My Journey with Cushing’s disease
At 30 years old, I was fit, healthy and naturally a size 8–10. I knew my body well, which is why, when it started to
First of all, let’s bust a myth: You don’t stop cycling in perimenopause or postmenopause! Like every other species on this planet, humans are cyclical beings and, if you live in a biologically female body, you transition to the rhythm of the moon cycle during perimenopause.
This is our blueprint cycle, anyway, since the word “menstrual” cycle comes from “mensis” (meaning “moon” or “month”). The moon cycle was how our ancestors kept track of time.
And, like every cycle on this planet, the menstrual and moon cycle have four distinct phases with unique characteristics.
This is menstruation in a menstrual cycle and Dark Moon (when the moon doesn’t reflect the sun’s light, commonly called New Moon) in the moon cycle. Usually, this is the most inward and reflective time in a cycle. You may experience a bigger need to rest and retreat and can feel deeply connected to yourself.
This is the follicular phase in a menstrual cycle and the waxing moon phase in the moon cycle.
It’s a time when your energy is coming back, and you can find yourself feeling playful, curious, and full of ideas.
This is ovulation in a menstrual cycle and Full Moon in the moon cycle. Usually, this is the most outward and communicative phase in your cycle, where you have lots of energy and feel like you can take on the world.
This is the luteal phase and pre-menstruum in a menstrual cycle, and the waning moon phase in the moon cycle. It’s the time when your energy levels start to decline again and you can feel the need to slow down and retreat within.
Or, in case of PMS and PMDD, you rather feel hit by a truck… It’s also a time of cleaning and decluttering, releasing anything you no longer want in your life (material, but also on a physical, emotional or mental level).
A caveat: The cycle I described is only an archetypal cycle. Everyone’s cyclical experience is unique, and there are people who feel more inward during inner summer, or some that experience the child-like curiosity and playfulness in inner autumn, not in inner spring.
That’s why it’s important to start charting the map of YOUR cyclical experience! You can use a cycle tracking app or access my free cycle charting course, which comes with a little booklet to chart your cycle in a pen-on-paper style.
I deliberately call it cycle charting, because a) for many women and menstruating folks, the cycle is unknown territory that needs to be explored with curiosity and an open heart, and b) your cycle and cyclical experience can change month by month. When you chart on a continual basis, you will start seeing patterns and rhythms, but just like nature isn’t 100% predictable, neither is your cycle.
That’s what makes cycle charting and (menstrual) cycle awareness a lifelong and fascinating practice, that can leave you in awe of the intricate rhythms going on inside of you!
The most simple approach I know, and the one I recommend to my community all the time, is to each day record:
Here is an example: Today I’m on my Day 20, in my inner autumn / luteal phase and my three words are eager, driven, and vulnerable.
Bonus: Once you’ve filled in this information, ask yourself how you can honor that in your day that day, to show your body that you care!
For the example above it could be: I am going to pace myself and have a relaxing walk in the evening to wind down from being driven, so I reconnect to my vulnerability.
When you’ve collected the data over a few months (at least three), you can start placing your sheets next to each other and start looking for patterns. Maybe you use similar words for how you are in your inner spring versus your inner autumn. Maybe you always have a big low shortly before your period.
Once you begin to understand how your body works, you can make preparations accordingly. Even though no cycle is exactly as the previous one, knowing that you usually get into a fight with your partner around Day 25 can help you be more prepared and compassionate with yourself.
Due to the nature of your perimenopausal journey, cycle charting can prove a little difficult in that phase of your life. There will be fluctuations in length of your cycle, length of your bleed or missed periods. Also because of your brain being busy creating new neural pathways (it’s moving its lines of communication from brain-to-ovaries over to brain-to-adrenals) there might be other symptoms, too, like brain fog or mood swings.
During your perimenopause journey, you have different options how to record the day of your cycle:
This way, cycle charting can become a big support to get you through this phase with greater ease and confidence in yourself and your body.
Apart from puberty, your body has never gone through such a big change before, happening on all levels: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual-energetic. Sometimes it can feel like you don’t understand a single thing about what’s going on, at other times you get a wave of clarity and confidence.
Sometimes you may wonder who this strange body belongs to, why it’s betraying you and what the heck you can do to support it. Noting down its daily changes and rhythms will provide an entry point to start building a relationship with your body and seeing your cycle as your supportive friend and ally.
Yes, there’s a lot going on and your state may often change from moment to moment, but tuning in to what your body needs every day (or really moment by moment), recognizing patterns over time, provides a form of stability and predictability on a cyclical basis.
Cycle charting can almost provide a lifeline, through which you stay connected to your body and rooted in your cyclical experience.
In our society, we are so conditioned to think that everything is linear and that we need to grasp for control at any cost. That’s why understanding your cyclical rhythms and seeing how they can change and that it’s okay, can bring massive relief.
Apart from relief, cycle charting will also majorly reduce stress in your life – which is a key contributor to any kind of symptoms associated with menopause.
As described above, your brain needs to forge a new communication pathway to your adrenals, but when they’re busy producing stress hormones, it’s much harder to establish that connection and the challenges can last longer than necessary.
When you learn to trust your cyclical processes through cycle charting, you stop fighting against yourself and your body, which will bring more calm and ease to your life.
No change is ever easy, yet change is the only constant in our life.
As a woman and/or menstruator, regardless of whether you’re menstruating or not, you move through a process of death and rebirth every month (during menstruation or Dark Moon). That gives you the unique chance to release what no longer works for you and call in what you’d like to have happen with your life instead.
Journeying this process in a conscious way every month will help you move through the bigger transitions in life as well. So it’s never too early – and never too late – to start charting your cycle!
To bring this little excursion to a close, I want to leave you with three questions to journal on:
Enjoy, and much love!
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