Menopause: Mid-life Crisis or Opportunity?

Society seems to hold menopause and perimenopause (the time leading up to menopause) in such a negative light.  We hear all about the hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, mood swings, wight gain, loss of fertility, loss of youth, loss of……

All symptoms that the body is not functioning optimally.  

But what if we could look at menopause in a different light?  As a new beginning, a “2nd Spring” as they do in Oriental Medicine.  An opportunity to take a look at what those symptoms really mean as well as what you can do about it.

Yes, all those undesirable things can and do happen to many women as their hormones start changing in mid-life.  Our current main-stream medical model and society in general tell us you need to beat those symptoms into submission.  

We battle hot flashes, insomnia, weight gain, food cravings, etc.

Yet fighting or running from these things is exhausting.  You can’t keep it up for long.  Especially if you’re already stretched too thin trying to juggle work, home, family and community obligations.  After years of pushing aside self-care, the wear & tear starts to show up as dis-ease as our bodies start changing in mid-life.  

God blessed you with an amazing, beautiful, intelligent Temple you share with his Holy Spirit.  A Temple he designed to change at mid-life, just like it did at puberty.  

When we look at menopause as part of God’s beautiful, brilliant design, we can look at those symptoms from a different angle.  How is your body speaking to you through those symptoms?

Does it need you to change how you nourish it? How you move it?

Is it looking for more peace? More love? More joy?

What if you took this time as an opportunity to look at how you’re taking care of the Temple God shares with you?   

A new beginning. A Second Spring.

A time to look at how you approach your food choices.  

How (and why) you move your body.

Your relationship with your yourself, your body and with your Creator.

How you can create health for the next 30, 40, 50 or more years by learning how God designed your body and how you can support that design to live the happy, active, vibrant life he is calling you to.  

If you live in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls, Iowa area, I invite you to register for a talk I’ll be giving on how you can gracefully navigate these changes Tuesday, August 24th at 6:00 pm at Guiding Star Cedar Valley 220 Southbrooke Drive in Waterloo (in the same building as Fiat Family Medicine).  

Click on this link for more information and to register:  Gracefully Navigating Menopause & Perimenopause

I’ll also be sharing more in future blog posts and in the Pray. Eat. Move. Transforming YOU! Private Facebook Group about how you can embrace this stage of life as an opportunity to empower yourself to pray often, eat well & move more as well as enjoy the journey!