Are you a capable mid-life woman whose brain sometimes feels like fuzz?
Being in my late 40’s, still menstruating but feeling like I’m transitioning into some new territory, I was relieved the other day to read the wisdom of my favourite woman author, gynaecologist and energy medicine expert Christiane Northrup in her book the Wisdom of Menopause.
Put simply, in midlife, our brain goes “fuzz”. We forget things. We feel as if we have lost our mind sometimes. And yes we undergo mid-life “rewiring”. Phew, I know I’m not going crazy and it’s just part of the course!
But “part of the course” to what I ask?
Yes our brain gets rewired due to the changing hormonal climate and that contributes to that mind-fuzz and the emotional curves, outbreaks and anxiety we often feel with greater intensity when we in our late 40’s and early 50’s. Do smashing glasses, high volume rants and growing impatience sound familiar? It does for me, and it all feels so out of character!
But the great thing about this (and sometimes terrifying thing for some) is that this change is helping us transition from fitting society’s and family’s demands on us as a woman, to that of our soul’s demands and yearnings to finally tend to ourselves– away from the nurturing of others, to the nurturing of oneself! Yes “me time” stuff! But this rewiring is bigger than simply taking a little time out from life’s demands to spending time doing something for YOU.
From the words of Christiane, “At midlife, the hormonal milieu that was present for only a few days each month during most of your reproductive years, the milieu that was designed to spur you on to re-examine your life just a little at a time, now gets stuck in the “on” position for weeks or months at a time. We go from an alternating current of inner wisdom to a direct current that remains on all the time after menopause is complete. During menopause, our brains make the change from one way of being to the other.”
It’s a time when our intuition becomes key (because our mind isn’t working!!!) and also a time when a lot of “past” comes up – for better or worse to reexamine (great time to get some supportive coaching!) and we are literally being re-wired for something else – indeed some new territory and perhaps a new way of being.
So what is this new territory?
I like how she Christiane puts it. “As a woman enters menopause, she steps out of the primarily child-bearing, care-taking role that was hormonally scripted for her life…Rather she become freer to choose where she will direct her creative energies, freer to “colour outside the lines”…Some women funnel this heightened energy into new businesses and new careers. Some discover and cultivate artistic talents they never knew they had. Some women note a surge in their sexual desire, to heights never before experienced in their lives.”
So worry about the brain-fuzz or what you have forgotten, or focus on this being a great time to mother yourself, expand your intuitive powers and redefine how you want to spend the next years of your life with more zing and purpose. It will reveal itself with more clarity…not immediately, but as part of that journey.