Providing support for those who choose to be childlesss whilst others around them are choosing to have children and to provide strength for those for whom pregnancy doesn't come easily.
Some people choose not to have children and others find themselves in this place. Whether by choice or not, it can help to give some thought to your emotions and feelings, how you might like your life to be and how you might achieve this. Factors such as whether any of your friends and family have children and whether you want to be closely involved in these children's lives is one thing you might consider but there are many others that it can be helpful to consider to help you feel a greater sense of happiness and purpose with your lifestyle. For those who have difficulties having children, there are ways to help overcome the negative feelings that can flood in at times like this, such as loneliness, anger, stress, shame.
Websites Offering Support:
Gateway Women
It’s the club you never wanted to join, but once you’ve got the support you need to get through your grief and out of your isolation, life starts getting fun again.
Ageing Well Without Children
are a voice support organisation for the many people who are over 50 in the UK are without adult children.
Books on this subject:
The Next Happy
offers a roadmap for that journey, teaching you how to:
- Face the possibility of letting go of a dream that isn’t working.
- Accept and face sadness, anger, and shame.
- Understand the true reasons why you wanted what you wanted and the real-life causes for why you didn’t get it.
- Ask the questions that will let you move on and set realistic goals for finding a new way forward.
Rocking the Life Unexpected
1:5 women in the UK/USA, Canada & Australia are currently turning 45 without having had a child. Although some are childfree by choice, many others are childless-by-circumstance and are struggling in a life they didn’t expect and for which there are no roadmaps. Most people think that women without children either ‘couldn’t’ or ‘didn’t want’ to be mothers. The truth is much more complex.
A mixture of autobiography, social history and self-help, “Rocking the Life Unexpected” is a book that blends the personal, the political and the practical to support childless-by-circumstance women to move forward with their lives. Its British author, Jody Day, is the founder of Gateway Women, the global friendship and support network for childless-by-circumstance women.
Reading this book feels like sitting on the couch with a good friend, a bottle of wine, and a box of Kleenex. Yes, there’ll be tears, but there’ll be laughter and camaraderie, and at the end of the book, there’ll be the feeling that it’s all going to be okay in the end. Lisa Manterfield, author of the award-winning “I’m Taking my Eggs and Going Home” and the Founder of LifeWithoutBaby.com
Each of the 12 chapters has a specific focus and contains exercises to help you look at your personal situation. The book can be read alone or as part of an online or local Gateway Women reading group. Week by week, this book will guide you as you work through the distress, confusion and isolation of your situation and towards your very own Plan B for a meaningful and fulfilling life without children.
Living the Life Unexpected
Jody Day addresses the taboo of childlessness and provides a powerful, practical 12-week guide to help women come to terms with their grief, and to move on to live creative, happy, meaningful, and fulfilling lives without children.
Videos on this subject:
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