Where are you at?
TAKING A MOMENT TO PAUSE
It is the change of season, a perfect time to consider where you are at and how you are navigating your phase of life.
This isn't an article about all the herbs, nutrients and supplements you need.
This is an article about all the other stuff - the messy life stuff that can be overwhelming - ‘stuff’ that whilst you are going through it you know that it is stressful and affecting you and your health, but you can’t quite make sense of it or feel in control of your life.
This article is for you at whatever stage of life you are.
But, if you are in your 40s or 50s, and you are just hanging on and holding it all together (or not!) - these words are for you now. I hope that this article can help rationalise how you may be feeling. To help make some important choices for your own wellbeing, just small shifts and changes that can really help to find the path back to feeling your normal.
How did life look for you?
20’s - living your best life and perhaps thinking life was ‘stressful’ whilst you are finding yourself and finding your way in the world, hopefully emerging unscathed and full of promise for what lies ahead.
Late 20s - 30s peak reproductive years either building your career or building your family, and these years were full and really pushed you. You needed all your resources and strength to survive and navigate, something that you had not expected. Hopefully you had some support and hopefully in retrospect this was a wonderful if not challenging phase.
40s and 50s - building from our 30s you could now be holding down a career, maintaining a household with young children or teenagers, supporting elderly and frail parents, and navigating your relationship with your partner.
At some point the word PERIMENOPAUSE - the transition period before menopause is reached, lasting 2-10 years before your final menstrual period - will come into your field of vision - ‘what’s that?’ ME? Am I that old?
How you emerge into your transition perimenopause years will likely be influenced by how you went through your life the previous 10-20 years.
Has there been trauma that you haven’t managed to clear? How was your fertility journey? Did you have support through early motherhood? Was there community around you? Have you been running on adrenal energy and survival?
Also, a few major shifts in our world have occurred over the last 20-40 years that I believe have influenced how women are now landing into perimenopause.
feminism - the opportunities, the demands, and the loss
the exponential growth of technology, the good, and the very bad
the explosion of ultra-processed foods, ‘convenience’ foods
the deluge of chemicals in our environment - the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat
terrorism and global conflict has come into our homes as a normal
a pandemic that shifted and divided us into isolation
When it comes to my naturopathic clinic and as I look to support women, at whichever phase of life, there is support that I offer with herbal medicine and nutrients to achieve good health, but it is the big questions that I will challenge you on.
It is the individual you that I am looking at and looking for. It is your life story that I search to unfold, as this leads the way forward. Yes, there may be the medical diagnosis and conditions that you have gathered around you - but what do we need to do to bring back balance and harmony to the ecosystem of you.
We must find rest, We must sleep, We must nourish. We must find joy and purpose.
We often just need to simplify. If we can instil and find these, then the healing can begin.
We need to find pause points - to connect within, to connect with our environment, with our community.
We do not need to find these all at once, but we must start to consider it all for balance and healing. We must use all our resources and lean into our support yet again to maintain our wellbeing. We are not meant to do this alone.
So whilst you may come into clinic to see me about your digestion, your menstrual cycle, your chronic or acute conditions, I often see this as a window of opportunity to ask some big questions. I feel it is a responsibility and duty of care for your health. Because how you live these years now and the choices you make now will have the biggest impact on how you live for the second half of your life - and that is a big part of your life.
I always aim to meet you where you are at, and work with you to achieve your best self.
And, of course there is the support and guidance that plant medicine can give you. I talk more specifcally about symptomatic Perimenopause support here in a previous journal article.
I truly love my work and look forward to meeting you or reconnecting with you soon.
Reach out if you have any questions, or make a naturopathic appointment if think you could do well with some immune support to regain your health and vitality.
