Why does the world need a blog and podcast about perimenopause and menopause?

If you’re a mid to late 40s female who never knows when or if her period will arrive, and if the various symptoms you are experiencing are typical or not, then you might have some good answers to that question.

Why have this conversation publicly, rather than in my personal journal? Because, like a lot things related to women’s health, I have wondered:

Why didn’t I know more about this ahead of time?

Why is the majority of information out there so fragmented, so negative, and even downright scary at times?

Why is there a series on Netflix with men sitting around talking about what women should do about menopause?

Why are universal phases in a woman’s life — like pregnancy and menopause — treated like medical problems?

What does this all say about our culture’s attitudes about women and aging?

After months and now years of talking with friends (and sometimes even with strangers) who are a little ahead of me in this process — I’ve learned that everything I have been experiencing is normal. Thank goodness, I haven’t been slowly going crazy.

When looking for resources, there was also nothing about the seedy underside of this process that sometimes rears up. (More accurately: Nothing that is truthful and genuine and not demeaning.) I’m not interested in snarky “crazy menopausal lady” jokes. But a little dark humor can be therapeutic.

So here it comes. The high and low reality that my friends have said they too have experienced, and that I’m sharing (maybe only with myself at first) because it took so long to find.

So why this Peri/Menopausal Memoir? There aren’t enough self-indulgent amateur writers and podcasters out there? Here’s why: If I don’t find an outlet for this stuff, I will not feel as happy and I will constantly swear like a truck driver. I enjoy swearing. But I enjoy learning more. I’d rather reframe, gain understanding, share insights, and maybe even enjoy the whole transition on some level. It is once in a lifetime after all. And hopefully someone else can learn from it.

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.

– Andy Warhol

#zerotohero #perimenopause #menopause #yourenotcrazy