Friday, April 7, 2017
Dear friends,
On this World Health Day, I’d like to discuss something I haven’t openly talked about. It’s something that, eventually, all women experience, and it indirectly affects the men in our lives, as well.
It’s menopause. Menopause simple means “change,” but those changes can be challenging. Many women suffer in silence because they are either ashamed of what they are going through or think something is wrong with them, when, in fact, they are just experiencing normal
change.
Growing up as girls and later as women, we know this time will come: the time when your body turns off a switch. How we experience menopause is individual and deeply personal, and nothing – nothing – prepares you for it. Not physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually.
I am grateful for my health. Lately, menopause has depleted me of my otherwise abundant energy. Sleepless nights, small problems become magnified, anxiety creeps up and doesn’t let go, brain fog settles in, body fat isn’t as easy to melt away as it used to be, confidence erodes…
On the positive side, the Lionness in me has emerged and I learned to say: “Fuck off.”
Did you hear me roar?)
Things change.
Culturally, because our society places such a high value on “image” and youthful looks – mostly due to media and Hollywood – means that women going through “change” can begin to feel less desirable, unattractive and even invisible.
But why? I doesn’t need to be this way.
As I enter a new chapter in my life, and close an old one, I know there are many benefits ahead – freedom, for one, and not being concerned about what people think.
Not anymore.
So, on this World Health Day, I hope you will recognize a woman in your life who is experiencing menopause and know that she may be, silently, having challenges that you don’t yet understand. Love her. It’s what she needs the most.
Love + light,
Shannon