If we look at our current culture, it is easy to point mental fingers at differences between prior generations and today. Unlike our mothers and grandmothers, we started yo-yo dieting as teenagers, and probably never stopped. We are the first long-term users of birth control pills. Our foods are laden with artificial ingredients and hormones, refined to death, and packaged… Read More
Midlife Creative Resurgence
Christiane Northrup sums it up nicely, “Until midlife, it is characteristic for a woman’s energies to be focused on caring for others. She is encouraged to do so, in part, by the hormones that drive her menstrual cycles—the hormones that foster her instincts for nurturing, her devotion to cohesion, and harmony within her world. But as a woman enters menopause… Read More
The Bio-Identical Hormone Decision
Over the past year I’ve had increasing hot flashes despite working with my practitioner and my compounding pharmacist. When I first started taking the bio-identical hormones six years ago my blood tests said I was in estrogen dominance while having very low progesterone and testosterone levels.  This is very common. After a discussion with my midwife practitioner I began taking progesterone and… Read More
Midlife Transitions and Identity Changes, Cont.
Letting go of expectations, permission, and cultural detritus can leave menopausal women struggling for an identity. Do they continue as before—shrouded in a persona that tends to no longer fit—or do they allow themselves to revisit and explore aspects of themselves considered too self-serving during the childbearing years? As Dr. Northrup (2003) explains, “Caring for others and pursuing unexplored personal… Read More
Transitioning From “Gotta’s” to “Enough”
I write it down and then lose the list. I put tasks and appointments on my computer calendar and then forget to back up my iPhone so I can’t/don’t get the reminders. ARGH! Life is so busy that I spend more time creating reminders to do the things I need to do than actually getting the jobs done. How is… Read More