Menopause - the joy is in the journey

 It's Thankful Thursday, welcome along. 

This week we are talking about menopause. It's time to let menopause be a natural part of your life. Totally. Just like puberty, right? That's right. Nobody medicated you for puberty, did they? No. They did not. It's a rite of passage and you celebrate it. It's just the beginning of another part of your life. And the idea that you've got to have this medication, and that supplement, in fact you've probably got a cupboard full of it or that herbal teas. It’s not the way it has to be. You might need some support with some of it, but really it's just a natural part of your life.

I wish I knew all the stuff I know now, maybe when I was just starting at around 45.  And so I ended up going through all this stuff, not knowing whether it was normal or not. 

It’s just a natural part of your life and you only ended up having some intervention when you thought, oh my God, I actually don't feel very well. So we've talked about the concept of the woman's circle. Sitting around doing your knitting or your crochet or your stitching or whatever. Then you talk through and share knowledge woman to woman. Where you can talk about issues and problems and lots of solutions. So now all of a sudden, all of these conversation topics became taboo, and really it's not taboo at all.  Or then it's medicalised and it's not something you need to be treated for, it's just a process of life.

It’s just the process that you go through to become the new you, right. That new version of who you are and the new life that you're stepping into. And that you can manage any changes that you might have come through lifestyle changes.

So what are the symptoms that we may be experiencing? What is really causing it? Well, let's talk about your life and what's going on for you right now. So having an understanding of how the hormones in your life are changing. But then understanding that's a natural part of your life. You're not having to stop it or dismiss it because that's just a natural part of your life.

What can you do to help it? 

One of the things is having a good diet. It's that blue zone diet, isn't it? So parts of the world where they have people living to a hundred and beyond they've examined the types of food they eat. And the lifestyle that they have. So they do have low stress lifestyles. And the food is natural. Where you go and pick your lettuce and or you pick your broccoli and it's not processed. It's not… out of a can or a packet. It hasn't been through a mechanical process. It's about eating quite a lot of green leafy vegetables too. Olive oil is an important part of it.  Drinking plenty of water, having water in your life.  Having beans and rice and carbohydrates.

So that's a really important part of functioning well, isn't it? That you have all the nutrients and minerals in your body. So that your body can do what it needs to do. Just like a growth spurt, you need to eat good food. So in a change of life, you need to eat good food.

Getting enough sleep is important as well. Because it's that time when your body is recharging. You're getting rid of the waste products, you are integrating all your systems together. And during changes in hormones, your body's working quite hard. And affects your sleep. I know that some of the women stay awake all night because the hormones are changing and there's stuff going on. And it's just a period of, and for some people it's 10 years of affected, terribly affected sleep.

So for me it was the cutting back on tea and coffee, drinking little, if any alcohol. Having smaller but more nutritious meals. Maybe more frequently even.

It is about getting enough sunshine too. So if you live in New Zealand or Australia, you've got to be careful about getting too much sun at the hot time of the day, but actually getting natural sunlight on your skin is really important as you age .

Many of us don't get enough outside for 30 minutes of easy exercise, like walking or yoga. And there are the symptoms of pain that come with menopause as well. Like joint pain. So exercising can be hard but needs to happen for the changes in your body to happen more smoothly.

We haven't really talked about mood swings cause that can happen too. Can't it? Yeah, so good diet and exercise like yoga can help your mood improve too!

So I'm quite grateful that I have a few older women in my life to talk to about menopause. I think the reason that we chose to be thankful for menopause is because it's a celebration of being alive some more. And being a woman. And I think celebrating it because it's just a natural part of our life cycle. 

And if I'm going to be slightly grumpy about the world, it would be because men don't have menopause. There's not as much talk about it. You know, men go through puberty. Yay.  When we go through menopause we tend to be pushed to go to the doctor and it gets medicalised and you get hospitalised and treated for it. Then there’s hysterectomy and it can be a violent time in your life.

So we are really excited by offering this to you and invite you to  look up some of the other things that we've talked about today. And definitely talk to your female friends and create that sisterhood of conversation.

You're crossing the threshold into being the wise woman now and the mentor and the woman who's walked the path.  Many other women are going to follow behind you, and as women, we need other women guiding us on that journey.

We want the knowledge to flourish and become available to everybody so that everybody has a great journey through this time in their life.

Ready to move on to whatever else comes next. So enjoy the new beginnings.

New beginnings, menopause. 

Namaste