My Completely Unremarkable Perimenopausal Daily Wins

In my twenties, I was convinced that by the time I reached my forties, I would have everything impressively figured out and be firmly in control of my life.

Instead, I generally live a daily life of small, deeply unexciting victories that only make sense if you are also a grown perimenopausal adult with a body that complains more frequently than you’re used to and some sort of vague sense of responsibility.

When the hormones are raging, some days my biggest win is remembering why I have walked into a room without having to completely retrace my steps. On others, it is putting clean washing away instead of creating yet another ‘clean but not put away’ chair situation. Yesterday, I made a meal that wasn’t completely beige, and even better, I did not burst into tears over something objectively minor. On another day, I did cry, but I correctly identified why, rather than getting upset about not being able to find my keys like last time. I woke up last week at 3am and resisted the urge to mentally rewrite my entire life. I repeatedly choose comfort over aesthetics (my sweatpants, hoodies and fluffy socks make up about 90% of my wardrobe), I can’t remember the last time I bothered to put makeup on when I left the house… and I feel zero shame about any of it. At this point, it all counts as progress.

Royalty free image credit: FotoRieth on Pixabay

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A Peri-Menopause Schedule

Despite it being a Sunday morning, I woke up at 6.30am feeling super-motivated. Perhaps it’s because the weather is glorious, or that I have the option of doing nothing if I want to, or perhaps the fact that I slept for about six hours yesterday afternoon has helped – either way, I jumped out of bed, got dressed and was raring to go. 

As things have become more busy (particularly this year), I have started to change my working patterns to try and avoid burnout – something that I have experienced multiple times since I started working for myself. Previously, I had developed strict daily routines and checklists to help myself become more organised, but over the last six months I have found that it has become less and less helpful. 

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