In this episode of the Holiday Survival Podcast, Erin interviews Lana Manikowski, a certified life coach and advocate for childless women, as she shares her profound journey of navigating infertility and the societal pressures surrounding motherhood.
Lana dives into her own experiences, detailing the emotional rollercoaster of fertility treatments, societal misconceptions, and the resilience required to redefine joy and traditions during the holiday season. Lana sheds light on the overlooked struggles of childless women, offering guidance and inspiring possibilities beyond the conventional norms of parenthood.
Key Learnings:
Understanding Infertility Journey
Lana's personal account sheds light on the emotional toll and complexities of fertility treatments like IUI and IVF.
Impact of Harmful Statements
Explore the effects of common but hurtful comments made to childless women and the emotional toll they carry.
Redesigning Holiday Traditions
Discover ways to create new holiday traditions, finding joy, and meaning irrespective of one's parental status.
Empowerment and Resilience
Lana's insights highlight the importance of mindset shifts, self-investment, and breaking societal norms for personal fulfillment.
Finding Fulfillment Beyond Motherhood
Lana shares strategies for embracing life's richness and creating one's unique path to happiness during the holidays.
About Lana Manikowski
When a 7-year fertility journey ended without a child - and donor egg & adoption wasn’t for her - Lana yearned for a community who could understand the loneliness, self-judgment and loss around navigating a childless future. When she couldn’t find one, she established one when launching The “So Now What?” Podcast in 2021.
A Certified Life Coach Founder, and Activist for infertile and childless women, Lana has helped thousands of women learn to thrive and feel fulfilled without the children they thought they'd have. Lana has an unwavering commitment to help the childless community create a life that feels meaningful, powerful and purposeful again and loves serving as an example that childless women can create the life of their dreams, even when it didn’t turn out as planned.
In 2022, Lana founded "The Other's Day Brunch" through which she has created connection for women across the globe.
Lana lives in Chicago with her husband and fur-child, Coco.
The Guide to Meaningful Holidays is geared towards those who find themselves unexpectedly childless and searching to create meaningful holidays and celebrations without the children they always thought they would have. This guide can be downloaded free here.
About Erin Billings
Erin Billings is the Founder of CLIQ Management, a done-for-you content creation and media management services agency. Erin gained her expertise working in the music industry as a professional musician, music director, and producer working with artists from American Idol, The Voice, America's Got Talent, and Grammy and Tony Award Winners.
She also worked in corporate and non-profit spaces, working with agencies, production houses, and houses of worship producing anything from podcasts to stage productions to conventions and conferences, both live and virtual. Erin is the host of two other Top Ranked Podcasts, the Touchy Subjects Podcast and the Magnetize Me Podcast with co-host Ai Nguyen.
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Thank you for listening, and may you have a joyful and fulfilling holiday season.
