Sunrise to Sunset

On a recent road-trip, I began to reflect on the stages of women’s health and their parallels to the world around us…

How a young girl’s first menstrual period reminds me of the shining tips of the sun’s rays first peeking over the edge of the ocean. And how the light reaches further with each passing second.

Then come the years of enjoying the regular pattern of the seasons year after year. Such are the days of attending to our own cycle.

Then, unexpectedly; weather patterns begin to show up that are out of character for a specific season… warm fronts in the middle of Winter; or an April snow.

And those days that are just plain stormy...

Like the days that usher in the transition from predictability to longer stretches of time between cycles. Perimenopause has arrived. And along with it comes new challenges, bigger struggles, and deeper growth…

Until the sun begins to set. 

A magnificent blend of hues that we see at no other time of day begin to expand into the vast horizon. There’s this glorious, golden view. We bask in it. Now is the time to take it in. To be fully present.

There’s something about the onset of Menopause that slows the passage of time.

And now that I’ve crossed over into post-menopause, I don’t want to go back to the way I lived before my hormone healing journey began…

I don’t know exactly when I realized it.

I wish I did.

Maybe it was one afternoon in the Spring of 2020 when I was walking in the park and I took the time to really take in the sight of a tall, strong oak tree reaching up to the sky. And then I noticed its full reflection mirrored in the pond below. 

After that, these moments came more frequently…those moments when the hue of the red-buds seemed more vibrant, the flames in my fire-pit seemed to burn more fervently, and the sound of a rushing stream seemed louder. Throughout that summer, rainbows beamed more brightly, storm clouds looked more ominous, and the mountains appeared taller.

I don’t ever want to go back to the way I lived before.

I don’t want to overlook the precise zig-zag routine of a spider spinning her web in early Fall. I don’t ever want to miss the perfectly choreographed “V” of geese flying and honking over my head in late Fall.  I don’t want to walk right past the geometric wonder of icicles in deep mid-Winter.

I always want to rejoice when I see the earliest daffodils pop up at the beginning of Spring.

I want to continue to savor the scent of peonies before I welcome the arrival of the first day lily blossoms of Summer. I don’t want to miss the swallowtails fluttering over the lush ferns as the forest explodes into brilliant shades of Summers’ green.  And then we are back to that gold of Late Summer before Autumn returns once again.

The menopausal transition can be a time of soul-searching that leads to IDENTITY WORK, refined values, purer relationships, and deeper faith. It can be the beginning of the best years of a woman’s life as the new freedoms of this life-stage pave the way for a wiser, stronger woman to live out her calling.

Watch for more content on this sacred season of life and how you can rediscover yourself…

To learn more about Cyclical Living, check out this blog piece "Biphasics: An Introduction to Cyclical Living" written by Dr. Alexandra Cope, the naturopathic doctor who guided me on my healing journey.