn't want to be a parent.
Jackie really took off online when she shared photo series she had created about the grief and gratitude that came with not being a mother.
From there, Jackie, who was already posting on TikTok pretty regularly, started making videos about being child-free.
Her most popular series is her collection of 'Day in the Life' videos that document what she gets up to as a woman with the free time and extra funds that a mum her age wouldn't have.
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The videos have earned her 49.6k followers on the video sharing app, but while many women are inspired by Jackie's content, some viewers have a problem with it.
Some viewers still question whether or not Jackie made the right decision by not having children, and others wonder why she feels the need to bring it up so often.
But, in a video made especially for those critics, Jackie explained: "I want women... to see what a life without children can look like.
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"I'm 39 and I'm child-free and my experience of being child-free was that, when my partner decided that he wanted to have children - we'd been together for five years - and he actually left our relationship."
She continued: "So I had to decide [and be] very sure that I was willing to let my partner go in exchange for living a child-free life.
"A lot of people were telling me it was crazy to let him go and not just have a baby with him. I knew in my heart, in my gut that I didn't want to be a parent.
"I could see what my life would look like if he and I had stayed together... but because we are never shown examples in media or pop culture about what it looks like to be a woman who doesn't have children, I had no idea what my life would look like.
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"It felt really lonely and strange, and I had to go seek out other women who had also made that choice."
She added: "So that's why I always say in my videos: 'this is what a day in the life of a child-free artist looks like'. Because I want women who don't want to have kids to have an example of what your life can look like."
Thankfully, those trolls are reasonably scarce compared to the amount of love Jackie gets on her page.
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Women are liking, following, and commenting in their thousands to thank her for the inspiration and courage that she has shared through her videos.
For example, just one of the countless comments on Jackie's videos reads: "You make me super excited to continue living my child free life."
"This shows how much time you get to yourself if you decide not to have children. You’re living your best life," raves another.
And a third added: "This is also helpful for those of us who are going to soon have adult children and be living essentially child free."
Ali Condon