Because women have such a tremendous focus placed on them during fertility years, they may feel that once fertility has left, they are not feminine anymore. There are some psychological aspects that are not easy in this transition. Menopause is a time where women can become who they truly are. Menopause changes our physiology in such a way that we can feel a completely different woman at the end hopefully one who has reclaimed herself. Funnily enough, we rarely discuss it, let alone consider it to be life-changing. One point is: today women between the ages of 44 and 65 are a huge demographical population, therefore, we can view menopause as a major cultural event. Christiane Northrup is The Wisdom of Menopause and through it she makes some interesting points. There are many books that can help us navigate this scary transition. So far so good, there have been zero causalities as yet (I’m referring to broken crockery… not my family). Because I have a mood disorder I expected to be a raging, chaotic mess who started throwing things at my family at the drop of a hat. It’s not a title I particularly like and the transition to my ‘full power’ was always a transition I wanted to avoid. Often referred to as the crone years (sounds inviting doesn’t it?), menopause can be considered a time when a woman arrives at her full power and the title crone is given to impart a sense of respect. Just like puberty, it can be a time of new and exciting possibilities and an empowering phase of life. Menopause is a natural part of female life history and we need to stop approaching it as a disease. Almost all animals reproduce then die soon after their last offspring other than women and killer whales. Menopause is unavoidable, and preferable to the alternative (dying). The strong, stoic women before us all endured it and made it to other side, softer, wiser, and more confident in themselves.

Piloting Your Life by Terri Hanson Mead