31: Life Without Baby with Lisa Manterfield

Welcome and today's guest is Lisa Manterfield!


Lisa is the creator of Life Without Baby.com and the author of
the award-winning memoir, I’m Taking My Eggs and Going Home: How
One Woman Dared to Say No to Motherhood. She offers
workshops and popular e-books.


Her new book, Life Without Baby: Surviving and Thriving When
Motherhood Doesn’t Happen, is recently available. She lives a
contented life in southern CA with her husband and cat. Lisa has
successfully created an online community that gives a voice to
those without children. Let’s chat with Lisa!


In this episode, you’ll hear the following:


Lisa’s child-free life is not really by choice, but by
circumstance. She always wanted and expected to have children,
but experienced fertility issues and a unpleasant fertility
clinic encounter.

She and her husband came to the realisation, “We ARE
already a family—just a family of two.”

Lisa explains the anger, grief, and confusion that plagued
her for a long time.

The loss of any hope of biological children was a HUGE loss
that no one around her knew about.


You have to give yourself space and permission to
grieve the loss of plans and dreams.

Lisa never set out to write her book about her experience;
she was primarily a fiction writer. The book was an outgrowth of
her personal healing process.

“I just needed to tell my story.”

Her 2nd book is the How-To resource that she couldn’t find
when she needed it most.

Regarding prying questions that others sometimes ask, Lisa
felt defensive, hurt, and embarrassed about her inability to have
a baby.


Her advice is to prepare some stock answers to those
questions and pick whichever one you’re in the mood
for!

Some of the myths that Lisa has dealt with are: “you didn’t
want it badly enough if you stopped trying,” and “you just have
to keep on trying.”

Lisa’s meaning and purpose comes from her writing and the
freedom she has to do things she wants and needs to do, like
being available for her aging mother.

She enjoys the life she now leads with infinite possibilities
for travel and living ANYWHERE!

Lisa hopes her writing will be her legacy.

“I want to live as fully as I can and care deeply
about those who are important to me.”

An added benefit of her lifestyle is the deep friendships
with others that might not be as possible or as accessible if she
had children, as they don't have the same amount of time
available.



Grab a copy of Lisa's new book at http://amzn.to/21QjrxA


Find out more about Lisa and her work at www.lifewithoutbaby.com
and www.lisamanterfield.com.


I do hope you enjoyed this episode. Thank you so much for
listening. For more episodes go to michellemariemcgrath.com