katikaa Ok so it’s been a bit hard the past three years to find something positive to say about getting older. It certainly has not helped that “you-know-what” decided to make an appearance globally at the same time as my pre-menopause symptoms started. If I could choose, I would rather have had one at a time.
When many things happen at the same time it’s hard to know the difference. What is the cause and what is the symptom and what is just simply nothing related to either one of them. I started getting symptoms a few years back, nothing serious, but about three years ago they began to be pretty “clear”. Night sweats, mood swings and other changes in your body like irregular cycle.
I still have time!
I have to admit I thought I still had time. I thought I was too young. My youngest was only 7 years old, come on. It cannot start yet. A bit of research and 45 is the physiological turning point they say. After that the downhill is drastic. So drastic that if you were thinking of having kids after “career” and when you are closer to 40 forget it.
It’s hard after 35 and almost impossible after 40 and extremely rare after 45. I did not even realise how lucky we were to have our youngest at the age of 39 with me having only one ovary it was probably pushing pretty hard at that time already thinking back.
Anyways, I had all the symptoms, doctor confirmed it. It’s happening, not quite menopause yet though. Then again who cares about menopause as apparently that is the time when the period finally stops. BEFORE that is when the struggle happens and change in hormones. BEFORE that is when the “shit hits the fan” so to speak. Why didn’t anyone tell me that? Or why don’t they teach about that in school, or maybe they do nowadays, certainly hope so.
So I have been learning by living. It’s interesting what the hormones can do and cause. Add gravity to that and voila!
What have I learned then physically? Or mentally?
Well, for once, gravity always wins. When your skins starts to loose elasticity it also naturally reaches out to the ground. When the parts of the body needed for reproduction start to loose their function they also reach to the ground. In addition to this your perfectly rounded and gorgeous boobs loose fat (which they mostly consist of) because they are no longer needed. Just goes to show that they are for feeding the kids only, sorry gues! That is what the evolution intended them for anyway.
You are not young anymore. Yes, I said it. I am old(er). I get tired easier physically. When I had my fourth child 9 years ago I already noticed that pregnancy was harder physically although mentally it was easier. Same with the “baby-time” it was easier mentally which helped to deal with the physical. Now looking at it all back I understand that it was the mental part of me patching the physical part.
Stiff as a stick
If I already noticed it then it just means it has only “progressed”. Now I am stiff as a stick. I get tired easier. I never used to take a nap or even be capable of one. Nowadays I can imagine myself taking one. Sometimes I even enjoy it.
The worst is though how your body just “halts” in a way. It’s like it’s refusing to start every morning. As if women were programmed to function only until they are 45, because that is how long evolution has thought we are capable of reproducing. BUT with current medical care women outlive that age by far. It is understandable though, that evolution has not quite caught up yet as we still have hair all over our body, and clothes were invented, well, a while back…
Back to the “body halting”. I never had to stretch, I mean I did, but now I notice that if I miss one time after a run my legs are “stiff as a stick” literally. I used to be very flexible, but now I need to constantly work on my flexibility. Thank you Yoga!!
So we are not quite “there yet”, but certainly getting closer… it been months since my last period… which is positive in a negative way, hahahah
Part V not published yet! Come back later
