Advice from the Non Runner

As humans we like to give advice and share little tidbits of information that we pick up. People who don't run often give me pieces of advice like: 1. Doing all that running you are going to need to surgery on your knees (a possibility but highly unlikely) 2. You really shouldn't run outside while its hot (Great idea - I'll stay inside on the treadmill and then have a heat stroke in a race when it's super hot outside). I could go on and on....

With infertility well meaning people also give advice and offer solutions because after all they know someone who knows someone that had to take Clomid once and that makes them an expert on the subject. Here are a few of my favorites: 1. If you could just relax, you would get pregnant. (Really? That's all I need to do? Thank you so much! So when will I magically start ovulating once I relax seeing that I have never ovulated on my own). 2. Have you thought about adoption? (Adoption? What is adoption? No, I have never thought about it; could you please familiarize me with the term? Thank you so much for telling me about it. Until this very instance that you suggested it, I had never thought of it) 3. It's going to happen when you aren't even trying. (Really? So just stop trying and I will magically ovulate and then I will be pregnant?) 4. Maybe you should just stop trying. (Thanks so much for that encouragement). I could go on and on....

I could get really frustrated with people and hurt when they say things that seem insensitive to someone dealing with infertiility, but I honestly think that most people don't give advice with the intent to hurt someone. One of my favorite books is To Kill a Mockingbird. One of the themes in the book is you really can't understand what a person is going through unless you get in their skin and see things from their point of view. So when people say things that seem insensitive, I try to get in their skin and understand what their intentions are. In this uncontrollable thing called infertility, it's nice to know there is something that I can control - my actions and reactions to others.