What to do when you feel worthless due to infertility

A common theme that I see amongst women going through infertility is how their self-worth is significantly impacted by what they’re going through. There are many aspects of infertility that contribute to low self-worth. There’s the societal messages that cause women to feel less worthy if they are not mothers, the sense of shame and guilt women feel if they can’t provide a child for their partner or a grandchild for their parents, or the sense of failure that’s fuelled by insensitive comments and unsolicited advice from people around them that suggest that what they’re doing is not good enough. Is it any wonder that self-worth takes such a nose-dive in the midst of infertility? The way that low self-worth shows up for women during infertility is by blaming themselves when things go wrong, losing faith in their own bodies and experiencing a growing frustration with themselves around not being able to ‘cope better’ based on comments from those around them. All of this causes them to contract and socially isolate out unworthiness, to the point that it becomes hard to reach out for support at a time when they need it most. If this is you, then I truly empathise as low self-worth was something I struggled with a lot during infertility. Fortunately, I did find a way to create a shift in how I related to myself and have since done a lot of research and practice in this area, and it’s something I really love to share with other women as it’s beautiful to see the transformation occur within women as they shift from low self-worth to self-compassion by finding ways to show up for themselves. To support you with enabling your own transformation from low self-worth to self-compassion on your fertility journey, in this episode, I’m going share with you: • An understanding of what self-worth is and why it takes such a big hit during infertility • An overview of self-compassion • Four simple but proven strategies that can help you to amplify your own self-compassion on your fertility journey. My hope is that if you’re in a bad place right now with your self-worth, this podcast episode can provide some simple, easy-to-apply steps to start creating a shift in how you relate to yourself, which can make all the difference for how you feel about yourself and your life on your fertility journey. • For more insights, tips and support: • Follow @opentolife_sarahreece • Download INSTANT CALM, my scientifically proven FREE audio practice to reduce stress • Learn more about the Reclaim Your Life transformational online program