What happens when a writer decides to break the silence around childlessness, but not with a neat resolution, but through the voices of two women whose stories span 4,000 years?

In this episode, Berenice and Michael are joined by Byddi Lee. She is the author of Barren (shortlisted for the 2025 Carousel Aware Prize for Independent Authors), The Rejuvenation Trilogy, and March to November. She has published flash fiction, short stories, and co-founded and manages the spoken word event Flash Fiction Armagh. Byddi also writes for stage and screen. Her climate-change play Toxic Relationships has been performed by Armagh Theatre Group in venues across Ireland regularly since 2023. Byddi is a member of BBC Writersroom Voices 23, is an Arts Council Northern Ireland supported writer and holds professional membership at the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin and the Society of Authors, UK.

For more information, visit www.ByddiLee.com.

In this episode of The Full Stop, we are joined by Civilla Morgan, one of the earliest and most influential voices in the childless not by choice podcasting space. After ten years and 180 episodes, she shares her decision to step away from her podcast, a choice shaped by grief, timing, work, and deep self-reflection.

Together, we explore the emotional weight of long-term podcasting, the stories behind consistent content creation, and how grief can fundamentally change the decisions we make about our lives. Civilla reflects on what she’s learned about childlessness over a decade of conversations, including the shared undercurrent of grief that binds the community, even as each journey remains deeply individual.

We also talk about visibility, why so many people remain “hidden in plain sight,” the frustration of still being asked the same questions after years of advocacy, and why representation across many platforms and voices truly matters. Civilla speaks candidly about rest, redirection, and choosing to live a meaningful life even when the life you imagined didn’t happen.

This is an honest, generous conversation about endings, legacy, healing, and the courage it takes to know when something meaningful has run its course. For more information, to join our online Community for childless people and appear on the Full Stop podcast please visit our website

In this reflective end-of-year episode, we - Berenice, Sarah, and Michael - look back on the past year, the growth of the Full Stop, and the conversations that have shaped the Full Stop Community and wider childlessness community. We also turn gently towards the holidays, and Christmas, a season that can bring joy, grief, pressure, and loneliness in equal measure.

We explore how Christmas changes over time, particularly through grief and childlessness, and why it’s okay to step away, rewrite traditions, or opt out altogether. From rejecting Christmas completely to rediscovering it through quieter, more personal rituals, this episode offers permission to do the season differently.

The conversation touches on evolving grief, authenticity, community support, and letting go of the idea of a “perfect” Christmas and replacing it instead with compassion, flexibility, and self-kindness.

This episode is for anyone who feels conflicted about the holidays, unsure how it fits into their life now, or simply in need of reassurance that there’s no right way to do it.

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