By Lisa Manterfield
Last week I sat down with Tracey Cleantis to talk about her new book, The Next Happy: Let Go of the Life You Planned and Find a New Way Forward.
Tracey has long been a voice for the infertility community and many of you will know her from her blog, La Belette Rouge, where she talked openly about letting go of the dream of motherhood and finding a new way forward. Now she’s taken what she’s learned from her personal experience and paired it with her professional expertise as a therapist to offer a roadmap for letting go of a dream and moving forward.
The Next Happy: Interview with Tracey Cleantis from Lisa Manterfield on Vimeo.
Tracey is offering a signed copy of her book. If you’d like to be entered into the drawing, please just add #TheNextHappy to your comments below.
You can learn more about Tracey at TraceyCleantis.com and find her book on Amazon, Indiebound and other major book retailers.
Great conversation, Lisa & Tracey! Tracey has such a valuable message, and not just for people in the infertility community.
I would love to have a copy of Tracey’s book. 🙂 #TheNextHappy
Thank-you so much! This was awesome! I especially liked the part of exploring the thought of why do I want this so badly… #TheNextHappy
Bought the book and devoured it in 2 days. Am now taking the time to do the exercises and think through my answers. Not only helped with infertility, but basically put my entire life in perspective. I will take another copy for a friend. #TheNextHappy.
I am looking forward to reading Tracey’s book. It will be arriving on my I-Pad tomorrow but it would be great to share the book with my sisters also. #TheNextHappy
Thanks for posting and sharing!!!
So interesting and such brave choices #TheNextHappy Thank you. You’re right on so many levels. Dare to dream but dare to stop … Thank you so, so much.
Thanks for the interview ladies, there’s so much to learn from you both. I’m so looking forward to reading the book,
Thank you for sharing your journey, experience and how to grow/overcome. I will definitely check out your webpage.
#TheNextHappy
I have not visited this site for quite a while. I’d love to have a copy of that 🙂 #TheNextHappy
After 10 years to struggle to have a baby, now I try to reinvent my life unfortunately in France the subject is so taboo and we don’t have ressources so your book #TheNextHappy will be really helpful. Thanks for your blog
Thank you for this interview– It was a great reminder that I am not alone in the process of moving forward. #TheNextHappy
I’m very pleased to announce that, by a roll of the dice, Maria is the lucky winner!
Congratulations to Maria and thanks to everyone for your comments.
~Lisa
Such an inspirational story and journey. I feel I am going through the process of the “next happy” because I had to let go of my marriage of 28 years where my dreams and hopes were not going to happen. I too went through the grieving process, trying to let go of the pain I felt so deeply from hanging on to what I expected would of been different. But it is extremely hard, as Tracey mentions, to let go and find the next happy in life. And that’s why I’d love to win a copy of her book to help me find or get to the #TheNextHappy” in my life.
Finally! Someone says it out loud – Winning is not always just about NOT quitting! It was so refreshing to finally have this thought validated through the interview. So many times when you bring up the positive side to quitting – people accuse you of being “negative”, being a “pessimist”, etc. But there is something to be said for having the grace and emotional maturity to accept what you cannot change. It is not easy but it is not disgraceful either. Thank you Lisa for this insightful interview and thank you for having this website for those of us who had the emotional maturity to realize that sometimes, quitting is the right thing to do.