There comes a point in the infertility journey where it's time to seek out some outside advice for therapy and coping strategies - there's no shame in that, and it's something that's been of great benefit to me since we lost our babies last year. For a while now, I've considered this second journey to pregnancy as being a lot more difficult than it was initially - though the first time around took longer, the actual IVF segment was a lot shorter & we didn't go through the devastating losses that we have this time around. With that said, I'm happy to have found someone who can help me work through it all.

I've tried a few things to help with my anxiety this year - a course of hypnotherapy, and teaching myself to meditate of an evening before bedtime. It helped me to wind down, to sleep better & to learn to switch off my mind instead of over-thinking anything and everything that was going on in my world.

Admittedly, after the first failed IVF transfer this year, I threw a bit of a hissy fit & chucked the hypnotherapy MP3's into my bedside drawer -- what good did they do, they obviously weren't helping matters.

But regardless of whether they helped get me pregnant, I definitely felt a lot more stressed out this last IVF transfer (which also failed) so I decided to dig it back out & try it again this time around.

I've also jumped on the colouring for adults bandwagon, which is really helping me to be a little more zen. I decided on a book of Mandalas, since they signify balance and cosmic order. The more you concentrate on the design, the more you can let go and relax - and the slow and steady colouring allows your mind to focus.

I'm taking my time with the colouring, so it's taking an awfully long time - but I think that's the point. Slow and steady.

What other strategies do you find useful to help you to calm down and be more mindful?