As a counsellor I am, on very rare occasions, gifted with a token of gratitude from a client. Usually it is chocolates, cookies or something similar. When I receive such a gift, my normal response is, “Thank you; I’ll share this with the team.” Not only does my work team appreciate the sharing of edible […]
Month: May 2017
Are We Too Happy?
A childless lady recently told me she has stopped going to church because all she heard about was “belief and trust”. She said that positivity has invaded the church and she no longer feels comfortable bearing her grief of childlessness there. My heart aches for her. It begs an important question: Can we be too […]
A Platter of Platitudes
I was irked the other day to hear that a fellow childless lady had her childlessness described as “God’s will.” I don’t know if it was meant as an encouragement, but it sounded like the result was all kinds of unhelpful. To me, “It’s God’s will” comes across as a platitude. We do this, don’t […]
Reflections on Otherhood
I recently watched a TED talk by Melanie Notkin, “Welcome to the Otherhood”[1]. Melanie spoke about the grief of being single without children. For Melanie, the grief was one of “circumstantial infertility,” that is, grief of not being able to have children because of her relationship status. One thing I liked about Melanie’s TED talk […]