Do you find yourself thinking this? I know I have. Women rarely get to really acknowledge our pain and discomfort. So often, it’s dismissed – especially if the origin is hormonal. But it’s really important to stop doing this for a number of reasons.
Perimenopause hormones really affect us
Ok let’s look at just some of the things that hormones affect in women:
- Mood
- Sleep
- Brain function
- How much energy you have
- Skin health
- Metabolism, weight gain
- Aching joints
- Focus
- Libido
Oh yeah and Homeostasis which is just your entire state of internal balance.
SO everything then.
Perimenopause hormones
You’re not making this up. You’re not imagining that brain fog or joint pain or sleep issues or self-esteem drop – it’s happening because of hormones.
Stop gaslighting yourself.
There’s a balance we all tend to get wrong between being self-compassionate with ourselves (rather than critical of our ability to cope) and not making excuses to avoid things.
When that balance is off we get stuck. Whether that’s in a spiral of negativity and self-criticism or in the suffocating safety of the comfort zone.
If that starts to happen, try focusing on facts. What is actually happening right now and is there a reason for it that you’re missing because you’re so busy hating on yourself? And when you’ve identified that reason what action can you take to help yourself?
Take the emotion out of it. Look for the facts. Validate yourself by accepting that whatever you’re experiencing is your experience.
Switch to that resilient mindset approach and you’ll experience a lot more happiness and progress and a lot less feeling like sh*t.
If you’d like to explore the perfect mindset for perimenopause (nurturing and compassionate and taking no sh*t) then I’m running a practical 6-week course to help you shift into a much more powerful place. All the info is here.
You’ll also find an episode of my podcast on the Benefits of Perimenopause (there are some!) here.
