Alexandra Collier: Single motherhood by choice: the triumphs, challenges and secrets of solo parenting
02/23/25 • 51 min
Today’s episode is one that many of you asked us for – what does it take to have a child on your own?
Whether you’re sure you want kids, still trying to decide, or want to be child-free, this week’s guest has many life lessons that can help you figure out, or reaffirm, what’s right for you.
Alexandra Collier was 37 and living in Brooklyn with the man she loved when she woke up to a ravenous hunger to have a baby that unfortunately her younger partner didn't share.
What happened next is an extraordinary story of courage, hope, and what it means to start a family on your own terms.
Alexandra’s memoir Inconceivable: Heartbreak, Bad Dates and Finding Solo Motherhood is a moving account of that journey, and she shares with Jill the logistics, emotional complexity, financial implications and judgement she faced when she chose to become a single parent.
But she also speaks of the joy and empowerment she’s found in following her own path, and what life looks like for her now with a five-year-old.
Alexandra is an award-winning Melbourne writer who has written for theatre, screen and print. She lived and worked in New York for a decade where her plays were produced Off Broadway
You can follow Alexandra on Instagram: @alexandracollierwrites and learn more about her book, Inconceivable, here.
To stay in touch with Well Enough Alone, you can follow us on Instagram @wellenoughalonepod or @jillstark__ or support the show and get subscriber-only early and ad-free episodes on Patreon.
Well Enough Alone is a Spare Room production. Our producers are Kieran Simpson and Trent Bartlett.
Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Today’s episode is one that many of you asked us for – what does it take to have a child on your own?
Whether you’re sure you want kids, still trying to decide, or want to be child-free, this week’s guest has many life lessons that can help you figure out, or reaffirm, what’s right for you.
Alexandra Collier was 37 and living in Brooklyn with the man she loved when she woke up to a ravenous hunger to have a baby that unfortunately her younger partner didn't share.
What happened next is an extraordinary story of courage, hope, and what it means to start a family on your own terms.
Alexandra’s memoir Inconceivable: Heartbreak, Bad Dates and Finding Solo Motherhood is a moving account of that journey, and she shares with Jill the logistics, emotional complexity, financial implications and judgement she faced when she chose to become a single parent.
But she also speaks of the joy and empowerment she’s found in following her own path, and what life looks like for her now with a five-year-old.
Alexandra is an award-winning Melbourne writer who has written for theatre, screen and print. She lived and worked in New York for a decade where her plays were produced Off Broadway
You can follow Alexandra on Instagram: @alexandracollierwrites and learn more about her book, Inconceivable, here.
To stay in touch with Well Enough Alone, you can follow us on Instagram @wellenoughalonepod or @jillstark__ or support the show and get subscriber-only early and ad-free episodes on Patreon.
Well Enough Alone is a Spare Room production. Our producers are Kieran Simpson and Trent Bartlett.
Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Previous Episode
Hannah Ferguson: on modern womanhood, what’s driving loneliness in Gen Z, dismantling shame, and building political engagement in a broken world
We live in an age when we’re more connected than at any point in history. But in our terminally online timeline, many young people are feeling a profound sense of loneliness, isolation and pessimism about the future.
They are often disengaged from politics and less than hopeful about modern dating and relationships.
Our guest this week is someone who has tapped into that feeling of apathy and disconnection and created a powerful platform for social and political change.
Hannah Ferguson is the founder and CEO of Cheek Media, an independent news commentary platform that aims to educate and inform while at the same time making young people feel more engaged and less alone.
She talks candidly with Jill about the personal stories she shares in her new book Taboo: Conversations we never had about sex, body image, work and relationships, a vulnerable exploration of modern womanhood that exposes and celebrates the messy, honest and insular parts of ourselves.
Hannah is also the co-host of politics and pop culture podcast, Big Small Talk, and the author of two best-selling books, Bite Back and Taboo – all this by the age of 25!
To stay in touch with Well Enough Alone, you can follow us on Instagram @wellenoughalonepod or @jillstark__ or support the show and get subscriber-only, early and ad-free episodes on Patreon.
Well Enough Alone is a Spare Room production. Our producers are Kieran Simpson and Trent Bartlett.
Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Next Episode
Cyndi Darnell: Sex and the single life – intimacy, sexuality and non-traditional relationships
This week’s episode is a really juicy one so buckle up!
Can we have a fulfilling, safe and healthy sex life when we’re unpartnered? Is sex an essential part of the human experience or are there other ways to find intimacy?
Our guest this week is Cyndi Darnell, a certified clinical sexologist, psychotherapist and couple's counsellor based in New York.
She works with singles, traditional couples and people in open, polyamorous, kinky and consensual non monogamous relationships.
She walks us through what sex can look like if we’re not partnered, how our sexual appetites change through different seasons of our life, and the less conventional, but no less fulfilling, relationship structures available to us.
In an extremely candid episode, Jill shares experiences from own sex life, as Cyndi helps navigate a path through a topic that is often shrouded in shame and secrecy.
And Cyndi speaks about her rich and full child-free, single life and how she’s rejected social expectations and embraced ‘relationship anarchy’.
You can follow Cyndi on Instagram: @cyndi_darnell or visit her website here.
To stay in touch with Well Enough Alone, you can follow us on Instagram @wellenoughalonepod or @jillstark__ or support the show and get subscriber-only, early and ad-free episodes on Patreon.
Well Enough Alone is a Spare Room production. Our producers are Kieran Simpson and Trent Bartlett.
Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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