Friends, its’ been a while!
I’ve gotten messages from a few of you reaching out to see where I’ve been & if everything was okay. I’m happy to report that yes, everything is okay but, I’ve been dealing with a shift that I didn’t quite understand. I felt different, noticing mental & physical changes, and a sense of growing disconnection from myself. I’m a person who exercises at least 4x a week and most of the time, I eat a balanced diet. I have a wonderful marriage & family life and truly great friends that I love. I’m a positive person with a sense of purpose and a constant drive to be better than I was yesterday. I say all of this because everything I was feeling didn’t align with my lifestyle or who I was.
I was exhausted all the time.
I didn’t want to socialize.
I was losing focus.
Anxiety crept up in strange ways.
Weight gain & digestive issues appeared.
My skin was itchy & sensitive.
I felt ambivalent, depressed, joyless.
“It feels like I put on a really heavy coat that I can’t take off,” was how I described it.
And then, I felt an occasional surge of heat.
Some of you reading might know what I’ve just laid out. For the rest of you, allow me to introduce #perimenopause . With over 40 known symptoms, the only one I really knew of was hot flashes. I felt so frustrated because I could tell you anything you needed to know about the child bearing years and here I was at 48 aware of ONE often exaggerated symptom of the next phase. I had no idea about the “pre” phase, what age it might show up at, how long it lasts and the many ways it reveals itself.
So, why am I sharing?
I believe in the sisterhood of women & the notion that we are here to help one another. I remember how isolating & shameful the postpartum phase was for me nearly two decades ago & I don’t ever want myself or another woman to feel that way about anything. I’ve come to the conclusion that the social world needs us “women of a certain age” to show up, educate & support one another while shutting down the BS stigma that we should quietly slip away with our youth.
With that, I wish you all a HAPPY reNEWal YEAR because that’s what 2020 feels like for me.
Cheers 🥂
I’ve gotten messages from a few of you reaching out to see where I’ve been & if everything was okay. I’m happy to report that yes, everything is okay but, I’ve been dealing with a shift that I didn’t quite understand. I felt different, noticing mental & physical changes, and a sense of growing disconnection from myself. I’m a person who exercises at least 4x a week and most of the time, I eat a balanced diet. I have a wonderful marriage & family life and truly great friends that I love. I’m a positive person with a sense of purpose and a constant drive to be better than I was yesterday. I say all of this because everything I was feeling didn’t align with my lifestyle or who I was.
I was exhausted all the time.
I didn’t want to socialize.
I was losing focus.
Anxiety crept up in strange ways.
Weight gain & digestive issues appeared.
My skin was itchy & sensitive.
I felt ambivalent, depressed, joyless.
“It feels like I put on a really heavy coat that I can’t take off,” was how I described it.
And then, I felt an occasional surge of heat.
Some of you reading might know what I’ve just laid out. For the rest of you, allow me to introduce #perimenopause . With over 40 known symptoms, the only one I really knew of was hot flashes. I felt so frustrated because I could tell you anything you needed to know about the child bearing years and here I was at 48 aware of ONE often exaggerated symptom of the next phase. I had no idea about the “pre” phase, what age it might show up at, how long it lasts and the many ways it reveals itself.
So, why am I sharing?
I believe in the sisterhood of women & the notion that we are here to help one another. I remember how isolating & shameful the postpartum phase was for me nearly two decades ago & I don’t ever want myself or another woman to feel that way about anything. I’ve come to the conclusion that the social world needs us “women of a certain age” to show up, educate & support one another while shutting down the BS stigma that we should quietly slip away with our youth.
With that, I wish you all a HAPPY reNEWal YEAR because that’s what 2020 feels like for me.
Cheers 🥂
