Oriana’s fertility journey has been a long road filled with a lot of grief. On this episode of the podcast, she shares how she had to terminate her second pregnancy at 5 months for medical reasons. The loss of her son Felix set into motion a huge transformational process. By focussing on the narratives she was telling herself, she came to understand how a shift of perspective can create more lightness of being. This is not a story about toxic positivity. This is a story of embracing your pain to thereby heal the deeper wounds in your life that are activated by grief and loss. We also talk about male-factor infertility and the impact this has had on her partner and her relationship.

Top quotes:

Oriana van der Sande: “The realization that there was something in me, maybe call it intuition, maybe call it something else, that was giving me information, that helped me afterwards to get more in balance with my mind and my soul and my heart.”

Oriana van der Sande: “You cannot let go of a lot of things that happen to you. They are part of your identity, they’re part of your journey. Letting go sounds like dismissing them, or trying to erase them. I prefer to talk about embracing a new identity, or to put more emphasis on a part of your identity that was already there but that now gets more attention.”

Oriana van der Sande: “Every journey is different and every journey is personal. Every loss touches upon other painful things in your life. So be aware that it’s not just about the loss, about the fertility issues. It will be about more things that are there in your past, in your life, in your DNA. The loss will impact you in more ways than you can possibly imagine. So be aware of that and be open to healing your deeper wounds through this journey.”

About Oriana van der Sande

Oriana van der Sande is a life coach who specializes in transformative coaching, training and storytelling. You can find her on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/oriana.vd.sande/ or on her website: https://orianavandersande.nl/