Are you hoping for a fertile 2022? Are your New Year’s resolutions all about having a baby this year? If they are, that’s wonderful, because the truth is, the New Year is a great time to think about fertility. A new year and new beginnings!
So, let’s talk about how your 2022 New Year’s resolutions can get you closer to your dream of a baby.
For many people having a baby just happens. It is a marvelous muddle of luck and biology all working harmoniously. The sperm and egg meet. Fertilisation occurs. Everything progresses as it should and boom! A baby is born!
But, for one in seven couples that boom does not happen. No baby magically arrives. Month after month goes by with negative pregnancy tests and those dreaded periods just keep coming on. Something in the pathway to pregnancy is simply not working. This is the medical condition of infertility. If this is you, do not despair. Read on for some great New Year’s resolutions that can work to get you pregnant.
Between 50 and 150 Million Couples Worldwide Face Infertility
That’s a huge number. That’s more than the entire population of the UK. If you are facing infertility, you are truly, absolutely and completely not alone!
New Year’s Resolutions to Help You Navigate your 2022 Infertility Journey
Infertility is a journey. It can take you to many places. Your infertility journey might be long and winding or short and snappy. There are happy endings for some couples, while others will face sadness, loss and an empty nest. What I can promise you is that you are in control of your journey. You are in charge of where you go. If you are ready for your journey, these are the Six New Year Resolutions that can help 2022 be your year of happiness.
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What Matters in 2022
Your New Year’s resolutions for 2022 are a declaration, a commitment that you are making to yourself. Let’s make them real so that they are effective and will work. This starts with honesty about yourself.
Resolutions allow us a chance to look at the past and the present and make a plan for the future. Before you choose which are going to be your 2022 New Year’s Fertility Resolutions, start by looking back.
10 Questions To Ask Yourself
Answer these five questions, thinking about the past two years. Be as honest as you can. If you have a partner, go through them together.
- What do I think is causing my infertility?
- In what ways is my physical health not optimal?
- In what ways is my mental health not optimal?
- What fertility successes have I had in the past two years?
- What would I change in the past two years if I could go back in time?
Now answer these five more questions.
- What can I do to improve my fertility?
- What treatments or options do I want to pursue to have my family?
- What professional or medical types of fertility help do I want?
- What changes do I want to make in my physical health?
- What changes do I want to make in my mental health?
Your New Year’s Resolutions Require Action
Look at your answers to those questions. Your New Year’s resolutions are right there for you to see. Now you need to make those resolutions along with a realistic plan for how you are going to achieve each one.
There is one vital thing to be mindful of! Where we tend to go wrong in making New Year resolutions is that we often choose resolutions that are totally out of our control. For example, you might make a resolution to be doing an IVF treatment cycle by February 2022. Although this might seem like an excellent resolution, if you haven’t been to a fertility clinic, had the recommended tests and evaluations done and seen the doctor for advice, then this is an impossible resolution to achieve.
Quick Tips to Help With Those Resolutions
In this situation, your actual resolution should be to choose and commit to a fertility clinic and start the evaluation and treatment process without delaying. Your plan on how to achieve this resolution should include:
- Researching local fertility clinics and choosing one by a certain date
- Researching and making a financial plan for fertility tests and treatments
- Booking an appointment at the fertility clinic within a week of choosing that clinic. Good fertility providers offer a free appointment with a Fertility Nurse to get you started.
- Committing to doing all the recommended tests without delaying
- Booking the earliest available slot for your Doctor Review appointment
My advice is the same if your resolution is focused on weight loss to optimise your physical health (which can also be important on your fertility journey!).
Resolving Issues Like Weight
Making a resolution to lose 30 pounds in three months might seem like a good idea. But is this within your control? Instead your resolution could be to buy your food according to a diet plan (choose a diet plan that you will enjoy that is geared to weight loss) and to follow this diet plan for three months. Your steps to help you achieve this resolution could include:
- Seeing a dietician to get expert advice on how to improve and get a good weight loss diet plan that suits you
- Committing to a weekly plan of buying your food according to what is on your diet plan and not buying snacks and other temptations
- Having a clean-out of your kitchen cupboards to remove temptations and snacks that will ruin your diet plan
- Plan to weigh yourself once a week and no more
- Plan a celebration or treat for when you achieve the first 5 pounds of weight loss and every 5 pounds after that
New Year’s Fertility Resolutions To Make Now
Here are some more great fertility resolutions along with action plans. Let these inspire you to make the best 2022 New Year’ fertility resolutions for you.
1. Limit Your Social Media Intake.
It is hard to remain positive when everyone around you seems to have the perfect life. Social media posts and images are designed to portray a picture, not reality. Commercial posts (and this includes influencers who make money from their posts) are often designed to make you feel a certain way to ensure you buy something. It never helps to focus on other people’s desires.
2. Optimise Your Mental Health
Your plan might include: Researching and finding a therapist with experience in infertility, booking an appointment, and committing to weekly sessions for six months.
3. Exercise Regularly
Your plan might include: Listing the exercises that you enjoy, finding a partner to exercise with or a club that you can join to ensure that you commit to one of your listed enjoyable exercises on a regular basis, planning a celebration activity (e.g. a spa day) if you’re still maintaining your exercise regime by 1st June 2022.
4. Start a Smoking Cessation Program
Your plan might include: Researching and choosing the smoking cessation method that you feel will work for you (nicotine patches or gum, acupuncture, group therapy, cold turkey quitting, hypnotherapy etc), choosing a mentor to hold you accountable and check in on you every week, committing to a smoking cessation treatment for 12 months, planning a treat if you are on track with your smoking cessation on 1st June 2022.
5. Begin Your Financial Plan
Your plan might include: Reviewing all your current expenses to see where you can save money every week (you might commit to not buying a bottle of wine each week and going on a nature walk and picnic once a month rather than having a dinner out at a restaurant), booking an appointment to see a financial counsellor, and booking an appointment at your bank to start the process of getting a loan