Healthy Swellness: #3YearGoals and upcoming World Contraception Day

September 12, 2016

Earlier this spring, I talked about #3yeargoals and I shared a few of my aspirations and I also chatted with Dr. Christine Palmay about the importance of knowing about all of your contraception options are. With World Contraception Day (WCD) coming up in two weeks on September 26, 2016, it seems like a good time to delve into this topic a little further. If you’ve never heard about WCD, it’s a global movement created to empower women to make informed choices when it comes to contraception so that we can create a world where every pregnancy is wanted.

We thankfully live in a world now where discussing birth control isn’t taboo. I think we can agree that that is something we are grateful for. I know I’ve had convos with my girlfriends about what we use, any complications or successes we’ve had, and shared stories about doctor’s appointments. It’s not something we chat about every day (we discuss very important things like whether the latest celebrity gossip more regularly, haha), and that might be because many of us have chosen a contraception method years ago, and continue to use the same one.

Many women use the condom and the pill. This pill is one many of us started with and continue to use partly because it’s easy and for the most part we have no complaints about it as we’ve found one with few side effects. But have you ever missed taking a pill? I know I have. And I just learned a surprising stat: on average, Canadian women miss 2.6 pills per cycle. That’s a lot of missed pills (in my opinion), missed pills that could lead to an unwanted pregnancy.

Which makes you think if taking a pill daily at the same time isn’t proving to be that efficient (2.6 pills missed each cycle!), then is it the best option for most of us? Because there are other options available, long-acting non-daily forms, for example. And when you consider your #3yeargoals, if having a baby in the the next three years isn’t in your plan, using a long-acting form would take responsibility of taking a pill daily off of your plate and you can continue working towards your dreams and goals knowing you won’t be thrown off course with an unexpected pregnancy.

I’m not suggesting you hold a party on World Contraception Day on the 26th (although if you’d like to, please do go ahead, any reason for fun times with friends!). But I think WCD offers a great opp to consider your goals again and your choice of contraception and whether it is what is best for you and your life goals. “I am very busy,” is a meme because we all are. So busy we sometimes forget to take our daily birth control. So why is a daily option the route you’re on when it could mean getting pregnant (and we all know a baby will make your life busy in an amazing but completely different way that may not be in the 3-year plans you have envisioned!).

Take WCD as a reminder to chat with your healthcare provider about what you’re using and what other options are available on the market that might work well for you, and you can also explore about different options if getting pregnant isn’t in the grand plan for you at www.birthcontrolforme.ca.

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(This cute “I am very busy” notebook? It’s from is.)

 

Filed under: Healthy Swellness

Tags: #3yeargoals, birth control, birth control pill, condoms, contraception, health, IUD, the pill, world contraception day