Infertility Survivors Finally Heard
I sat as calmly as I could recently while Esther, an acupuncturist, held my wrists palms up and felt my pulse. My lungs, I shared, had been tested by unrelenting, cumulative wildfire smoke. This precipitated an extended asthma attack and related tightness. “How do you feel?” Esther asked. “Hmmm, asthmatic and a bit stressed,” I […]
Failed IVF and the taboo of infertility stories don’t often take center stage. That is until Anything You Lose documentary filmmaker Irina Vodar decided to tackle the taboo head on. Irina kicked off a new video series, Infertility Tales, to shed light on this complex topic. You can learn more, watch and subscribe from Episode 1 […]
Word swap (inserting infertile or childless to replace other words) has long been my way to make a point about the perils of tribalistic thinking. It’s amusing and informative to highlight one’s myopic perspective. Further, the exercise can reveal insights applicable to other tribes or communities. In this latest example, an author asserts age confers […]
Darkness comes ever earlier this time of year. It’s arrival — shrinking our days bit by bit — makes an already busy end of year seem even more frenetic. Yet, blackness also delivers stillness and focus. I reflected on this further following a yoga class at mid-day this week. Late autumn sunlight streamed through the […]
Insights often originate with films and books. The really good stories and characters become touchstones or stay with me like familiar old friends. So, on this, my 11th anniversary of blogging (yes, Happy Anniversary dear readers, it all began here February 3, 2007), I’d like to encourage all to find and watch the soul-stirring documentary […]
Non-moms recognized? Read on … That opening paragraph grabbed me. Did it grab, you, too? Truly, I didn’t expect this acknowledgement to make it into print, but it did. I stumbled upon this reference to ‘non-moms’ in a story because Silent Sorority garnered a mention in a feature about Dolly Parton. (And that […]
There’s nothing quite so unsettling as a major move. Plagued by timing unpredictability. On guard for daily disturbance. We’re supposed to be adept at managing the sketchy, difficult stuff life throws at us, yes? Seasoned as we’ve been by heartache, isn’t that right? To a point. If ever I needed reminding that rational thinking and […]
Hellllloooooo! Yes. Still here happily on the other side of the infertility chasm. Won’t bore you with details, but the past several weeks have been busier than usual. A bit like drinking from a fire hydrant. Absorbing a great deal in all spheres of life. While I may be very behind on social media and […]
Triggered is a word I don’t take lightly. To be triggered is when anything, as an act or event, serves as a stimulus and initiates or precipitates a reaction or series of reactions. That’s why a trigger warning now seems appropriate. The correlations I draw here might leave you triggered. You may want to skip […]
Huh, Infertile? What?? I know. The headline seems somehow wrong, does it not? I’ll repeat the words slowly so you have time to wrap your head around them: All…Women…Are…Infertile…Most…of…Their…Lives. It’s mind-blowing mostly because we are not programmed to view infertility from this angle. This conundrum first came to light in working with a colleague on […]