Today at a post Christmas drop-in I met an interesting woman with a marketing background.
She said it was a real downer to tell women I'm a coach for midlife women because women don't like to think of themselves as middle aged.
She advised me to call it coaching for women.
This reminded me of my initial marketing of my practice when my headline was The Odyssey of 'The Change' with a tagline, Embrace the Journey of Menopause.
Well, it seemed that women didn't want to embrace 'the Change'.
In fact they didn't want to talk about it at all, except perhaps to remonstrate a bit with a close friend.
I believe that the menopausal process, which takes place over several years and consists of perimenopause and menopause, has been mixed up with aging in our minds.
This has a very negative impact on women because the society we live in is very ageist.
Yes, it's true that the culmination of the menopausal process means we are no longer able to give birth.
But it does not mean we are old women!! Peri/menopause is a transformative journey, a body-mind-spirit experience.
But it's been turned into a medical event by our system, with a heavy emphasis on the physical.
The circuitry rewiring that takes place at this time effects every bodily system, especially our brains.
This means we are not the same women by the time we've completed the process and become menopausal.
We are changed at a deep level.
I think it's time we honoured this huge event in our lives.
I will write more about this in the future.
You can find out more about the circuitry rewiring by reading Dr.
Christiane Northrup's book on menopause.
Copyright Ellen Besso 2008