Dealing with Grief Archives

Father’s Day for the Non-Father: a guest blog by Sheridan Voysey, author, broadcaster and founder of Friendship Lab.

June 15, 2025 Jody Day 1

This is a guest blog by Sheridan Voysey for Gateway Women, originally published here in 2019. Sheridan is an author, broadcaster and founder of the Friendship Lab. www.sheridanvoysey.comYou can find more articles, books & resources for childless men here. As Sheridan Voysey writes: Not long ago I took part in a segment for a television breakfast show. As the cameraman and I drove to the filming location, he told me a story. “Last night some mates and I were in the pub,” he said, “and the conversation turned to depression. It turns out some of them have been on antidepressants. […]

[READ/WATCH] Mother’s Day Guest Post: ‘Holding Both’, by Carrie Hauskins

May 10, 2025 Jody Day 1

It’s the second Sunday of May in the US, the flowers are blooming, and the call to be in nature is strong. It’s also the day we honor and celebrate the mothers in our lives. But what if the day comes with grief? As an infertile woman, that’s precisely what comes: the grief of the life I never got. It’s something I thought I’d “get over.” Years later, I realized this might not be something I ever get over. With that simple acknowledgment, I allowed myself to feel the grief. This doesn’t mean it feels good. To be clear, it […]

[WATCH NOW] Gateway Women Masterclass: Navigating Mother’s Day as a Childless Woman, with Katy Seppi and Jody Day

April 28, 2025 Jody Day 0

RECORDED LIVE ON 10 MAY 2025 Katy Seppi and Jody Day talk Mother’s Day and More Mother’s Day takes place in May for most of the world, earlier in the year for the UK & Ireland. But whenever it lands for you, it’s rarely inconsequential for those of us who are childless not by choice. The day can be tricky for many intertwined reasons on top of our own thwarted motherhood, including mourning our own mothers and/or managing our challenging relationships with them; insensitive family members, colleagues and the wider culture; the exaggerated visibility of our difference on Mother’s Day […]

[WATCH NOW] GATEWAY WOMEN MASTERCLASS WEBINAR: AN AUTHOR INTERVIEW AND BOOK GIVEAWAY WITH LANA MANIKOWSKI

March 30, 2025 Jody Day 0

In this conversation, recorded on 12 April 2025, Jody Day, the founder of Gateway Women, speaks with Lana Manikowski, life coach and author of So Now What? Create a Life Your Love Without the Children You Always Dreamed Of, published in the US by LM Publishing on April 2nd, 2025, and which debuted at #1 in the ‘New Releases’ section of ‘Fertility & Infertility’ on Amazon.com. Lana shared with us all the various elements that inspired the cover design, did a short reading from her book, and we then discussed some of the questions sent in by the audience, including: […]

Jody Day interviewed by Civilla Morgan on the Childless Not By Choice Podcast [August 2024]

August 22, 2024 Jody Day 0

You can listen here or search ‘Childless Not By Choice’ on your preferred podcast platform. I’m proud to be a returning guest on Civilla Morgan’s ‘Childless Not By Choice‘ podcast. Our last discussion was in 2018 (episode 90) and so much has changed in both our lives (and our world) since then. Some of the things we touch on in this episode 166: Being involved in the care of our olders and, after their deaths, the feeling of being both childless AND parentless. About how getting older doesn’t necessarily lead to emotional maturation (and how integrating loss, such as childlessness, […]

[Father’s Day Guest Blog] ‘Time for Men to Speak Up’ by Robert Nurden

June 13, 2024 Jody Day 0

A guest blog for Father’s Day 2024 by Robert Nurden, author of I Always Wanted to Be a Dad: Men without Children I was recently interviewed by BBC Radio 5 about my book I Always Wanted To Be A Dad: Men without Children and what it was like being a childless man. It went quite well and afterwards, I posted a short message about it on Facebook. I chose three childless Facebook groups – Childless not by Choice, Childless over 50 and Ageing without Children (AWOC). I received great support – a total of 198 likes and lots of lovely […]

[WATCH NOW] Fireside Wisdom with Childless Elderwomen on ‘Courageous Conversations’ (Recorded 19 June 2024)

June 3, 2024 Jody Day 0

For the June 2024 Solstice, Jody Day, founder of Gateway Women brought together a panel of #NomoCrones (nomo=not-mother + crone is not an insult!) to explore the topic of ‘Courageous Conversations’. As all women grow up (and exist within) a patriarchal culture that valorizes female silence and compliance, this is no small task. Although some of us may have grown up in families and cultures that role-modelled and supported some freedom around speaking up for your needs, correcting misunderstandings and seeking to redress injustices, we are often encouraged by the overculture to become more compliant as move through puberty and […]

To the Childless Woman at Christmas – I See You

December 25, 2023 Jody Day 18

I originally published this post in Christmas 2020, when many of us across the globe were under pandemic-related restrictions. However, although that may have changed, much of the experience of being childless at Christmas hasn’t… Many of us are hanging out in the round-the-world round-the-clock live chat in our private online community – come and join us there for empathic company and some random and often frivolous chat to distract you! However you are spending your holidays this year, I send you a warm hug. Hugs, Jody x I see you sitting at home muting the rolling TV ads of […]

WATCH NOW: Fireside Wisdom with Childless Elderwomen. What does it mean to be a ‘Radical Old Woman?’ [Recorded 21 June 2023]

June 22, 2023 Jody Day 0

Sign up to Jody’s mailing list for future sessions here. CAPTIONS ARE AUTO-GENERATED AND NOT ALWAYS ACCURATE! In this session of ‘Fireside Wisdom with Childless Elderwomen’, Jody Day (founder of Gateway Women) and her #NomoCrone panel (Nomo=not mother + crone is not an insult!) discuss what it means to each of us to be and become ‘Radical Old Women’. What does the word radical actually mean? Recorded on the June 2023 Solstice; a powerful fulcrum moment in the year, whether you are in the Northern or Southern hemisphere, this was a conversation by turns powerful, tender, shocking and surprising. Featuring: […]

‘Calm After the Storm’ and other treasures to support your childless heart on Mother’s Day

May 9, 2023 Jody Day 0

Here we go again – like Groundhog Day, it’s Mother’s Day again this weekend – this time for Europe, Canada, the US, Australia, and New Zealand, amongst others. Although, thanks to the [cough] genius of social media, those of us in the UK & Ireland get to experience it all over again! * Snark aside, for those of you who are feeling that creeping ‘uh oh’ feeling as Mother’s Day gets closer, I really hope that some of the events and resources below feel nourishing for you. And if it’s not ‘your turn’ for Mother’s Day this month, please know […]

Poster affixed to telegraph pole: "lost mojo"

Surviving the Childless Weekend Blues

April 10, 2023 Jody Day 0

There, it’s said. Weekends can be absolute hell as a single, childless woman. “They creep up on you,” said one friend recently. Many of us are so busy with work commitments and after-work activities Monday-to-Friday that we can’t wait for the peace and quiet of the weekend in order to recover. And then, when we wake up on Saturday morning to an empty bed, an empty house and an empty weekend, it doesn’t feel relaxing; it feels hideously oppressive. Alternatively, we pack our weekend schedule to the gunnels with activities and appointments only to feel burnt out and resentful and […]

Fireside Wisdom with Childless Elderwomen on ‘Mothers & Daughters’

March 21, 2023 Jody Day 0

In this session of ‘Fireside Wisdom with Childless Elderwomen’, Jody Day (founder of Gateway Women) and her #NomoCrone panel (Nomo=not mother + crone is not an insult!) discuss the sometimes challenging topic of mothers & daughters – a tricky relationship for many of us, and with a unique flavour if you are childless not by choice. Recorded on the March 2023 Equinox; a time of turning away and turning towards, depending on which hemisphere you live in; and falling the day after Mother’s Day in the UK & Ireland, this felt like a poignant moment in the wheel of the […]

Getting through Mother’s Day as a Childless Woman

March 18, 2023 Jody Day 0

UK and Ireland have their version of ‘Mothers Day’ (it’s called ‘Mothering Sunday’) on March 19th 2023. With International Mother’s Day coming up in May, we hope this helps you too. Both of the recording below were offered from our hearts in the hope that by sharing the strategies that we’ve each developed over the years, we can help you to naviage the complex emotions and triggering situations of this very multi-layered holiday with more ease. As this is one of the most difficult days of the year for many childless not by choice women, over the years we have […]

[Audio + Transcript] This Mythic Life: The Hagitude Sessions – Episode 5: Dr Sharon Blackie interviews Jody Day [19 September 2022]

September 30, 2022 Jody Day 1

This Mythic Life: The Hagitude Sessions – episode 5 [19 September 2022]. Dr Sharon Blackie, the author of ‘Hagitude: Reimagining the Second Half of Life‘ interviews Jody Day, founder of Gateway Women and one of the women interviewed in her book. Click here to listen to the full episode or search ‘This Mythic Life’ wherever you get your podcasts. And find out more about Hagitude – the book, the program and the podcast at: www.hagitude.org FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW Intro 00:19 I’m Dr. Sharon Blackie and I’d like to welcome you to my podcast This Mythic Life. Like all of […]

[Audio + Transcript] The Menstruality Podcast – Episode 54: Finding Hope and Meaning When You’re Childless-not-by-choice with Jody Day [15 September 2022]

September 22, 2022 Jody Day 0

The Menstruality Podcast – Episode 54: Finding Hope and Meaning When You’re Childless-not-by-choice (Jody Day) 15 September 2022. Sophie Jane Hardy from RedSchool.net interviews Jody Day, founder of Gateway Women. Click here to listen to episode or search ‘Menstruality’ wherever you get your podcasts. Full written transcript below. ABSTRACT Jody’s personal journey through grief, denial, hopelessness to real acceptance of her life as a childless woman. The creation of Gateway Women and Jody’s mission to make the world understand childless women, and help women who are childless-not-by-choice to understand themselves. The ‘bingos’ that childless women hear all the time. Preparing yourself to answer […]

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