The holiday season is here - and many people who are struggling with infertility are feeling dread rather than excitement—or maybe a combination of the two. The prospect of attending family and social gatherings packed with babies and young children and/or pregnant women is can be very daunting. For many, the profound disappointment of not being pregnant (or having a child) by now can be overwhelming. And that’s appropriate, very appropriate. In fact, you may want to limit the number of events you attend or limit the amount of time you spend at various parties and get-togethers during the next two months.
But especially during the holidays when you’re surrounded by kids and happy families, it’s all too easy to get focused on what you don’t have and to overlook what you do have. Reminding yourself of those things can improve your outlook and uplift your mood dramatically.
Here are 10 things to be grateful for right now:
2. Your “Other Half”
He (or she) is the one who has been with you every step of the way, who forgives your mood swings and believes in your ultimate success—the one you argue with, but snuggle up with at night. Though infertility is a huge relationship stressor, it can also bring you much closer together as a couple in a way that nothing else can.
Kim Kluger-Bell, LMFT
Kim Kluger-Bell is a licensed marriage and family therapist. She consults with major fertility clinics nationwide and provides counseling and assessments for egg donors, gestational carriers and patients using these procedures. She is the author of Unspeakable Losses: Healing from Miscarriage, Infertility and Abortion, as well as a series of books for donor conceived children entitled The Pea That Was Me and a surrogacy series called The Very Kind Koala.
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