If you grew up in the 1950’s, you may have viewed an educational film called Molly Grows Up.
( I do not own the rights to this video).
This film in a modest manner, did it’s best to introduce you to a new friend, that for most, showed up on a monthly basis; her name is Menstruation.
The average woman spends about 10 years of her life menstruating. To think after all those years, we would get a much-deserved break… oh no, off to another season we go: Menopause.
Menopause like menstruation, isn’t a curse, but just the mere mention of these ‘M’ words leave a negative undertone. This is more likely due to the fact they are misunderstood. Today there is a great deal of information available for women and this article is to encourage you that you no longer have to suffer in silence.
I remember hearing stories from elderly women about the “dark tunnel of no return”. Their tales frightened me, but I couldn’t deny the symptoms any longer. After I experience several more episodes of dizziness and blackouts, I decided to make an appointment to see my doctor.
Examination – check, blood tests – check; follow up appointment scheduled. A week or so later, I returned for my follow-up appointment. In the exam room, snuggled in that designer gown, enters my doctor. She landed her bottom on the stool, spun around facing me with a smile on her face. “Sheri, you are smack dab in the middle of menopause”. I went numb and couldn’t hear a thing, all I saw was her mouth moving. She handed me several pamphlets.
( I do not own the rights to this video)
She tapped me on the shoulder and said we were done. As she exited the room, she turned around and advised me to go home and share the news with my family and solicit their support.
I journaled ever since I was a teenager, but lately I noticed my chronicled about the good, the bad and the ugly of how I had been feeling lately. My family tried their best to be supportive, but I felt more comfortable calling my mom.
Night after night, she listened, even when she wasn’t feeling well, she was incredibly patient as I found my way through the fog on this journey. Fast forward, a few months before she passed, she voiced that she wanted me to write a book. A book about my journey through menopause. I chuckled and said, “No one would want to read this kind of book.” She went on about she was never told about this season that majority of women travel through with little to no information. She said, ‘Other women needed to know what I was going through; they should be told that they are not alone’.
During one of my mother’s hospital stays, I began cleaning her apartment. Sifting through a pile of papers, I found a birthday card. It was apparent that the card was for me; yet she never got around to giving it to me.
The card read, ‘Sheri, you are the author of your own life. It’s up to you to dream it, imagine it, sketch it, shape it, build it, go after it and make it happen. And then color it in with bright, shining shades of joy and deep, lasting shades of meaning that are yours and yours alone. No one else can know the dreams you dream or the strengths you have within you that will help you make your dreams come true. No one else needs to. Because they’re yours. And so is today! Love Mom.’
This card brought me so much comfort. My mom somehow knew all along what was going to happen. She knew that I would be given the privilege of destroying the myths and encouraging the lives of numerous women before, during and after their journey through menopause.
Yes, ladies; in spite of what it feels like; Menopause is a period of preparation and perfecting. It’s not over, we are just merely taking a pause for a season. For you too are the author of your own life. It’s up to you to dream it, imagine it, sketch it, shape it, build it, go after it and make it happen. And then color it in with bright, shining shades of joy and deep, lasting shades of meaning that are yours and yours alone. No one else can know the dreams you dream or the strengths you have within you that will help you make your dreams come true. No one else needs to. Because they’re yours. And so is today! God bless Sheri’
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