Finding Joy Beyond Childlessness

You wanted to be a mother and for some reason it didn't happen. Now you're feeling devastated, sad, angry, disappointed, (I could go on) Mostly, you're hiding your true self from the world. And it hurts. A lot. You're not alone.In Finding Joy Beyond Childlessness, Lesley Pyne uses her life experience as a childless woman, the experiences of other childless women from all over the world, and her skills as a coach and NLP Master Practitioner to gently guide readers through their pain, using practical advice and exercises, to help them reach the other side to find their joy. Finding Joy Beyond Childlessness helps you: Understand why the story you tell yourself is important, how to change it and stop it holding you back.Learn different ways of moving through the grieving process including, letting go, connecting with your feelings and your body, self-acceptance, and writing. Recognize the importance of gratitude and how to find joy again.Explore how you've changed during the process and gently learn how to find fulfillment now and in the future.¿Lesley Pyne is childless and has lost both parents, and now is able to say confidently 'I absolutely love my life, the adventures I'm having, and I'm excited about what will happen next.'

‘The book to recommend to patients when they face coming to terms with unavoidable childlessness.' – British Medical Journal In Living the Life Unexpected, Jody Day addresses the experience of involuntary childlessness and provides a powerful, practical guide to help those negotiating a future without children come to terms with their grief; a grief that is only just beginning to be recognized by society. This friendly, practical, humorous and honest guide from one of the world’s most respected names in childless support offers compassion and understanding and shows how it’s possible to move towards a creative, happy, meaningful and fulfilling future – even if it’s not the one you had planned. Millions of people are now living a life without children, almost double that of a generation ago and the numbers are rising still. Although some are childfree by choice, many others are childless due to infertility or circumstance and are struggling to come to terms with their uncertain future. Although most people think that those without children either 'couldn't' or 'didn't want’ to be parents, the truth is much more complex. Jody Day was forty-four when she realized that her quest to be a mother was at an end. She presumed that she was through the toughest part, but over the next couple of years she was hit by waves of grief, despair and isolation. Eventually she found her way and in 2011 created Gateway Women, the global friendship and support network for childless women which has now helped almost two million people worldwide. This edition, previously titled Rocking the Life Unexpected, has been extensively revised and updated, with significant additional content and case studies from forty involuntarily childless people (mostly women) from around the world.

Childlessness is a growing issue throughout the developed world. Current estimates suggest that 2025% of women now of childbearing age will not, for a variety of reasons, ever have a child. This sensitive and intelligent book offers support, shared experience and practical strategies to those for whom childlessness is not a positive choice but a circumstance they have to learn to live with. Even now, many women find it very difficult to discuss this emotive topic with family and friends so this ground-breaking and accessible book will be profoundly and widely welcomed. This book is uniquethere is nothing on the market dealing with childlessness in this way. Includes a very wide range of personal stories, reflecting the myriad reasons why women do not have children.

Do you regret not having children? Are you childless by choice? Are you fearful about your future without the love of children? In Finding Happiness without Children, author Janeah Rose helps childless women understand the feelings and emotions they may be experiencing. This collection of intimate stories-from both the author and other childless women- offers encouragement and compassion and demonstrates the many unique ways these women found purpose, fulfillment, inner peace, and happiness without children. Janeah calls upon her own hardships and personal experiences to prove how trials can be reconfigured to become lessons. Finding Happiness without Children offers a powerful and enlightening story of a childless woman's hardships and struggles which ironically unmasked and strengthened her gift of intuition. The life experiences taught her how to heal, grow spiritually, love, forgive, trust, and, most importantly, how to love herself, trust the universe and believe in the Creator. Both emotional and inspirational, Finding Happiness without Children makes a positive contribution to childless women everywhere who face the struggles and stigma of infertility.

Melanie Notkin wants to change our perceptions about childless women. The rise of childless women is one of the most overlooked and under-appreciated social issues of our time. Never previously have more women lived longer before having their first child or remained childless toward the end of their fertility. In the U.S., the level of childlessness of women age forty to forty-four has doubled, from 10 percent in 1976 to 20 percent in 2006. Society assumes that women either are mothers or choose not to be mothers, but waiting for love and marriage—or at least a committed union—before embarking on motherhood seems to be the least acceptable life choice for the modern woman. Nearly half of North American women of childbearing age are childless,a steep rise from 35 percent in 1976. Nevertheless, childless women are perceived as the exception, not the norm. In Otherhood, Melanie Notkin explores this modern phenomenon to understand the reasons for this shift, the social and emotional impact of childlessness, and how this “new normal” will impact social structures in the decades to come. Part anecdotal storytelling, part inspirational, part reportage, and part manifesto, Otherhood sets out to get to the heart of the issues, enliven the societal consciousness, and trigger conversation. Notkin offers a very personal take on a trend that affects so many modern women.

“What if I never get to be a mother?” When this doubt first takes hold, it can knock you completely off your feet. You feel cheated, frustrated, and no longer sure of your place in society, your family, or your circle of friends. Now…imagine you could spend time with someone who really understands how you feel, who lets you express all the things that once seemed whiny, self-indulgent, or just plain crazy, and who confides that she once felt that way too. Life Without Baby founder, Lisa Manterfield, once stood where you are and not only survived, but thrived. Now she shares what she learned from her own experiences and from the women of the community she created. She’ll help you: – Know when it’s time to cut your losses and let go of your dream – Give yourself permission to grieve the loss that few others can truly understand – Learn some emotional aikido moves to handle social challenges, such as baby showers, Mother’s Day, and the dreaded “Do you have kids?” question – Rediscover your passion and find joy again, without enduring a complete life makeover – Get pragmatic about aging without children and building a new kind of family Based on her small-group workshops and popular ebook series, this book offers a combination of hard-won lessons, gentle queries, and real-world suggestions. Manterfield is a comforting and supportive companion who will guide you gently down your own path to making peace with being childfree-not-by-choice and thriving in a new happily ever after.

A savvy and validating guide to what might be in store for growing numbers of childfree and childless adults worldwide, Do You Have Kids? Life When the Answer is No takes on topics from the shifting meaning of family to what we leave behind when we die. Weaving together wisdom from women ages twenty-four to ninety-one with both her own story and a growing body of research, Kate brings to light alternate routes to lives of meaning, connection, and joy. Today about one in five American women will never have children, whether by choice or by destiny. Yet few women talk much about what not having kids means to their lives and identities. Not that they don’t want to; there just aren’t obvious catalysts for such open conversations. In fact, social taboos preclude exploration of the topic—and since our family-centric culture doesn’t know quite what to do with non-parents, there’s potential for childless and childfree women to be sidelined, ignored, or drowned out. Yet there’s widespread, pent-up demand for understanding and validating this perfectly normal way of being. In this straight-shooting, exhaustively researched book, women without kids talk candidly about the ways in which their lives differ from societal norms and expectations—the good, the bad, and the unexpected.

When the best option is to let go of the life you planned for yourself and find a new path, a world of possibilities can surprisingly open up. Learn whether it is time to let go, and if so, how to move through your grief and find your way forward in The Next Happy.If you believe, you can do anything.Although well-meaning, these intended words of inspiration can make us feel like failures. The reality is that no matter how positive our outlook or how tenacious our approach, our dreams simply do not always come true--and there is nothing we can do about it.After multiple fertility treatments and years of hardship in her pursuit to have a child, Tracey Cleantis was forced to face this reality head-on. Yet, through this process and her work counseling hundreds of clients through the loss of their goals and aspirations, she discovered one simple truth: Sometimes there comes a time when the smartest, healthiest, and sanest thing to do is to let go of the original plan in order to find a new way forward toward happiness. And with this critical shift, a world of possibilities opens up to us. New, tangible dreams take shape.In The Next Happy, Cleantis offers a roadmap for that journey, teaching you how toface the possibility of letting go of a dream that isn’t workingaccept and face sadness, anger, and shameunderstand the true reasons why you wanted what you wanted and the real-life causes for why you didn’t get itask the questions that will let you move on and set realistic goals for finding a new way forward.With down-to-earth wisdom and humor, this enlightening counterpoint to the popular self-help notion to “follow your dream, no matter what it takes” provides the guidance and support to help you make the decision of whether it is time to give up an impossible dream, and if so, move through your grief, and discover the next happy.