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Sunday, January 21, 2024

"Living the Life Unexpected" by Jody Day (re-read)

"Living the Life Unexpected" by Jody Day, founder of Gateway Women, is essential reading for women like me who are learning to live without the children we always thought we would have someday.  I own and have read both paper and e-book copies of all three editions of the book (including the original "Rocking the Life Unexpected," crowdfunded by childless women from around the world and self-published by Jody in 2013).  

Over the past year, I've been re-reading the book (again!), chapter by chapter, working through (many of) the exercises (something I hadn't really done on earlier readings) and discussing them at monthly Zoom calls in the company of a small group of other childless women from around the world. All of us are members of the private online support community that Jody founded more than a decade ago, now hosted by Katy Seppi under the name Childless Collective

This is the second year in a row that I've participated in the "LTLU" book discussion group there, working through the book at the pace of one chapter per month.  And each time I've read the book, I've noticed things I hadn't before and gained new insights about myself, my childless life and the world around me.  

There are many more books out there now about life without children than there were a decade ago -- but this one continues to be an invaluable resource for involuntarily childless women (and men), worthy of multiple re-reads.  It contains a mixture of personal stories, history, statistics and guidance, as well as questions and exercises designed to get you thinking in new ways about childlessness and what your life might look like, going forward. You don't HAVE to do the exercises, of course -- there is still plenty of benefit to be gained from reading the book without doing them -- but they're a great way to explore your thoughts and gain new insights -- and working through the book with other childless women, as I've been doing over the past year (the past two years, actually!), is a fabulous way to gain new perspectives (and get to know some wonderful other childless women better, too!). 

We recently completed all 12 chapters in a year-long exploration of the book, so I am counting this as a(nother) re-read. My original rating of 5 stars on Goodreads still stands.  :)  

You can find my previous reviews of this book here (2023) and here (2020), and my 2014 review of the original "Rocking the Life Unexpected" here

For more information on Jody Day, Gateway Women and "Living the Life Unexpected," check out the Gateway Women website, which includes a link to the introduction and the first chapter of this book. There's also a link there to the private Childless Collective online community. A new round of LTLU member discussions is expected to start there shortly! 

This was Book #4 read to date in 2024 (and Book #4 finished in January), bringing me to 9% (!) of my 2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 2 books ahead of schedule. :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2024 tagged as "2024 books." 

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