Welcome & thank you for taking time to browse.
After writing almost 200 blogs over 7 years I realised how much support there was here & how hard it was for readers to find what they most needed.
I’ve therefore created a number of pages where you can find blogs about different topics. Those are quite broad & on this page you can dig deeper into areas which interest you.
I think the headings are self-explanatory, maybe with the exception of:
‘Lesley’s top picks, my favourite posts’ – this is a good place to start. These are a combination of those I really enjoyed writing & others which I think will be the most help to you.
‘Don't let your dreams ruin your life helpful process’- this was a series of blogs I wrote in early 2020, you’ll get the best out of them if you start with the earliest one!
‘Story’ – I am a great believer in the importance of owning your story as a positive step forward.
Please read a selection of different subjects & always with an open mind
I recommend that you take your times, always knowing that some will resonate with you & some won’t. And that’s perfect, because what supported me moving forward, might help you & it also might not.
In my blogs I usually ask questions, so I also encourage you to take time to answer them.
You can read much, much more in my book, Finding Joy Beyond Childlessness.
Own your story and write your ending
Life is lived through story and the story you tell yourself is the biggest of all because it determines the life you have. If you tell yourself that your life has no meaning and will be miserable, then that’s what it will be. However if, like the Inspirational Story tellers you tell yourself that there … Read more
Inspirational Stories – Emily Jacob
I met Emily at The Story Party where she told us how she put herself together after being raped. it turns out that she’s also childless and I’m pleased to share her story here. What she said about reconnecting into her body resonated with me as it’s something I’ve read a number of times on … Read more
Why I’m taking a deep breath…
‘When you are standing in that forest of sorrow, you cannot imagine that you could ever find your way to a better place. But if someone can assure you that they themselves have stood in that same place, and now have moved on, sometimes this will bring hope’ This quote by Elizabeth Gilbert encapsulates the … Read more
Inspirational Story, Cali Bird
Cali’s story is one of taking her time to find ‘that special someone to settle down with’. Because of her age this meant choosing to be happy with that person without the option of having children. Before then she had a narrow view of love and happiness and she very wisely advises others to ‘be … Read more
Release & Renewal – Reflections & Wellbeing Through Writing
Guest post by 40AndEverythingAfter I finally gave up on having a family 8 years ago. We had been trying for a baby for 5 years and, after 3 failed IVF treatments, I was finally succumbing to the depression I had been fending off for some time, unaware of its lurking until my walls gave way … Read more
Taking time out to be grateful for what we have
It feels to me that the world is very strange at the moment. There’s so much anxiety, stress and anger on both sides of the Atlantic; friends and families are falling out over politics and when you venture out, just about everyone is in their own world, absorbed in their digital device of choice. It … Read more
Allowing myself to fall
I was recently asked ‘how long does it take to ‘get over’ the grief of being childless?’ And my answer: ‘how long do you want it to be?’ I say this because grief is the emotion we least want to feel so we avoid it at all costs. But what happens then is that it … Read more
Inspirational Story, Robin Hadley
This week we have a slightly different inspirational story, different because it’s a man’s story. It’s sad that so few men are willing to speak out, and today I’m pleased to share Robin Hadley’s story. Robin was probably the first childless man in the UK to speak out and he did this on the back … Read more
Inspirational Story – Civilla Morgan
I met Civilla Morgan when she contacted me to do an interview with her. When we spoke we discovered that we share the same enthusiasm for supporting others in this childless community so now I’m happy that she’s sharing her inspirational story with us. Her story is one of never meeting Mr Right and now … Read more
