Fertility: When Did You Start Paying Attention?
At what age did you start paying attention to your fertility? Why did you start thinking about it?
I started birth control when I was 14, but started to understand what fertility meant at 24. I wanted to go off of birth control, and realized I barely knew my own body without hormones. I got my period at 11. By 14, I was already taking hormones. I started the Nexplanon, and since then, my period and my cycle started to drastically change (my contraception journey will be shared at another time).
At 24, I was started to get curious about fertility. I lived with a friend who was working in the fertility space and had begun her journey around natural fertility awareness. I wasn’t ready to start my own journey then, but it made me aware that it was a thing - that it existed!
After many life changes (including burn out, quitting my job, leaving the country, selling all my belongings, and packing everything into a backpack to travel the world), I decided I wanted to start to understand my own body more.
I read a lot of books about fertility and contraception and began to follow experts in the field. And then… I took the plunge. I went off birth control. I started to explore my own body’s cyclical rhythms.
However, this came at a cost: fear. Fear of pregnancy if I ever slept with someone with a penis. That was when I started to really think about my fertility. Fear drove me to it. But now, self-love is what keeps me there.
I have loved the journey to get to know myself and my own body. Cyclical living has done wonders for my mental and physical health. I feel incredibly empowered in myself and my own body. But that means that I am incredibly aware of my fertility. I know when I am ovulating and fertile. And I know when I am not. I know when I will have bursts of energy and feel sexy in my own skin, and I know when I need to retreat and go inward.
I’m still learning more about my fertility every day, but the journey gave me the courage to know that I am empowered by the knowledge of my own fertility, regardless of my age, gender, sexuality, or circumstance. I hope to inspire people through this platform to continue to get to know themselves, their body, and their fertility. Whether you want a baby or not– fertility is knowledge for everyone.
But that’s just me. What about others? Here’s what other people in our community have to say:
“I started to think about it this year when I realized having a baby would be very important to me”
“I think around my current age (22). It’s been around a year since I got off birth control and even though I don’t think I want kids, it is still something powerful that us women share and I caught myself being more and more aware of this power.”
“Late-puberty (around 16). This was the time I was becoming more physically active and seeking out hormonal contraceptives.”
What about yourself? Let us know in the comments or on our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theselfpluscollective/