“What I was feeling (fear) and the reason I was feeling this was because there’s a huge amount of stigma on deciding not to have children. Suddenly in that realization that there is a massive stigma around this, it was okay that I felt apprehensive and daunted. The fact I know there is a stigma and judgment with this decision made it freeing for me. In the same way people have judgment to homosexuals, transgender people, insert all the words that carry a stigma, this does in a similar way. It made sense why I felt this way.”
Sarah is a childfree woman from the UK who reached out in February to share her story on the podcast of being childfree. After reaching out, fear and unease and worry set in and it wasn't until May that we sat down for the podcast. Despite being firm in her decision to be childfree the overwhelming feeling of judgment sat heavy and it wasn't until she realized the power of the stigma that she was freed up to tell her story.
In this episode we talk about the importance of sitting in your feelings when working through big decisions and how you can make a decision that you are confident in but also have sadness with that decision. Sarah shares how as someone with a background in risk management, creating a contingency plan for her decision, gave her added peace with her decision.
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