*This title reflects a basketball cheer from the 90's - I make no apologies for the jokes *
As much as I want to think that I am on the cutting edge of thought, I really am just part of the basic bitch mental collective that is loving all things astrology and hormones.
I think this comes down to the fact that it was information that wasn't readily accessible to us when it would have been helpful. And the people teaching us weren't comfortable with the information so everyone learned something different. This applies more with the hormones than the astrology, but that's for another day.
Working in healthcare and nutrition and metabolism I really thought I had a good handle on what my hormones were doing at any given time, or that fact that I was on the pill since I was 18 and I just thought that meant my hormones were completely inert and I didn't really need to worry about them.
In my 20's I had a very masculine take on my hormones, meaning I felt like I controlled them and I could power through just about anything, and any problems, mental, physical, emotional, or otherwise would just need to be pushed through. Your 20s are the time for that, right?
Just like the rest of this basic bitch collective, someone on Instagram told us we should start paying attention to our hormones and I listened. It was kind of a necessity for me, unknowingly I was suffering from PMDD (pre menstrual dysphoria disorder), even while on the pill. Long story short, I dove deep into my personal cycle and am trying to learn all I can about how all the hormone shifts affect my day-to-day life, I hope one day to take the info to the masses so we can all start embracing our shifts vs ignoring them.
Ok, so if you've been on the internet lately you have probably seen how you can sync your skin care. Did it. It's awesome, I've always struggled with hormonal cystic acne and dullness, and adjusting my skincare thoughtout the month is making a tremendous difference.
You've probably seen that you can sync up your diet and what foods and exercise you should be doing for different parts of your cycle. I mean Cosmo magazine has been telling me to eat salmon instead of chocolate for PMS since the 90s (and I've been rolling my eyes ever since).
All of these ideas, at their core, are you optimize our health, and have us feeling our best, and functioning at our best.
I want to take it one step further - although full disclosure I haven't quite figured out how to do it yet, but I want to create a planner, a completely adjustable planner that helps us decide what and how to plan our life according to our cycles.
We all know after our periods we are at high energy and we feel amazing, and then toward the end of the month, before our period starts, we (well me) start to take a dip, with very low motivation, and just overall blah.
This time is hard to negotiate because it's not what is ideal in our society, but that doesn't make it bad, it's just different, we are at the opposite end of our cycle and we need to reboot, it's the balance of the night and the day. This should be honored and managed in the way that works best for that time, not forced to be compared to something it can never be.
Acceptance is always first, right? You gotta accept that you change and shift all month long and that these few days of low energy are just that, different, not bad.
Announcement needs to be next. You gotta tell people in your home, you need to tell them this is what to expect. Not that I want to compare hormone shifts to a disease, but if you had a condition that needed certain accommodations you would let everyone know, same thing here.
Adjustment to our expectations. Let's swap out the term balance for adjustment. It's kind of the same thing. If you were on a surfboard,, to stay afloat, or keep your balance, you need to adjust your weight. So during different times of the month you need to adjust the schedule, adjust the expectations, and bedtimeadjust that output and the needed input. You know you always adjust for others and for kids, it's time to start making, at least some small adjustments for yourself when you need it most.
Allowance. Allow yourself the downtime you need. Allow yourself to put the project down for a minute because you aren't going to be giving it your best. Allow yourself to put a pin in it until next week. Allow the nap, the early bedtime, the extra cookie. Allow it, because you've accepted the differences for what the day is. And you know that tomorrow might bring something different.
I am an ever-changing body of water
I accept all of me, all of the time
I am not meant to be still
I must ride the waves that I create
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