I've always wanted to start a family of my own, a large family in particular. I'm an only child who's family consists of just my mom and an uncle (who's terminally ill), so I feel it's important to have children with a woman I adore so that I won’t end up utterly alone in life. On the other hand, I'm an introvert who requires copious amounts of personal time to myself. With my last girlfriend, I became extremely anxious and depressed because I felt like my privacy was being intruded on. I felt like I had a moral obligation hanging over my head to call, text, hangout, etc. I'm not sure if I could handle raising children as they aren't exactly conducive to having personal space.

I'm 26 years old and feel like I'm running out of time to decide which path I want to take. If I don’t find a life partner and have kids, I’m afraid I’ll grow up an old man that's alone in a nursing home. If I do start a family, I’m afraid I’ll have a nervous breakdown from such a sudden life change. Sometimes I daydream about being an old man with a wife and 3 or 4 supportive adult children with kids of their own and we're all laughing together at a family get together. It would be a nice future, when I think about it. Not sure what I'm going to do. Any wisdom would be appreciated.