Dear Readers,
After all this time I’m finally able to offer you some yoga! Wanted to let you know about Afterward Honesty’s very first yoga offering this coming Sunday May 8 from 12:00 – 1:15 ET. Get the class description, sign up and other info when you click the image on the left. Hope to see you there and over at the blog on Afterward Honesty!
I’ve always been drawn to difference. Hailing from a quintessentially small white New England town, on the edge of my adolescence my restless soul began to grumble about the lack of human variety in which I was swimming. To which my Dad would chuckle something along the lines of, “How do you know anything about human variety? You haven’t been anywhere yet!”
Read more
Hope to see you on board over on my new platform,
where I’m looking forward to supporting childless health and wellness through yoga offerings and webinars
Hop on over to…..
Why I Love Rudolph
My unexpected childless holiday tradition
For a long time, I could not have even conjured the possibility of sitting myself down and taking in a holiday tv special. These potentially glorious childhood throwbacks naturally reeked, for a good many years, of what should have been.
#worldchildlessweek2021
Not even two months after my final failed fertility treatment, I had entered the adoption option’s funnel cloud. As harsh realities and impossibilities swirled from every direction on this front, I was also sharing myself with people as I tried to make my way out into the world again. I’ve noticed since this is something that other grieving people commonly and spontaneously tend to do.
After conveying some grief over my unfruitful attempts at trying to conceive I was told by an acquaintance I thought well of, “Well, you can ALWAYS foster or adopt…..”. Given that this was someone with a few healthy biological children of her own, I was thrown by her unyielding certitude.
Read more
I don’t have to tell most of you, dear readers, that in a world that likes to think of itself on a progressive social change trajectory, it has, in fact, become increasingly HARDER to be involuntarily without children.
In our modern day world, the now ever plentiful pathways to mommy-hood grab headlines. Along with the myths and implied simplicities surrounding those pathways that also have seeped into the human conversation.
I mean, you could be a person without children living solo in an igloo close to the north pole with your hands literally tied behind your back, and you would still get the “You really shoulds……..” and the (my favorite) “You could ALWAYS……” overtures regarding becoming a parent.
Read more
Life is strange. Not that I had to tell any of you that. It’s an obvious truth that just needs to be plainly stated sometimes.
Read moreMy mindfulness meditation and breathwork video is now live, just click on the link below.
It touches on some of the practices that have been useful and continue to be useful to me throughout my infertility and then childless not by choice journeys.
The practice session itself is short, about 9 minutes long, so it’s accessible for beginners. So glad to be sharing this with you all, & I hope it serves you in some way. #worldchildlessweek
You can check out WCW’s other offerings on their FB page. So many great posts this year. I’ve been inspired by all of the writing, and by so many people speaking up and out in such a frank and honest way.
Lockdown – and everything else – must be easy without childrenHello everyone – you can find my post for WCW Comments That Hurt Day HERE.
If there were ever a childless myth I’m motivated to tackle, it’s that our lives are somehow easier. Grrrrr…..I can’t even.
So, glad I got to do it with this year’s WCW theme “Lockdown must be easy without children”.
I wrote this one in an outward facing voice, so it’s meant to share with the outside world.
Also, check out the World Childless Week Facebook page for all of the other interesting posts on this topic. #worldchildlessweek
For the fourth year in a row (!!), World Childless Week will be taking place starting on Monday, September 14. Combining the best of both worlds, WCW serves as a support for our demographic AND as an awareness campaign.
Below are just a few of the webinars on deck for the coming week addressing topics on all things childless.
While many of us need to pace ourselves this week, it’s also a great opportunity to give our demographic some traction in the “outer world”. I encourage you – and myself! – to like and share as much on social media as you reasonably can. Posts, including a couple of offerings from me, will be shared throughout the week on the WCW website, Facebook page and on Twitter.
On Friday the 18th Comments That Hurt Day, look for my post tackling the notion that lockdown – and everything else – must be easy without children. I’m looking forward to the other posts on this topic (also coming out on Friday the 18th) and to see how we address this misconception collectively. As it may have come across on this blog in the past – subtly of course – the myth that childless lives are automatically easier could be my most despised childless myth of all time. Given the stack from which we have to choose, well, that’s really saying something! So I’m glad I and others will have the opportunity to unpack this one. My post is outward facing – voiced to the outside non-cnbc world in other words – so feel free to share it.
And on either Saturday the 19th or Sunday the 20th, look for my Mindfulness, Meditation and Breath Work video. Accessible for beginners, I’m leading us through a brief dabbling into the practices that have been useful and supportive for me throughout my childless journey. I’m really looking forward to having this one shared and hope it serves our community in some way.
As a childless person, I’m very conscious of how much energy I give (or really, don’t give) to the parented narratives that dominate our human conversation. So most of all I’m grateful that this week exists (Thank YOU Stephanie Philips!!), and in that OUR narrative is finally given the space and voice it deserves.
#worldchildlessweek
Living the Life UnexpectedLast week, I arrived at my yearly gynecological check up and promptly took a seat that put my back to the majority of the waiting room. It was my first year since multiple failed fertility treatments attending my appointment without Xanax, both in regards to the PTSD that followed my fertility treatments and then my thankfully waning nervous system disorder that arrived three years later. Read more
infertilityhonesty 