Last week marked a big step in our two year (and counting) fertility journey. Thanks to the guidance of our unbelievable naturopath, I (Nikki) discovered and removed the potential culprit of my infertility: endometriosis. Although common (1 in 10 women of reproductive age have it), there is a huge lack of awareness about the condition and so it often goes undiagnosed. This is exacerbated by the fact that the only way to diagnose it is via a surgical operation so it’s not something you necessarily jump into right away. For those interested, endometriosis is a condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus (the endometrium) grows outside of the uterus and induces a chronic inflammatory reaction. Some women experience extremely painful symptoms, whereas others (fortunately in my case) don’t. My main symptom it seems was infertility, but we won’t know this for sure until I prove otherwise. “The proof is in the pudding” as my surgeon remarked “so go and make some puddings”, he cheekily added.
The reason we are so open about our story is to raise awareness and help normalise the very common journey that so many couples find themselves on (1 in 6 to be precise). What we have become most passionate about though is demonstrating how it is possible to be on this journey (or any other challenging one for that matter) and remain empowered whilst going through it. Don’t get us wrong, it wasn’t always this easy! Before we first shared what we were going through, there was a lot of shame and embarrassment to work through as we grappled with what it all meant. There were many tears alongside the rumination, comparison, and jealousy. And then it all settled down when we discovered (through lots of personal development coaching) that a) it doesn’t inherently MEAN anything to have fertility issues (especially about ourselves) and b) it is A LOT more common that we ever anticipated. So since then, the tears have ceased, the rumination halted, and the jealousy disappeared. Now, we set our intention on having children (and take the necessary actions to discover what’s in the way) and then go about living our extraordinary, adventurous, fulfilling lives that have us continue to realise our vision for the world – that each of us be inspired by our own true greatness and freed up to share it with the world.
We will forever be indebted to our future children for all the lessons we have (and continue) to learn along the way, but especially for the experiential knowledge that it’s not our circumstances which dictate our experience of life, but rather who we are in the face of our circumstances. No matter what you are going through, we consider it our privilege to empower you through them so please reach out! And even better – come on our Here and Now Retreat at the end of October to experientially realise this lesson for yourself and gain the techniques to powerfully face them!
