Don't fight it, embrace it
Periods are wonderful.
Now I hear most women out there reading this screaming at me, or saying “well mine aren’t!!”
Just hear me out. I recently learned something about periods (and the PMS symptoms that come before) that blew my mind. It totally changed how I viewed this “difficult” time each month, and although nothing has actually changed, this new knowledge has meant that everything has changed.
My struggle was mainly with PMT. I would be irritable, on edge, short tempered for over ten days a month. Which equates to a third of my life. I would want to be left alone, to retreat, to spend time doing exactly what I wanted, and as a mum to a young child I didn’t have this luxury.
So I would battle through, resenting my own family, then feeling guilty about my shortcomings. And this would last until I got that first drop of blood, meaning that I had a short break of about twenty-odd days before I felt like this again. This went on for years.
Homeopathic remedies helped a bit, but it was always short-lived. And I would be looking for answers to the question, what’s wrong with me?
Until finally, someone gave me the answer and explained it all so that it finally made sense, and the answer to the question. What was wrong with me? Nothing was wrong with me.
We all know that hormone levels change during our cycle – oestrogen is dominant during the first half, progesterone is dominant during the second. But I didn’t really know what that actually meant, other than your body being fertile and preparing itself for a possible pregnancy, to preparing to shed your unfertilised egg ready to start again.
I always thought that the feelgood, happy part of the cycle (where your body is fertile) was the goal. That was the desired state and why couldn’t I feel like that all the time? And then I learned the truth.
The second part of your cycle, where oestrogen has dropped and you are not so happy-go-lucky, where things annoy you and you can’t understand why people around you are so stupid…this is actually your “truth state”. This is the real you, this is you expressing yourself without being masked by a dominant hormone to put you in the mood to procreate and nothing else.
I always say to people, listen to your body, what is it telling you? Well this truth state is telling you exactly what you need. You need more help, more space, more rest, more time for you. So as soon as I started listening and gave myself this, oh my god it changed my life!
Instead of thinking what’s wrong with me, and getting upset that I wasn’t able to cope, I said I need things and I’m going to have them. There was less need for that go-to glass of wine, there was less shouting and stressing.
As women, we fluctuate our energy levels and it’s all synced with our cycles. We have energy during the first half of our menstrual cycle, we can be productive, helpful, we want to look after people and get things done for them.
During the second half our energy drops, we need to retreat, have time to rest and be ‘wild’ with no question. Unfortunately our society doesn’t allow for this, we are expected to be ‘on’ all the time. Imagine if we took two weeks off work a month to rest and take time out. That would be unheard of!
But hopefully, with this new knowledge, you can make some changes to that effect. Don’t fill your calendar , carve out space just to rest, ask other people to do things to help you, or help themselves so that you don’t have to.
And when your period does actually arrive, do you know that you get a whole body reset each time?
This is incredible, and wonderfully energising. Your immune system is reset, your cellular structure is boosted. I used to wish for the menopause and for days when I didn’t have to go through this cycle each month. Now knowing what I have learned, I embrace each and every one, I make sure I have “me time”, and I enjoy my truth state.
Nothing else has changed other than my knowledge. Isn’t that incredible? From dreading it to fully embracing what it means to be a woman and realising how lucky I am.
If you do have painful periods, or have been diagnosed with endometriosis or PCOS, or if you fundamentally feel that something is not right, then there could be some pathology that needs addressing. I can help you using homeopathic remedies. Contact me to book a one-to-one appointment to get to the bottom of it and begin your healing journey.
I am a homeopath based in Ilfracombe, North Devon. I offer consultations online or face-to-face. Please email me zoe@zoebrowning.com for more details and to discuss your requirements.