I’m Learning to Embrace the Pause in Menopause
Navigating changes with levity and clever workarounds helps
The other day, my wife launched into one of her trademark monologues about losing her “fertile reproductive body,” and I was cackling with laughter. She’d been to see her primary care physician to discuss some unexpected changes in her body, and she was doing her best to accept the outcome with levity.
As postmenopausal women, we’ve both experienced changes in our physical bodies that have proven to be persistent and frustrating. Whether it’s stubborn belly fat, weight gain, or disrupted sleep, it often feels like menopause wreaks havoc on us.
The changes we experience aren’t just physical, though. Our hormones also give us the gifts of foggy brains, mood swings, dry skin, and diminishing sex drives. The joy of being a woman, am I right?
When my wife continued her hilarious diatribe about her ever-changing body, I was undone in the best way possible. And that shared experience with her made me think about how we as women survive the great and inevitable change of life.
Menopause descended in my mid-fifties, and the changes were dramatic and disheartening. I thought perimenopause was bad until I watched my body morph overnight. My core thickened, and my belly…
