Perimenopause: what can I do to support my transition? Not your standard take…
Now more than ever we are aware of transitions; adolescence and supporting our teenagers with this change, matrescence and supporting our mothers with this concept transitioning into motherhood. The transition from one stage in life as a woman, that age where periods start to change, hormones start to decline and our body is actually preparing us in a progressive way for menopause. Up until recently , there has been little acknowlegment of this phase for women. We are often in a supremely busy part of our lives, maybe at the top of our careers, possibly raring children or even in some starting or completing our families. For others we have a full life socially and physically.
Personally I have felt a renewed energy in some ways as my children become more independent and my sleep has levelled off, however I have awoken from a fog of baby making and raring to a different body and mind.
My system has changed. It has worked hard over the past few years. I have all these things I want to achieve now that I have more headspace and slightly more physical space and I am feeling a little uncertain about how my body and mind is going to take me there. There is an awareness of a matureness in my body and mind that is reassuring. A stronger sense of myself, my values and my beliefs, what I am willing to put up with and what I cannot tolerate any longer. This, I feel, is what perimenopause is about. A recognition of what will nurture my body, honouring my capacity at any given time in my monthly cycle, acknowledging a different and softer way or coaxing my body and mind and energy to where I want it to be.
I feel a sensitivity from my body that I must listen to however. I realisation that to get to a more balanced place I cannot do extremes like I used to. My system fights it so hard and demands rest and sleep like never before. My sleep demands a night time routine of calm, preparation and no phones.
We hear alot about what we should be eating. how we should be exercising, whether we should take HRT or not. There is an overwhelm of advice from the outside coming in. But, what I notice when talking to women that when we take the time to stop for a few moments and really deeply listen and connect with our body is when our systems truely tell us what we need. What do I mean by this? Finding slowness in the busy. Coming back to the basics of sleep, good food and exercise that is kind to our body. Respecting how your hormone system and your stress system, are integrally connected. We can influence our hormones by keeping this at the root of everything and this will look slightly different for everybody. Navigating this transition can be tough, like the other transitions we have gone through as women. Taking what we have learned from these previous transitions and not just battling on through regardless. How does this sit with you?
