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.

If you’ve gone through IVF or fertility treatments and didn’t end up with the child you always dreamed of, this episode is for you.

During National Infertility Awareness Week 2025, it’s easy to feel like the spotlight is only on the stories that end in a baby. But what if yours didn’t? What if you're childless after infertility, and you’ve spent years wondering where your voice fits in?

This week, we’re finally talking about the part no one wants to say out loud:
The silence that follows when fertility treatments don’t work.
The awkward comments. The unsolicited advice. The way people try to “fix” you with adoption suggestions, miracle stories, or spiritual shortcuts.

But in this episode, you’ll hear what you’ve been longing to hear:
You are not an afterthought.
You are not a failure.
And you are not alone.

Lana shares:

• Why awareness doesn’t always mean inclusion, especially when your journey ends without a child

• How society struggles to hold space for grief that’s not “fixable”

• What it’s like to be left without resources or support when you leave your clinic for the last time

• A reading from Chapter 14 of her new book So Now What?, called “Avoiding Isolation and Strengthening Existing Connections”

• What you can do to start reconnecting with yourself and others in an authentic way without having to explain or justify your path

Whether you’ve felt misunderstood, judged, or completely invisible, this episode will help you feel grounded, seen, and empowered to move forward, even when life looks nothing like you planned.

🧡 Want to keep going beyond the podcast?
Here’s how to get support and stay connected:

➡️ Join me LIVE during National Infertility Awareness Week:

• April 28 – Infertility, Identity, and the Fight to Be Seen – So Now What? at Indiana University Northwest, 11:30 AM

• April 28 – Interview on WCPT Radio in Chicago

• May 1 – Book reading and signing at City Lit Books, 6:30 PM (Logan Square, Chicago)

• May 10 – The 4th Annual Other’s Day Brunch, a powerful gathering for women without children on the Saturday before Mother’s Day

Get all the details at: www.lanamanikowski.com/events

🎧 Ready to talk about what’s next for you?
Book your free 45-minute Thrive Call with Lana and start mapping out what your future can look like, even if it doesn’t include motherhood.
👉 Book now

📚 Haven’t read the book yet?
Download the foreword by Jody Day and Chapter 1 of So Now What?
👉 Get your preview

💬 Struggling with how to respond to awkward or hurtful comments?
Download the free guide: The Top 27 Things People Say When You’re Childless (...and How to Respond)
👉 Get the guide

If this episode spoke to you, please leave a review or share it with someone who needs to hear that a meaningful life is still possible, even without the children they dreamed of.

📲 Connect with Lana on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube:

• @lana.manikowski on IG

• @lana.manikowski on TikTok

• YouTube Channel

If you’ve been through fertility treatments like IVF or IUI and ended your journey without the baby you dreamed of, you might be waiting for the day you finally feel “healed.” But what if healing isn’t something you ever fully complete? What if infertility isn’t a finish line—but a beginning?

In this episode of The “So Now What?” Podcast, you’ll discover that you don’t have to be completely healed to start feeling proud of who you are becoming. You’ll explore how to notice your growth, even on the hard days, and how small steps forward are worth celebrating—even if no one else sees them.

I’ll also be sharing details about a few special public events coming up, including a reading from Chapter 11 of my book, So Now What?, titled “Who Are You Now? Who Do You Want to Become?” This question is at the heart of reclaiming your life after infertility, and I hope it inspires you the way it inspired me.

🗓 April 28 at 11:30 AM
Speaking at Indiana University Northwest
Topic: Infertility, Identity, and the Fight to Be Seen – So Now What?

📚 May 1 at 6:30 PM
Book Reading and Signing at City Lit in Logan Square
Featuring Chapter 11: “Who Are You Now? Who Do You Want to Become?”

🥂 May 10 at 11:30 AM
The 4th Annual Other’s Day Brunch in Chicago
A celebration for women without children to feel seen, supported, and celebrated
🎟 Get your ticket

• “I still feel sad, so I must not be healed yet”

• “I didn’t become a mom, so what do I celebrate about myself?”

• “I don’t even know who I am without motherhood”

This episode is your reminder that you are growing, even if your grief still exists. Your story didn’t end when your treatments did. It just started taking a new shape—one that you get to define.

Book a free 45-minute Thrive Call with me
We’ll create a plan together for how to start building a life that feels meaningful without the children you dreamed of.
👉 Book your Thrive Call

The Top 27 Things People Say When You’re Childless (...and how to respond)
An authentic and empowering guide to help you feel steady and confident in conversations that often feel uncomfortable.
📥 Download it here

Instagram: @lana.manikowski
YouTube: @lana.manikowski
TikTok: @lana.manikowski
Website: www.lanamanikowski.com

Have you ever looked around and thought, “So now what?” after years of trying fertility treatments that didn’t work?

You’re not alone. This week’s episode is for you.

In this deeply personal and empowering episode, you’ll hear Lana reflect on the powerful launch of her new book, So Now What?, which became a #1 New Release in the Fertility and Infertility categories on Amazon. That milestone wasn’t just about sales. It was about finally being heard after years of feeling silenced by a childless outcome.

Whether you’ve gone through IVF, IUI, or spent years navigating the complex, emotional rollercoaster of fertility treatments only to leave without a baby, this episode will remind you that your story still matters.

You’ll hear:

• How Lana’s unexpected injury mirrored the unpredictability of infertility

• Why So Now What? was written for women just like you

• A powerful reading from Chapter 3 of the book that will leave you feeling seen and understood

• Why this book belongs in every fertility clinic and how you can help make that happen
  
  

🎧 This episode is for you if:

• You feel like no one talks about what happens after treatment doesn’t work
  
  

• You’re searching for hope, community, and guidance in your childless life
  
  

• You’re ready to believe that your life can still be meaningful even without the children you dreamed of
  
  

✨ Help Us Spread the Word
Lana is currently sending So Now What? to reproductive endocrinologists, clinics, and therapists. She wants your help reaching more professionals who need this resource.

If you know of a doctor, clinic, or support group that could benefit, email Lana or send her a DM on Instagram, or TikTok

📍 Upcoming Book Events
If you’re in the Chicago or Northwest Indiana area, join Lana at one of her upcoming events:

• April 28 at 11:30 AM – Infertility, Identity, and the Fight to Be Seen at Indiana University Northwest
  
  

• May 1 at 6:30 PM – Book reading at City Lit Books in Logan Square, Chicago
  
  

• May 10 – The Other’s Day Brunch (a celebration for women without children by circumstance, not choice)
  Get your ticket: lanamanikowski.com/othersday
  
  

📚 Get Your Copy of So Now What?
Available now on:

• Amazon
  
  

• Barnes & Noble
  
  

• Blackwell’s (UK) Or visit the new landing page: lanamanikowski.com/book
  
  

💬 Free Download: The Top 27 Things People Say When You’re Childless… and How to Respond
Tired of awkward, intrusive conversations about your childless status? This free resource will help you feel more confident, clear, and authentic.
Download it here: lanamanikowski.com/thingspeoplesay

💬 Remember: You are not behind. You are not broken. You are not alone.
Your life still has purpose, joy, and connection ahead. Let this episode be your reminder that your next chapter is waiting to be written.

Are you childless after infertility, feeling stuck in the “in-between” after years of fertility treatments and IVF?

Have you spent years yearning for motherhood, only to be left wondering what life looks like now?

If that sounds like you, this episode was created with your heart in mind.

In Episode 162 of The So Now What? Podcast, I share a deeply personal reflection that started on a seemingly ordinary Saturday. It was a day filled with movement, joy, connection, and the kind of freedom I never expected to feel in a life without children. But by the end of the night, everything changed. That moment forced me to think about what I had built and who I had become.

You’ll hear how that experience helped me step even more deeply into ownership of a life I never imagined living, and how you can do the same.

• Why your life without children can still feel full, meaningful, and chosen
  
  

• How waiting for time to heal might be keeping you stuck
  
  

• An excerpt from Chapter 9 of my new book So Now What? called "Learning Not to Fear Change"
  
  

• How fear of failure, shaped by the language of fertility treatments, impacts your ability to move forward
  
  

• Why So Now What? is already a Top New Best Seller on Amazon before it has even launched
  
  

• A heartfelt invitation to stop waiting and start rebuilding your life
  
  

If you’ve ever said, “I thought I’d be a mom by now,” this book was written for you.

So Now What? is more than a book. It is a guide, a lifeline, and a blueprint for the woman who never received the tools to navigate a future without motherhood. This book meets you where you are and shows you that you do not have to stay there.

It is already being celebrated as a Top New Best Seller on Amazon, even before the official launch on April 2.

🛒 Pre-order your copy of So Now What? 📅 Release Date: April 2

If you feel stuck or unsure how to begin, I invite you to schedule a free 45-minute Thrive Call with me.

This is your opportunity to map out a personalized plan and walk away with clarity and direction. You will not be asked to have all the answers, only the willingness to start.

📞 Book your free Thrive Call here

Not sure how to respond when people offer advice or make assumptions about your childlessness?

Download my free guide: The Top 27 Things People Say When You’re Childless (...and how to respond)
📥 Get your copy here

If your fertility journey has left you childless, and you feel like you are the only one navigating this unexpected life, this episode will remind you that you are not alone.

You have found your community. You have a coach who understands. You have a starting point.

Your story is not over. It is just beginning.
Let today be the day you take ownership of what is next.

🎧 Press play now and share this episode with someone who needs to hear it.

📱 Let’s stay connected:
Instagram: @lana.manikowski
TikTok: @lana.manikowski
YouTube: Lana Manikowski
Website: https://www.lanamanikowski.com

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