Single childless 40+ y.o. Women cope en masse

At 38, I was on top of my world. I was healthy, attractive, fit, happy, and doing well in my career. I am also childless (not by choice, but am now glad for it). By 55, much was the same except I was single and decided to remain that way. I still had my looks and there was no shortage of dating opportunities, including with men 12–15 years my junior. But, I wasn't interested in another marriage/live-in relationship, so nothing really came of any of it. When Covid hit, it did a real number on me; not as in getting ill, but in being isolated during a vulnerable time in my life. I deteriorated, and then menopause ran over me like a speeding cement truck. One day I was me – slender, physically fit, attractive for my age, embracing life and feeling pretty good about myself – and the next there was this barrel-bodied old lady staring back at me from the mirror. The changes happened so fast that I honestly did not see it coming. It was devastating.

This is a massive comment (this is a tiny snippet of it) of but it's actually worth a read. This is the reality that most of these unmarried 30+ women are heading towards. She tries to rationalize it later by saying something about hope, but as someone who has worked/helped the elderly… hope comes from your family and children. You don't leave behind a career when you die. You get old, weak, and then die.

The only people I've seen get around this are people who can't have children since they don't really have the ability to wonder "what if", priests/monks of some religious order, and interestingly enough professors/teachers who view their students as pseudo children