“Single & Childless in a Pandemic” on The Full Stop Podcast

I was very happy to be interviewed as part of this special lockdown episode of the Full Stop Podcast on the experience of being single and childless during this pandemic.

Although I’m now in a relationship, I was single for much of my forties as I went through the heartbreak and painful life-transformation of involuntary childlessness. And being both single and childless is something I write about in my book, as well as the experience of grieving childlessness whilst single, which has its own flavour compared to the challenges of grieving as a couple.

Many members of the Gateway Women Online Community are both single and childless (and we have a subgroup where we explore the unique challenges of this) and I was very touched that two of those members, Joss (in her 50s, living in the UK) and Julie (mid-sixties, living in Spain) came onto the podcast,  along with Rod Silvers making us all laugh with his frank and funny story of how the pandemic has stymied a budding new relationship (and the chance of sex).

Along with the regular and fabulous Full Stop Podcast hosts Berenice Smith, Sarah Lawrence and Michael Hughes, this is like sitting in a cafe (remember those!) and having the kind of ‘me too’ conversations that make you laugh and cry with recognition of our experience…  Something which has never felt more important as the mainstream media focuses ever more incessantly on the difficulties facing parents; willfully ignoring the millions of people around the world who, whilst they are perfectly capable of empathising which such difficulties, do not share this experience and, just for once, would like to change the pronatalist record!

You can listen to the episode here, or wherever you get your podcasts and take a look at the other episodes in the series which cover so many of the issues we deal with. And do leave a review wherever you get your podcasts – and/or leave the team a tip to help them cover the costs of running a podcast – they may be free to listen to, but they’re not free to create!

And if you’d like to chat with other childless women about any of the issues raised in the podcast, come and join us in the Gateway Women Online Community on Mighty Networks – it’s free to join.