 It has been ten years since I had a vasectomy at the age of 25, and after a decade of life and self-reflection, I can very confidently say that it has absolutely been the right choice for me to make. Today, I'm going to share why I made this decision, something that so few would do at such a young age, and why this is such an important part of my life path. First, I want to say that I think having children is one of the most beautiful things we can do with our lives, and one of the most beautiful parts of humanity. So this is not a video that in any way, shape or form, is trying to convince anyone to have a vasectomy or not have a child. This is just my personal reasons, and something that I feel is really just a meaningful thing to share with others. The first reason that I chose to have a vasectomy is a pretty obvious one, and that is birth control, you know, a way to not have a child. Now in our society, it seems to be generally considered that birth control is the woman's responsibility, and ultimately, I find this absurd. It takes a man and a woman to have a child together generally, or a sperm and an egg. So the idea that the responsibility lies on one half of the partnership goes against all basic logic. It's an equal responsibility, and this was me choosing to take on that responsibility. I also believe that the responsibility of the financial aspect of birth control is something that should be equally split. Now a really large catalyst of this at the time was that every one of my long-term partners, my committed partners that I had been with, had negative side effects from being on pharmaceutical birth controls, and a big one of those was depression. And all of those potential negative side effects could be alleviated, could no longer be a problem. So for me, that was a very, you know, logical and rational decision. This is something that I could do. I did the research, and it was a very simple procedure that could prevent a woman having to take a pill every day or have some sort of patch or an IUD. And so I felt like this simple procedure was really outweighing what the woman would have to do, and it was a pretty basic call for me. I choose to look at my health, the health of my partner, and the health of humanity in a very holistic way. And the pharmaceutical industry is absolutely one of the most corrupt industries that are out there. I adamantly believe that the health and well-being of humankind, of you and me, should not be a profitable venture. And the pharmaceutical industry stands very much at the foundation of making billions and trillions of dollars off of people being sick and needing their pills. And the birth control industry is very much tied in with the entire pharmaceutical industry. And the reality is that the birth control industry, the modern-day birth control industry causes an incredible amount of destruction to this earth. Our pharmaceuticals are very much polluting our waterways, the water of our many plant and animal relatives. And our water as well, these pharmaceuticals are building up in our own drinking supply and putting all sorts of chemicals into us that are really not beneficial for us. So the birth control industry through pills and through pharmaceuticals is really not in alignment with living in a holistic, non-destructive way on this earth. Another note along with that is the incredible amount of trash that this industry creates. Incredible amount of trash. And I have chosen hundreds of ways to live in which don't create trash and instead can actually be producing soil and regenerating our earth. And the pharmaceutical industry and the birth control industry is not in alignment with that. Equally important to all of this is just knowing my personal path in life and what I want in life. A lot of people choose to have children because they feel pressure from family or society. A lot of people choose to have children because they think it will make them happy and they will find their place in life. For me, I know that having children wasn't what was going to bring me my purpose and my passion. And I wasn't willing to have children just because society believes that I should or because some family members or friends believe that I should. I felt and still 10 years later feel extremely confidently that my life path is not one of having children. And honestly, that one single reason alone is enough for this entire video. That one reason is plenty. So a lot of people have shared over the years with me, they say, but Rob, you're the exact type of person that should be having children. You need to raise children to be the change makers that this world needs. And I totally understand that. But here's the thing. I believe that I don't need to personally have children to affect the positive change that I want to have on this earth. I have dedicated my life to being of service to earth, humanity, and all of our plant and animal relatives. That includes the millions and millions of children that exist on this earth that don't have enough parenting in their lives that don't have role models. I do not personally need to be part of giving birth to another child in order to be a positive contributing member of society to many children. I have an incredible amount of respect for teachers who dedicate their life to educating our children. And I have chosen that life path to working with many children, to being a positive leader, to being a positive role model for them. And I can do exactly what people say, which is be a person who's raising children. But I don't personally have to have those children to be playing that role in society. On top of that, I really do not believe that having children would be what would make me happy. I know myself well and I have really self-reflected a lot. And I do not believe that I would be coming from a place of living the life of freedom and of dedication to service if I was to have children. I believe not having children is central to me being able to be the change that I truly want to see on this earth and to being this contributing member of society. Again, you can do that having children, but that's not my personal path. Even when media reports on my life and my message and they choose to share that I had a vasectomy, they will say that I did it to prevent overpopulation. I want to be very clear that I did not have a vasectomy to prevent overpopulation. That was not a reason why I chose to have a vasectomy. That being said, if I was to have a child, I would choose to do it more likely by adopting a child rather than having one of my own. Part of the reason for that is that I do believe that there are enough human beings on this earth and there are enough children who really could use the support of an adopting family or parent and having another child, bringing another child onto this earth when there are already plenty of us on this earth, definitely did play a role. Now, one thing that I do want to acknowledge is that there are totally natural forms of birth control that really are empowering for women that help them with getting connected deeply with their own body and that certainly is an option. And to be honest, at the time at the age of 25, I wasn't knowledgeable on these very natural forms of birth control that are really just about women getting more deeply connected. I was a part of a disconnected system when I made this choice and I didn't know about that. That being said, absolutely this still would have been my choice even had I known about these empowering natural forms of birth control for women and for men. Another really big factor in me choosing to have a vasectomy is because it's a very simple procedure that is very minimally invasive. It's as simple as creating a small incision and then being able to pull out the vas deferens and just simply cutting them and then cauterizing those ends in order to make it so they cannot reconnect. By doing that, it's just as simple as preventing the semen and the sperm from being able to connect. So although, yes, this procedure did mean me going into a hospital and being a part of this industry, overall the procedure is something that can actually be done outside of a hospital and is as low-tech as a simple scissors or knife and a slight bit of fire. So it's a very low-tech, very doable surgery, something that we humans can do without that industry. Now, most people that are hearing about vasectomies, they don't really know exactly how it works and that could be just simply not knowing could be a reason not to. But as I educated myself and I did a little more research, learning how simple the surgery is and then also how it interacts with the body made it very clear that this was an option that made sense for me. And so just a little bit about what happens is when I ejaculate, you have sperm and you have semen and the sperm is actually what is going to create a pregnancy, create a baby. The semen is the fluid that carries the sperm. And so when you have a vasectomy and you cut the vas deferens, what happens is that the semen still comes out when you ejaculate. But the sperm is not able to go through the vas deferens, the tubes, is not able to meet the semen, which is the ejaculation. And so what happens is you still ejaculate, the sperm just doesn't come out. And so actually, you would not be able to tell that somebody, a sexual partner, has had a vasectomy because the semen makes up about 95% of the ejaculation. So in all honesty, that was another big part for me of why I chose to have a vasectomy is that it would not negatively affect my sex life. I was still able to continue my sex life as before, but without the possibility of someone getting pregnant. And that played a large role. Condoms, of course, are one form of birth control, one of the most common forms of birth control, and they're quite effective. I've chosen by having a vasectomy to have that be my form of birth control and not condoms. That being said, of course, STDs can be transferred whether you've had a vasectomy or not. That doesn't change, that STDs can still be transferred. And so what is incredibly important in our relationships, our sexual connections, is really quality communication. Having that open, honest communication with our partners is one of the most important forms of prevention of STDs. Making quality judgment, being practicing self-control. I think that having sex with others is one of the most important things for us to pay very close attention to and to make sure that these are healthy relationships, both physically and mentally, for ourselves and for our partners. And just as important as ourselves making sure that we are entering into relationships for our partners, whether that partner is a lifetime partner or someone that we are with for a day or a week or a month. Open, honest communication and a deep heartfelt connection is such an important part of our sexual relationships. For the younger people watching this and ultimately for everybody watching this, I want to share that I didn't have sex for the first time until I was out of high school and I was 19 years old and I was in college. And I want to say that I believe that waiting to have sex until we are truly ready is, it's something that I would really encourage to everyone, whether you're a teenager or whether you are an adult in your 20s or 30s or 40s. I do not think that we should pressure ourselves to have sex as soon as possible. I think that I just really want to share with younger people that this is not me giving some encouragement to have sex as soon as possible. In our mainstream culture just having an open conversation about sex could be perceived as this guy telling younger people to have sex. That is not the scenario. I really, really cannot more strongly encourage our younger people that are watching this, just younger people in general, to really make sure that you're ready. Sex is very powerful and it can be one of the most deeply meaningful connections but it can also be incredibly painful if we're not in the right place and we don't have a partner that understands our needs and is available for our needs and we're not available for them. So I really truly want to encourage when we are having sexual connections at a young age or any age to make sure that we're really in the right place and there is a lot to be said for just not having sex and there is a lot that can be gained from finding our purpose and passion in life not through sex. I'm open to the idea of also never having sex again. I'm open to the idea of a life of celibacy as well and I think there's an incredible amount to gain from that and an incredible amount of beauty that can come from just finding ourselves without the need for for sex with another person. We can meet our needs for love and affection without sex and I often do. So those are the reasons that I chose to have a vasectomy. I'm so happy after 10 years to be able to share this openly and candidly with all of you. Very much has been an important part of my life. It very much has been a very simple me making a clear line that I am not going to have children. A very clear delineation of making this decision that this is my life path and I'm sticking to it and at the age of 35 I can say that this has absolutely been the right choice for me. I am very confident that I will feel the same at 45 and 55 and 65 and 75 but who knows only time will tell that. I also just do want to share again that as if you don't already know this already that this video is not me in any way trying to tell anyone to have a vasectomy but it is me openly sharing for the people that are out there who are thinking about it. I do want to be a resource for those who are contemplating having a vasectomy or not just that who are contemplating not having children because they believe that it's their life path. I am here in full support of all of you out there who are saying to yourself you know what I just simply do not want to have children whether I don't want to have I don't want to give birth to a child or I don't want to be the other part of that creation of a child. I am here in full support to say that you do not need to have children even if your parents say so or all of the people around you say so or the tv says so or the people on it it is your choice whether to have children or not and I highly highly encourage those who are having children to make it a very conscious decision not be a decision of I'm lonely so I want to have children or other people think I should so I'm going to have children so this choice to share this video with you of why I chose to have a vasectomy is not just about the vasectomy of course it's about a whole choice of freedom a choice of conscious decisions a choice of following our paths a choice of happiness and health not just for ourselves but for humanity as a whole and all of our plant and animal relatives so I hope that this has been a helpful video for you please do feel free to share this with anyone that you think that this would be of benefit of service to and if you do want to help to spread this message then please like the video you can comment I will definitely answer some of the questions and share this as well because this that is how we get this message out there of of consciousness of acceptance oh beautiful I'm here by this pond and I just saw a beautiful fish jump and I'd say that's time for me to say goodbye so I love you all very much and I'll see you again real soon