Perimenopause WTAF?

I swear in real life a bit. I never like to swear in my writing, I find it jarring + unnecessary in getting my points across but peri-menopause warrants the sentiment. What an actual cluster F@#$

WTAF?

Why were we never told?

Why did no one speak up about it before?

Why is there a bite-down-on-a-wooden-spoon-badge-of-honour to just bare-knuckle our way through it (like child-birth)?

For those of you that don't know, I got sick 2-years ago from a septic Strep infection, amongst the long term complications there was a deep-dive-head-first into peri-menopause. The learning curve was brutal + steep. As I prepare for a year of career pivoting to write, to return to public speaking + to run workshops. Peri-menopause/menopause is one of the key topics on the agenda.

Jacqui Lewis, my meditation teacher sent me through one of her Substack articles on navigating peri-menopause + there was a line talking about how we are the generation of women that would whisper 'do you have a tampon' in a bathroom with our friends. 

And as I reflected on this, as we whisper amongst our peers 'peri-menopause WTAF?' I realised the cluster-F!@# we are in. This is the first generation of women that are largely having children + raising young children in our forties, many having a cross over of post-partum with peri-menopause, significant fiscal responsibilities in the home, astronomical mortgages, parenting responsibilities/expectations, juggling our kid's 1,2,3,4 extracurricular activities, the breakdown of neighbourhood communities + then throw in the deafening noise from social media setting unrealistic benchmarks for how we should be mothering + what we should look like doing it. 

Were also the children of the 80s + 90s, with problematic relationships with eating, food-restriction being almost a right of passage through that period. We are stressed to the max, we are putting on weight + most of us are trying old tricks like calorie-restriction + our old excessive exercise routines to hold onto some semblance of control over our changing bodies. 

My steep learning curve + deep research mode has taught me this - the cornerstone of symptom management during peri/menopause is mitigating stress. That this is a period of quiet reverence, to prioritise rest, self-love + nutrition. But did I ever give the exact opposite a red-hot-crack.

I will be running a few perimenopause workshops over the coming months. Head here to pop your name on the waiting list.