3 Ways to Bring the Fun Back into Hormonal Changes
Let’s make perimenopause fun, why don’t we?
Is that even possible? You might ask.
I mean the media seems full of negative stories about menopause right now.
But here’s my thinking.
If you’re making something fun, it’s less negative and less stressful.
And stress makes our hormonal symptoms worse.
So fun has got to help.
Plus, laughter is a great stress reliever.
So 3 ways to bring some fun back to the hormonal change.
Understand yourself well
I bang on about this a lot, but tracking your symptoms - whether physical or emotional - is hugely empowering and can make it easier to manage. For many of us in the early stages of perimenopasue it can be the mood and anxiety that feel hard to manage.
I use my wellbeing tracker and journal to check in with my mood, energy and symptoms on a daily basis. I know myself better and can see the impact of any changes I make to diet, supplementation or if I was to start using any medication.
What makes this fun is that I can predict that on day 22-24 of my cycle I will be more likely to be grumpy, unsociable and generally out of sorts. So I can almost exaggerate it, talk about it to my family and friends - “it’s day 22, don’t touch me”, “it’s day 24 do or I ask or face the wrath'“. I understand myself and so do they….I am only at the beginning of the teen years, so things may well change though!
You can download my wellbeing tracker here if you want to get started with this.
See perimenopause as a game you can’t lose
There’s an opportunity in perimenopause to really take care of yourself. To step up your self care. Its has the benefit of both supporting your experience of hormone related symptoms AND benefit your long-term wellbeing.
You need to make changes to your exercise habits, make it a game, make it sociable, make it fun (see my blog post for my fitness website here ) and if you don’t like it, keep exploring until you find what works - timing, location, and relevance are all important. I offer a one-off session on finding the joy in exercise if you want to explore this with me!
If you want to make changes to your diet and nutrition - see if you can make this joyful and fun - find new recipes to try, add different spices (I personally think Rose Harissa paste is a godsend!)
Sleep elusive? Create bedtime rituals that you actually look forward to - that will make sure you turn off Netflix and actually go to bed at a good time. Perhaps a new face care regime, a candlelit bath, a good book, time to journal…dream up both a lovely bedtime ritual and have some strategies for early morning waking (I have breath work exercises, stretches and even a wander around the house in the dark as part of my ‘can’t sleep’ programme!
Daydream your way to your power years
We spend approximately a third of our life post menopause. That’s a LONG time. Let’s make it fun.
I have a vision of me running marathons and climbing mountains in my 70s, of being at book signings of the books I’ve written, of having loving and nurturing relationships with my children, my siblings, friends I’ll have known for 50 or 60 years by then.
What would you dream about?
In order to make that vision a reality we need to take action right now. Create habits that help us, and not get too caught up in the negative of here and now.
Emowoered action is my way forward.
Want some help with this?
Why not book a call and find out if I can help.