Menopause can be really, really hard. We may move from a sense of calm to murderous rage in the blink of an eye. Perhaps, we feel suddenly anxious or depressed with absolutely no idea why. Or maybe, despite any manner of loving relationships in our lives, we find ourselves feeling isolated, alone, and utterly devoid of joy.
We might even feel invisible – or wish that we actually were invisible.
Menopause can impact us on so many levels:
- Physically
- Cognitively
- Emotionally
- Energetically
- Sexually
- Spiritually
- Financially
- Personally
- Professionally
And Menopause can bring with it shame, grief, or guilt – and often all three. And as a result we shroud our suffering in silence making us feel ever more alone.
But Menopause is not a disease. It is a natural stage in a woman’s development. It is also about so much more than that one day 12 months after our last menstrual cycle.
In her book, ‘Hagitude’, Sharon Blackie quotes a Lakota elder, Paula Gunn Allen who says of Menopause:
‘as the bleeding stops, the fire goes within,’
She goes on to explain how ‘in her tradition medicine women do not practice until they have reached their menopausal years. Because, then, the menstrual blood remains inside us, and so does the creative fire’.
Yes, we are women of a certain age – but that is part of the gift and opportunity inherent in this stage of life. An opportunity to shed what is no longer working for us, an opportunity to find our own unique voice, an opportunity to discover the gift in our anger, an opportunity to discover a new way of listening to the magic of our body as we finally come home to who we really are.
No matter what symptoms we are wrestling with, we are not our symptoms. We are not menopausal women. We are simply women stepping into the next chapter of our lives. Each of us will experience that menopausal journey in a unique and deeply personal way and each of us will, if we are willing, find commonalities as we travel this road together. Our bodies are not the enemy we may think they are. They hold a wisdom and creative fire we have not even begun to tap into.
Whether you feel more comfortable working with me in an individual capacity or sharing your experience in the healing company of other women, I am here to help you navigate your way through this challenging and rewarding transition as you come home to who you are now and embrace who you are becoming.