If you're childless after infertility and growing older feels unsettling, this episode invites you to move from fear to intention and imagine a future that feels grounded and meaningful.

Childlessness after infertility and growing older can bring up fears you never expected to carry. When motherhood didn't happen, aging is often framed as something to brace for rather than something you get to shape. In this episode of The "So Now What?" Podcast, you're invited to move from fear to intention as you explore what it means to grow older without children, reconnect with your body after IVF failed, and begin imagining a future that feels meaningful, grounded, and entirely your own.

This episode was inspired by a simple question I overheard while out to dinner: Has getting old been like you expected it would be?
For women who are childless after infertility, that question can land deeply. Not because aging itself is the problem, but because the future no longer comes with a default storyline.

Together, we talk honestly about the physical fears of aging, the existential questions that surface when IVF fails, and how reaction mode can quietly shrink your sense of possibility. Most importantly, you'll be invited to consider what it might look like to participate in your future, rather than brace for it.

This conversation isn't about having all the answers.
It's about giving yourself permission to imagine again.

• Why growing older without children is often framed through fear

• The physical aging fears many women carry after infertility and why they make sense

• How fertility treatments can leave you feeling disconnected from your body

• What existential fear really means when motherhood didn't happen

• The difference between bracing for the future and imagining it

• Why reaction mode helped you survive infertility but doesn't have to be permanent

• How childless women often have more agency than they realize when it comes to aging

• Questions to help you begin envisioning a future that feels intentional and grounded

If thinking about aging without children brings up tightness, fear, or a sense of "I don't even know where to begin," you're not doing anything wrong. You've already had to let go of a future you worked hard for. It makes sense that imagining what comes next feels complicated.

That's exactly why I offer Thrive Calls.

A Thrive Call is a free, 45-minute conversation where we slow everything down and talk honestly about what you want your life to feel like now and as you get older.

You don't need a full plan.
You don't need clarity before you book.
You just need a place to start imagining instead of bracing.

👉 Book your Thrive Call here!

If you're also navigating intrusive or exhausting conversations about motherhood, infertility, or "what's next," I created a free guide many women find grounding.

The Top 27 Things People Say When You're Childless (and How to Respond)
This guide helps you respond without overexplaining, spiraling, or losing your cool.

👉 Get the free guide here:
https://lana-manikowski.myflodesk.com/thingspeoplesay

Aging without kids doesn't automatically mean loneliness or decline.
It means you get to be intentional in ways most people never have to consider.

You get to decide what matters.
You get to decide where your energy goes.
You get to decide who you're becoming.

Not someday.
Now.

I hope you have a beautiful week.
I love you, and remember that it's never too late to discover your meaning.
I'll talk to you next week.

You were told time would heal this.

That if you just waited long enough, the pain of leaving IVF without a baby would soften. That eventually the anger, loneliness, and grief around the dream of motherhood would fade on their own.

But if you're childless after infertility, you already know the truth.
The calendar didn't fix it.

In this episode of The "So Now What?" Podcast, you explore why time alone doesn't heal the loss of motherhood when IVF failed and why that doesn't mean something is wrong with you. You'll hear why these feelings resurface again and again during emotionally charged moments like Christmas, birthdays, Mother's Day, and year-end milestones and why waiting quietly can start to cost you more than you realize.

This episode is for you if you're childless not by choice, navigating life after IVF failed, and wondering why time hasn't brought the peace everyone promised.

Why time doesn't heal the loss of motherhood after IVF failed

Why infertility grief is cyclical, not seasonal

How holidays, birthdays, and Mother's Day can reopen the wound

Why "just moving on" can disconnect you from yourself

What actually helps you heal and move forward after infertility

✨ Glow Up Sessions
If you want focused, one-on-one support around one specific issue like navigating the holidays, preparing for family gatherings, handling intrusive comments, or getting grounded before the new year, a Glow Up session is a powerful place to start.
👉 Book a Glow Up session NOW!

ow is the perfect time to think about how you want to enter the new year and how you want to feel in your life moving forward.

✨ Book a Thrive Call HERE!
A one-on-one conversation to map out what healing and meaning can look like for you after IVF failed.

✨ Free Resource: What to Say When People Don't Get It
Download Top 27 Things People Say When You're Childless and How to Respond HERE, so you're not caught off guard by intrusive or unhelpful comments.

When you are childless after infertility, the holiday season can feel like a spotlight you never asked for. Everyone has an opinion about your fertility decisions. Everyone has a suggestion about what you should have done. And somehow every gathering becomes an open invitation for people to ask about baby news, adoption, donor eggs, or why you stopped trying.

In this week's episode, you learn how to stay grounded, confident, and steady when holiday opinions collide with the decisions you made after IVF Failed. You discover how to trust your intuition again and how to walk into December without feeling like you owe anyone an explanation.

This episode is for you if
• you are childless after infertility
• you ended fertility treatments and people still question why
• you feel pressure during family gatherings
• you struggle with unsolicited advice about adoption, donor eggs, donor sperm, surrogacy, or "trying again"
• you want to feel connected to the holidays without feeling triggered
• you want to walk into gatherings feeling prepared instead of anxious

Inside the episode, you will learn
• why holiday comments land so hard for women who are childless not by choice
• how lifelong conditioning leads you to second guess your decisions
• why your inner knowing is wiser than outside opinions
• what to tell yourself when someone questions your fertility choices
• how to feel empowered about the decisions you made when your fertility journey ended without a baby
• how to walk into December feeling solid and sure of yourself

If you are already bracing for the questions and opinions, I have two things that will support you through this season.

These private sessions help you
• practice what you want to say
• stay grounded during conversations
• feel confident about your decisions
• handle family dynamics with clarity and calm

These are one on one coaching sessions at a discounted rate for December.

Book your Glow Up Session here!

Handling the Holidays: Managing Your Family, Traditions, and Celebrations Without Kids
Tuesday, December 16
11:30 AM Central

In this class you learn how to
• handle family gatherings when you are childless after infertility
• navigate traditions that feel painful because you do not have kids to pass them onto
• stay centered when everything around you feels kid focused
• make space for your own joy this holiday season

Register for the free class:
https://meet.google.com/occ-gnzy-sdt
(If you want a registration page link instead of a direct meet link, tell me and I will swap it.)

Download the Top 27 Things People Say When You Are Childless and How to Respond
https://lana-manikowski.com/thingspeoplesay

Connect With Me

Website
https://www.lanamanikowski.com

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/lana.manikowski

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@lana.manikowski

YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@lana.manikowski

Please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast. It helps other women who are childless after infertility discover this space and find the support they never received from their clinic once treatment ended.