“In a society that says ‘put yourself last’ self-love & self-acceptance are almost revolutionary” – Brene Brown
Whilst sitting at my desk thinking about ways to change “the change” and how we are best able to accomplish this, I decided to take a moment to read some of the worlds most influential quotes by some of societies most infamous speakers. In need of little inspiration!
During this process, I stumbled upon a quote, funnily enough – by a man! A man we’re all very familiar with, Albert Einstein. (If only men had evolved with the capacity of his beautiful mind ey!)
The quote read, “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking”
After reading this I realised this couldn’t have been a better statement resembling the struggles women face when entering the Menopause. When entering the menopause, the world has been led to believe that a woman’s time is up! She is now no longer young and fruitful, full of life and beauty, rather we’re categorised into old wrinkly crazies who need to learn to take a Xanax!
Society couldn’t be more wrong! And according to old Einstein, society isn’t going to change until we prove them otherwise. Sometimes we have to grab a stereotype by the hand and throw it off the edge to create a new one, or better said – the truth!
Menopause, undeniably is the end of an era, we are no longer able to have children and our bodies under take drastic changes. We are in fact stripped of a lot of things that make us women! And we’re also stripped of our choice. Facing this fact and accepting it certainly isn’t easy, but I learned to be kind to myself and have patience with who I am becoming.
Menopause may be the end of an era, but that is all it is, an end to an era, not our lives. We, humans, women – are not supposed to live our lives living in the same constant state. We are supposed to change and the sooner it is acknowledged as a natural and normal process, the less judgement and fears come within this time of transition.
“Imperfections are not inadequacies, they are reminders that were all in this together” – Brene Brown
Something I soon came to realise after having struggled to accept the changes to my body as well as mind was, ridding he sense of judgement from those around you as well as your loved ones is, to start with yourself. We cannot influence peoples perception of a situation if we are not influencing our own beliefs.
The menopause has taught me a lot about myself, I have learned to love myself harder during the difficult times, especially when breaking out in some of the menopause symptoms such as hot flashes! I have learned to implement lifestyle changes to improve my quality of life and most of all I have learned to acknowledge and accept that although this is a time of change for me and an end to an era, it is also the beginning of a brand new journey of my life.
Begin to trust your body, trust the process and trust that those who truly love and care for you will not judge you for the changes happening. Don’t be in fear of judgement of others when our harshest critique is the nice inside our heads! Once we accept our bodies and minds for what they are, others will follow.
Let’s change the way menopause is perceived and prove that women are just as beautiful, bold, bright and sexy as we ever were! A few hot flashes, night sweats, memory loss, joint pain and mood swings (when I go on to list menopause symptoms i suppose we do face a lot – but don’t let that stop you!) aren’t going to stop us from being the Goddess’s we truly are!
Feminapause Team xx
