"In perimenopause I was incapacitated by anxiety and I had to do something about it. Then I realise that actually I'd been anxious all my life. I just hadn't called it that.
I'm paraphrasing a speaker on a panel I chaired as part of an event for World Menopause Day.
The minute she said it, I thought. "Oh! Yes!" and I could feel a lot of the room respond in the same way.
Is it true? Were we always anxious and just handled it?
Did we call it other things? Pr"In perimenopause I was incapacitated by anxiety and I had to do something about it. Then I realise that actually I'd been anxious all my life. I just hadn't called it that.
I'm paraphrasing a speaker on a panel I chaired as part of an event for World Menopause Day.
The minute she said it, I thought. "Oh! Yes!" and I could feel a lot of the room respond in the same way.
Is it true? Were we always anxious and just handled it?
Did we call it other things? Pressure maybe?
Pressure to be a better person?
Pressure to look a certain way?
Pressure to meet the needs of the people around us?
Pressure not to make other upset or angry?
Pressure to do all the things that keep all the lives around us running?
Were we always in fact, worrying, and able to push on and rise above that mental chatter?
And how much of what fells us at perimenopause is the mental load we've been carrying on all the years, which started while we were growing up.
Being told to be good girls.
Being rewarded for being compliant, rather than for being smart or funny or energetic.
Being made responsible for how other people felt.
Carrying responsibility beyond our years.
I'd be interested to hear what others say, because it sure rings a lot of bells with me. And it did with other women in that room!essure maybe?
Pressure to be a better person?
Pressure to look a certain way?
Pressure to meet the needs of the people around us?
Pressure not to make other upset or angry?
Pressure to do all the things that keep all the lives around us running?
Were we always in fact, worrying, and able to push on and rise above that mental chatter?
And how much of what fells us at perimenopause is the mental load we've been carrying on all the years, which started while we were growing up.
Being told to be good girls.
Being rewarded for being compliant, rather than for being smart or funny or energetic.
Being made responsible for how other people felt.
Carrying responsibility beyond our years.
I'd be interested to hear what others say, because it sure rings a lot of bells with me. And it did with other women in that room!