Thanksgiving is the holiday of food, family, and giving thanks. Is it possible to find thankfulness in the midst of an infertility journey?
Though it isn’t always easy, the answer is yes.
To arrive at your own place of gratitude, try to look with open-minded kindness at the life you have right now. Notice how much of your attention is on what is not present in your life (a pregnancy, a baby, another child), and then gently redirect your attention to the good that is present in your life. The good things may include people that you treasure, activities you enjoy and all that is comforting and fulfilling. For everyone it will be different things.
For me, years ago, it was gratitude for a small handful of friends who understood my longing; for the faith community that valued my volunteer efforts; for the graduate study program where I could feel completely normal; and even for my slightly misguided therapist who kept asking, “what’s really behind that desire for a baby?” I could not know how my journey to a family would turn out, but I could hold in my heart these gifts and give thanks for them.
Over the past 20 years, I have worked with thousands of people who have overcome their infertility diagnosis. They have shared the many ways that their infertility experience resulted in gratitude in different areas of their lives.
Thanksgiving is too special a holiday to miss out on. Find your gratitude place and inhabit it as fully as you can.
If tough days come along this holiday season, take a look at some of the positive viewpoints offered by others who have been in your shoes. Some share positive viewpoints that got them through, while others share viewpoints from the other side of their journey.
Here are their suggestions:
Approximately 15 percent of couples have trouble getting pregnant, with 40 percent of infertility diagnoses due to male infertility. 
