If you are childless after infertility and wondering how to move forward without the future you dreamed of, this powerful conversation with Jody Day will meet you right where you are.

In this episode, we explore what it truly means to grieve childlessness and how embracing that grief can lead to deep healing, creativity, and purpose. Jody shares her personal story, her insights from years of working in the childless-not-by-choice space, and how grief can evolve from something you endure into something you grow through.

Inside this episode:

• Why grief is not an event but a skill
  
  

• What it means to experience disenfranchised grief as a childless woman
  
  

• How to feel seen in a society that avoids your pain
  
  

• What it takes to build your own support network as you age
  
  

• Why asking for help is a form of strength and connection
  
  

Unforgettable quotes from Jody Day:

• “Grief is not an event. It’s a skill.”
  
  

• “You’re not needy. You have needs. You’re human.”
  
  

• “We grieve that which we have loved.”
  
  

• “Grief is the emotion that allows us to let go of what was in order to embrace what’s next.”
  
  

• “I look back at the woman who tried so hard and say: You didn’t know more was available to you.”
  
  

Whether you are early in your grief or further down the path, this episode will remind you that you are not alone, and that you still have the power to build a life you love.

You are not too late. You are not alone.
You may be childless, but your story still matters. This episode will remind you that healing is possible, connection is available, and the life ahead of you still holds meaning.

Helpful links and resources:

🎧 Download: The Top 27 Things People Say When You’re Childless (...and How to Respond)

📞 Book a Free 45-Minute Thrive Call with Lana and create a personalized plan for living a fulfilling life without children

📘 Explore Jody Day’s work: Gateway Women

💌 Subscribe to her Substack: Gateway Elderwomen
📱 Follow Lana on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok

About Jody Day:

Jody is the English-Irish founder of Gateway Women, the world’s best-known support and advocacy network for childless women. Often described as the founder of the global childless movement, she is an integrative psychotherapist, two-time TEDx speaker, author, and thought leader. Her best-selling book Living the Life Unexpected: How to Find Hope, Meaning and a Fulfilling Future Without Children has become essential reading for women navigating life without motherhood.

Jody has been a World Childless Week Ambassador since 2017, was chosen as one of the BBC’s 100 Women in 2013, and named a UK Digital Woman of the Year in 2021. She is a former Fellow in Social Innovation at Cambridge Judge Business School and was a founding board member of the UK charity Ageing Without Children. Today, she writes the popular Substack Gateway Elderwomen, which explores aging and elderhood without motherhood, and is developing her ALTERKIN Project to create local mutual-aid communities for those aging without children.

If Mother’s Day felt hard for you, you’re not alone and this week’s episode of The “So Now What?” Podcast is especially for you.

You’ve probably spent years feeling like a party of one, moving through infertility and now life without children, not sure where to go to find connection or how to create it. Maybe you’ve told yourself you should be strong enough to figure this out alone. Maybe you’ve been hiding, thinking you’re the only one whose treatments didn’t end in motherhood.

In this powerful episode, you’ll hear why connection is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. You’ll be reminded that you are not weak for wanting support. You are human, and you were never meant to do this alone.

Lana opens up about her own journey, from getting an unexplained infertility diagnosis in 2011 and hiding her pain, to walking into silence despite being someone who always had “talks too much” on her report card. You’ll hear how that silence was one of the hardest parts, and why finding your voice again starts with connection.

Lana shares what inspired her to start this podcast in 2021, why she left her 20-year corporate career to coach full time, and how her Thrive After Infertility program and The Other’s Day Brunch were created to make sure women like you never have to navigate childlessness alone.

You’ll hear about:

- What it feels like when connection feels out of reach after infertility
- Why fertility clinics gave us science but not the soul-level support we needed
- What healing starts to look like when you stop hiding
- The incredible stories of women at The Other’s Day Brunch who showed up not knowing a soul and left with new friendships
- Simple ways you can say yes to connection today . even if it starts with a coffee invite or replying to a DM

This episode is a reminder that even if your life looks different than you planned, it can still be beautiful, because you are part of it.

✨ Resource Mentioned: Download *The Top 27 Things People Say When You’re Childless (and How to Respond) . Click here!

🎧 If this episode resonated with you, please take a moment to rate and review the podcast. Your words help other women find this space.

📲 Connect with Lana on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube: @lana.manikowski
💌 Questions or feedback? Email
🌐 Learn more: www.lanamanikowski.com

If you're feeling overlooked, invisible, or emotionally raw as Mother's Day approaches, this episode was made for you.

In this heartfelt and healing conversation, Lana speaks directly to you — the woman who did everything she could to become a mom, but still doesn’t have the child she dreamed of. Whether this is your first Mother's Day since stopping fertility treatments or your fifteenth, this episode holds space for your grief, your story, and your desire to be seen in a world that rarely acknowledges women who are childless not by choice.

Lana shares why Mother's Day can be more than just a tough day — it can be a cultural reminder of the life you hoped for and the identity you never got to claim. She talks about the emotional toll of constant reminders — inbox ads, grocery store signs, brunch invites — and why it's not about jealousy or resentment, but a profound sadness that so few people recognize.

You’ll also hear:

• Why your grief is real and valid — even if others don’t understand it

• What disenfranchised grief is and why it’s so common for childless women

• How the Other’s Day Brunch was born out of this very longing to be seen

• Why healing doesn’t mean forgetting, and how grief and joy can coexist

• What to do this weekend if you're looking for a way to honor your story and take care of yourself
  
  

Whether you're quietly grieving at home or attending the 4th Annual Other’s Day Brunch in Chicago, this episode is your reminder that you are not alone.

🎧 Listen in if you’ve ever thought:

• “Why is this still so hard—even after all this time?”

• “Why does no one acknowledge the pain of being childless on Mother's Day?”

• “I don’t want pity. I just want to feel like I matter.”
  
  

💗 Join us in Chicago for the 4th Annual Other’s Day Brunch on May 10 — a space where you’ll be seen, honored, and celebrated:
👉 www.lanamanikowski.com/othersday

📞 Ready to stop feeling stuck and create a new vision for your future?
Book your free 45-minute Thrive Call with Lana and get personalized support for building a life that feels full, even without the children you dreamed of:
👉 https://calendly.com/lanamanikowski/strategy-session

📥 Download Lana’s free guide:
✔️ The Top 27 Things People Say When You’re Childless... and How to Respond with Confidence and Self-Respect:
👉 https://lana-manikowski.myflodesk.com/thingspeoplesay

📲 Follow Lana on social media for community and inspiration:
Instagram: @lana.manikowski
TikTok: @lana.manikowski
YouTube: Watch & Subscribe

✨ You are not an afterthought. You are a whole woman with a full heart — even if it's still healing.
This Mother’s Day, take up space. You belong here.