Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
10. Perimenopause: Identity Shift with Sundae Bean
65 Plays29 days ago
In this episode of Our Womanity features a conversation with Sundae Bean, a transformation facilitator who supports individuals and organizations as they traverse through life quakes and other major shifts. A trusted voice for navigating life between worlds, Sundae is currently dedicated to organizational transformation in Switzerland and is widely known for her podcast, IN TRANSIT.
Perimenopause: A Biological Transition
Sundae explains perimenopause as an externally led transition—something that happens to you, not something you choose. This can overlap with other life transitions:
- Internally Led: Changes that come from within.
- Performance Led: Pursuing a big goal, like a promotion.
- Externally Led: Changes that come from our environments.
She emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between a genuine emotional response and a biochemical one, noting that while feelings are real, their source may be hormonal rather than a true reflection of your reality.
Strategies for Navigating Hormonal Shifts
Sundae offers practical advice to help manage symptoms like "monkey mind":
- Reality Check and Blood Check: Use this dual approach to test what's truly going on. Talk to a trusted friend to get an outside perspective, and work with your doctor to get yourself evaluated .
- Trust Your Body: Sundae shares her own experience of listening to her body's "yummy yes" for yoga over a "hard no" for running. This highlights the importance of trusting your body's needs over external advice.
- Find Your Body Compass: To counter feeling out of control, she suggests a simple exercise: take three deep breaths and hold the fourth until you can feel your own heartbeat. This grounds you and gets you out of your head.
Perimenopause as a Growth Opportunity
While difficult, perimenopause can be a time for growth.
- Self-Advocacy: It may force you to become your own best advocate, taking charge of your health when the system feels unsupportive.
- Adapting Strategies: Acknowledge that old strategies might not work now. A coach can help you develop new approaches.
- Bending Reality: Sundae encourages listeners to honestly assess where they might be "bending reality"—acting as if there are more than 24 hours in a day. This awareness is the first step toward delegating and prioritizing.
Advice for Healthcare Providers
Sundae offers advice for healthcare providers to better support their patients.
- Listen to the Patient: Ask, "How have you been?" to understand the full context of their life.
- Validate Their Experience: Don't dismiss symptoms. A simple, "That sounds hard," can be incredibly validating.
Refer When Needed: If you cannot provide the necessary care, refer patients to a coach or other specialist.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Personal Impact
00:00:00
Speaker
So welcome back everybody to Our Womanity. I am so pleased today to have Sunday Schneider being on the call. So she has been a very long standing dean life coach, career coach, and honestly has become go-to person. And I feel like you're my friend, even though we've never met in person. But you are my friend too.
00:00:19
Speaker
You have my best interests at heart. And Sande has helped me through these huge times of transformation and transition, moving from a medical trainee to a boss and trying to figure out what I want out of my life and out of my career. And she's the person I think about through all of these big life transitions. And what is bigger than perimenopause, right?
00:00:43
Speaker
Huge perimenopausal transition. And Sunday has also helped me figure out where I want my voice to be through the perimenopause and menopause space too, because it's another passion of mine. So anyway, welcome Sunday. I'm so, so happy to have you here. I mean, you're the reason, you're the inspiration for even starting this podcast. So to have you on as a guest is amazing. Thank you. So exciting. Thank you. I'm just so honored to be part of your journey. and Thank you.
00:01:10
Speaker
I don't even think friend does the word justice because we've just done life together, you know, to watch you show up and accomplish amazing things and achieve things that you only
Understanding Perimenopause
00:01:22
Speaker
dreamed of earlier. so it's really, I'm honored. Thank you. Thank you. I so appreciate that. this is one of our mutual favorite topics is perimenopause. And i think you have taught me so much through transition. And I feel like, you know, doing this series on perimenopause from head to toe and just makes sense to have you from a coaching perspective, think through how does perimenopause show up at this time as transition, whether it's work, whether it's your family, you know, where we need coaching. i think there's multiple
00:01:51
Speaker
places. So I guess my first question for you is, you know, perimenopause is a biological transition and that biology is that personal. It hits everybody. thought it was going to skip me, but, uh,
00:02:04
Speaker
you yeah But can you unpack for us, like, what does that mean for someone experiencing symptoms and feeling frustrated? You know, we've spoken before that I learned about the heavy impact of perimenopause on women while they were already going through other important transitions. And so my work, I call it ATT. It's a ambitious transformation transition. And we look at it, either you have an internally led transformation or transition. That means something inside of you is changing and you feel like, you know, your shell is too tight and you need to break out, right? There can be an externally led transition like perimenopause that happens to you and you could have a performance led transition. So same you have big goals, right? You, you have, let's say you want to have a promotion and perimenopause is happening and your relationship doesn't feel like it fits anymore. Right. Right. So all three of those things can be happening at the same time.
00:03:04
Speaker
Right. Right. Any one of those things is really intense. And what I find through perimenopause is it's kind of a dangerous thing because one, it's biological and not personal. So you feel things.
00:03:17
Speaker
Yeah, that are not matching reality. And from my own experience. So I had great medical support for my own journey from 40 onward. And now I'm 48. And I was really well supported. And then when I transitioned from South Africa to Switzerland, there was a break in support. But that means there was also a break in kind of the hormonal support I had. You can imagine there was, you know, this about the science and I'm sure you've talked about in other podcasts, but what's going on your brain and the neurological changes. Right. Well, now there's been something biochemical that has shifted and I'm no longer supported. And so that would mean i would wake up in the middle of the night and I would have like just monkey mind. You know, i wasn't worried about like a big presentation next day. It was just like almost like anxiety, but I knew it wasn't real anxiety.
Managing Stress and Insomnia
00:04:10
Speaker
Oh, how did you know? How did you know that? That's a good question. And if thank God I knew it wasn't real. And this is what I want to say to the listeners is you have to distinguish what is real and what is just biochemical. For example, what I did is because I had insomnia, also a symptom, right? I would take notes on my phone.
00:04:29
Speaker
about the things that I would be thinking about and I would send them to myself. And having captured them on my phone, it made the monkey mind quiet a little bit and it would go back to sleep. yeah I would look at my notes in the morning and I would just laugh. They were just monkey mind. They were real things. That's amazing.
00:04:45
Speaker
Bring the second presentation copy. It was nothing relevant. Right. So I realized, Hey, this not real stress, like not real stress. Yes. So that was one thing. The other thing with insomnia, I had to look at, am I not sleeping because I have a challenging job or am I not sleeping because my body isn't sleeping?
00:05:06
Speaker
Yeah. Right. Third example is, okay for example, I had things in people that I was in relationship with that would really trigger me. I mean, really trigger me. And I had to go in and go, is this truly about the person and the relationship or is this a biological reaction? Oh, yeah.
00:05:28
Speaker
Wow. Okay. That's fascinating. And thinking back to the sleep thing, I'm not a neurologist and I'd love to interview a neurologist about perimenopause, but I think for sleep, you know, what I've heard and have read is that our brain is filtering out the day and processing what is important, what needs to stick into your mind and what needs to be let go. Yes. But if you're having insomnia and you're thinking about all of those things, like maybe you're actually not deciphering what needs to be let go yeah and you're just holding on to everything.
00:05:56
Speaker
Yep. Plus anxiety, right? One of my friends calls them the night scaries. She's like, that's a thing. A lot of people have it. So what I really it's important because it's a biological transition, you could easily make it about you and get swept away.
Advocacy in Healthcare
00:06:14
Speaker
And you're like, my relationship isn't good enough. Well, it's because I'm not managing my workload well enough. I'm not doing this. And now all the blame comes to you. And so this is really important when I work with my clients to understand what is biochemical and what is real.
00:06:32
Speaker
Right. I mean, of my favorite phrases that you've taught me is like, what story am I telling myself? And what am i making this mean? Right. Exactly. But the problem is, is the feelings are real. The experience is real.
00:06:45
Speaker
Right. But I would always have to check it. And with my clients as well, check it against reality. So I call that reality check and blood check. That's awesome. Yeah. Test what's going on in your reality, test what's going on in your blood, and then you could do a cross check if you're not sure. So ask a friend, hey, this happened.
00:07:02
Speaker
yeah And this is how I responded. What do you think? yeah And that will help you kind of calibrate what's going on. Oh, that's so good. So there's a lot of discomfort. There's a lot of disorientation and frustration that I see women experience through perimenopause.
00:07:16
Speaker
How can they take this time and actually use it as an opportunity for, yeah is that possible? Hey, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I mean, depending on your symptoms and what's going on it could really be hard. So I don't want to sugarcoat it, but opportunity for growth. Like I had this example and I'll, I don't want to share my client's example. So I'll share my own examples. I had an example where I needed blood tests again, cause it had been a while i could tell things were shifting and it was really hard for me to get an appointment.
00:07:45
Speaker
And I ended up calling the receptionist and I said, listen, it's this many months. I need these blood tests. You know, this is what we're looking at. And then I got the appointment. And when the doctor called me with a results, she said, who ordered this blood test?
00:08:00
Speaker
And I said, I did like I had to take charge. urge Yeah. of my care. Nobody was doing it. Nobody cared more than I did. right And so I had to be more assertive. I could have said, this is a system, you know they work on this timeframe. I had to step up and be more assertive. yeah So that's a growth opportunity. Absolutely.
00:08:23
Speaker
right It might be the first time that people are ever really doing that for many reasons.
Trusting Instincts Over Media
00:08:28
Speaker
The other thing I think the growth opportunity is, so there was a phase where I could tell that like intense exercise wasn't good for me.
00:08:40
Speaker
Oh, interesting. Instead of overriding what I should do, right? Like everybody says you should do heavy weights and you should do, you know, hit training or whatever. i could feel it in my body. I almost felt as if it would be dangerous if I did that. And so the growth opportunity is like waking up in the morning and trying to understand what does my body really need right now? Not what have I done or what should I do?
00:09:04
Speaker
Right. And then I made choices like yoga, gentler stuff. And that was just by trusting yourself. That's my point. Right. mean, I think yeah that's incredible that you trusted your instinct. You trusted yourself.
00:09:16
Speaker
How do you help people trust themselves when they don't, when they're seeing all these things on social media, do this, this, this, you know, I don't want to say it help out loud and call anything out, but there are a lot of like, this is what you should do on social media during perimenopause. How do you help people learn to trust themselves?
00:09:31
Speaker
I think in small little steps, right? Like with that situation, there's like, I should do this. And it's probably coming from fear place. Right. Or it's coming from like a do it right place, like the perfectionist place.
00:09:45
Speaker
Yeah. But nobody's in your body. Yes. You know what I mean? You know this. And this is of the I've learned from you is you really listen to your patients and you treat their symptoms.
00:09:56
Speaker
Right. And so I had to listen to my body and understand based on how I feel right now, what would be the kindest thing I can do for my body right now? of Right. And so you have to do a little experiment, you know, with my clients and my example with yoga was, Hey, I have this choice right now.
00:10:14
Speaker
Go. And you might remember this from our work together. Like my body compass. If I thought about going for a run, it gave me like a hard, no, like a really hard no. And when I thought, well, maybe I could do yoga instead, it gave me like this yummy. Yes.
00:10:28
Speaker
the Right. And so I was going toward a yes. Yeah. It was still good for my body. That's so interesting. And I think, i mean, you have taught me this, like about getting into your body, shutting out the noise and like feeling what is actually what you want or feeling what feels right or what feels yeah correct. Can you give our listeners like a 30 second tutorial on how to do that? Like how to come back to your body?
Techniques for Grounding and Stress Management
00:10:53
Speaker
Yeah. because I'll just use my own example. Like there are things that like will trigger me because they go completely against my values. And whether no matter how noble those values are, right it sets me off and I can go, you know, I can go up to this out of body sort of moment in my brain or I'm outside of my brain because of the emotion that it brings to me.
00:11:16
Speaker
yeah And you have taught me, I'm still working on it, but you have taught me how to recognize when that happens and how to come back down into myself so that I can be rational and not just be working from emotion. Because like I like keeping my passion, like my passion is something I value. So recognizing those moments when my values are being infringed upon yes it's still important.
00:11:36
Speaker
but how to come back to my body. Can you give a 30 second tutorial on how to do it? One really simple technique that I learned in my coaching training that is simple, but can be hard for people is often, I mean, a lot of people, I'm sure you in the medical field, everybody is like living from their chin up. They're in their heads, right? We're not really physically in our bodies. So one really small thing is you take three breaths and And then you hold your breath on the fourth one until you can feel your heartbeat.
00:12:04
Speaker
yeah Right. So if people want to do this right now, we just do free breath.
00:12:15
Speaker
And then hold on the third one.
00:12:19
Speaker
see if you can feel your heartbeat. Tell me when you can feel your heartbeat, Rachel.
00:12:26
Speaker
Don't pass out.
00:12:30
Speaker
Okay. Now, now you can't. Right. And a lot of people struggle with even feeling their heartbeat and then that will be their assignment to go and to try it. So what that does is one, it gets you out of your head into your body. Yeah.
00:12:43
Speaker
And I'm sure like a neuroscientist could say how it like stops hijacking your prefrontal cortex and gets your blood flowing to more parts of your body. So that really simple breath, it reminds you, i have more than my story up here and I'm in my whole body. So it gives you access to more.
00:13:00
Speaker
yeah And then you can have a much more grounded response. Yeah. I like that strategy just for people who want to try, if you're ever in a stressful situation, like a really important work meeting or an interview, you can do that. no one will know you're doing it. Yeah. And it will get you back to you you. And then once you're there, then you're more grounded to your core values, to who you are and you're not triggered.
00:13:19
Speaker
Right. And then you kind of keep a little bit of the dignity, right? Like passion is important. I'm not saying yeah don't be passionate, but I think when we operate by our emotions, then but I know for myself, I don't think straight. Yeah. yeah you know
Testosterone and Energy Post-Menopause
00:13:35
Speaker
Absolutely. I think that's what's really important PeriMendo has too, because we will, if if you have a symptom where like rage is a real yeah it's daily response, right? For some people, if you have that, that is so uncomfortable. And so I have so much empathy when you have that experience, what can you do to like counter the rage or find balance in the rage? That's something, and as it makes it safer for everybody else in your presence.
00:14:03
Speaker
Yeah. And if you have a hard time feeling your heartbeat, you know, one thing that I think I do is like, I just feel my pulse right here. And you could, you could be sitting in a meeting and just feel your pulse. Then you feel your heartbeat a little bit yeah easily. Absolutely. But you're right. Like we have to come back to being grounded.
00:14:20
Speaker
Yep. And I wanted to loop back to this story with yoga, the gentle and the hard, right? yeah yeah So again, back with cross check, blood check and reality check. I, after I had made those choices, I got my blood tested again and my doctor found out my testosterone was completely tanked.
00:14:39
Speaker
So of course I didn't have that oomph to go out for a run. And I don't know, you tell me what would happen if someone had no testosterone and force themselves out of pure will yeah to go do, I don't know what would happen to your body. I don't think it's good for you.
00:14:54
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know. i'm I'm not sure if it would be like bad for you, but definitely you won't get as much of a workout. If you try, you're just going to feel, you know, you're, it's almost like the negative reinforcement. Maybe you'll try and then you'll feel like shit.
00:15:09
Speaker
yeah And you'd be like, yeah, why did I do that? I should have been doing something else. Right. Yeah. Absolutely. And I just told this group that I spoke to last night about menopause, you know, everybody is walking around with some testosterone except for women after menopause.
00:15:24
Speaker
like We associate testosterone with men. We think of it as like masculine hormone, but honestly, premenopausal women have testosterone too. And we do have some fluctuations where there are times in our cycle that it spikes, but in general, we have some testosterone and After menopause, when our ovaries stop producing it as much, our levels decrease so much. And I think it's a really vital hormone for yeah for that oomph.
00:15:53
Speaker
for not just sex drive, even though that's where the research is that we have historically is on sex drive, but it doesn't drive general, right? ah Yes, absolutely.
Role of Coaching in Transitions
00:16:03
Speaker
One of the things I think people don't realize unless they've gone through this themselves is how your hormone balance will totally impact how you feel, even your decision-making, your confidence, right? And if those are off, you don't feel yourself. And I know I've heard you talk about that with a lot of other women and podcasts is a reported feeling of, I don't feel like myself.
00:16:23
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And yeah tell us a little bit about like for women who are feeling lost or who are feeling like they're not achieving what they want to be achieving. they think very menopause might be part of it. Like how would they seek out a coach and like, how can a coach influence our or help them through this transition? Right. So always the caveat, like you can't coach biology. So make sure that you have good care and that that person is working to make sure your levels are in a healthy range. Yeah. Right.
00:16:51
Speaker
I would also add just from my own experiences, just because they're within the brackets on the report doesn't mean you feel good enough. Yeah. Right. And that's my soapbox. I tell people, I mean, I even rarely check blood work because your symptoms are more important. Yeah. But if you have someone who's checking your blood work and says, oh, you're fine. And you don't feel fine i like it's all fine. It's not fine. It's not fine. right I would then after that, when I know that's being taken care of, i would look at where they are. Like, yeah what's the external transitions that are happening? Are they moving? Are their kids going to college? Right. Are their parents aging? So I would do an inventory. And this is one of the first things I do with my clients that what is going on externally. And for a lot of people, there's multiple major things happening at one time. Maybe their best friend has cancer.
00:17:38
Speaker
Their parents, one of them went into a nursing home. There's war happening out in the world. Like there's a lot happening, right? There's lot. And then you go to what's the internal transition. Like, are you feeling like something inside of you is hungry for more purpose and meaning? Are you feeling like you're outgrowing your job? Are you outgrowing your relationship? What's going on inside?
00:18:00
Speaker
yeah And then I would look at what are your performance? Like what's the performance transition you're in? Like maybe you want that promotion or maybe you actually want to step back and work less. Right. yeah And just that, that first step is like, wow, there's a lot going on.
00:18:15
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Because I don't think a lot of people realize that. Right. It just has becomes the norm. Yep. So you have to give yourself some grace and like, wow, no wonder I feel like shit. This is how many things I'm navigating, right? Right.
Managing Global Information Stress
00:18:28
Speaker
Yep.
00:18:28
Speaker
The overwhelm, right? Totally. And I hope you don't mind me kind of quoting you. But I know we've talked a lot about, you know, our brains evolved to be in villages yeah and we know what's happening in the village. We care and we act on what's happening in the village. But now even just with our phones, like we find out what's happening in every freaking village across the whole world.
00:18:50
Speaker
And it is very overwhelming. It creates a constant stress response of yes so what can I do? oh I can't do anything. That helplessness feels bad for us. Yeah, an absolutely. Very human level.
00:19:02
Speaker
And a very biological level, right? In my body, it thinks I'm in this tribe of 150 to 200 people. Yeah. But I'm watching what's going on the whole group. I feel like I have a responsibility to do something now, right? And we all have a responsibility globally, right?
00:19:17
Speaker
Yeah. But we can't always make such a direct impact. on everything at all times. And I love this metaphor that I heard from Clinton Doyle, right? From We Can Do Hard Things. yeah She just talked about there's this river of social justice and there's a lot of boats on there with leaders.
00:19:34
Speaker
It doesn't matter what boat you're on, just get on a boat. i love that. Just get on a Just get on a boat, right? So, you know, and so be active on a boat at least and cheer on the other boats, right? Instead of having to feel like you have to steer it all. love that. Yeah. But I think that's one thing they need to kind of honor and and recognize where they are and say, Hey, this is hard.
00:19:52
Speaker
One thing I have to say that I work a lot with my clients on, and I have to admit, I sometimes struggle myself is you have strategies that worked in the past. Mm-hmm. And you think, well, these work, so I'm going to bring them forward. But your context changes, the complexity changes, your body changes. Yeah. But those strategies don't work anymore.
00:20:12
Speaker
Yes, that's right. Right. So with a coach, you can say, hey, these are the strategies that worked in the past. It's not working anymore. Right. What else could I do? And another phrase that you'll recognize for me is, are you bending reality?
00:20:23
Speaker
Right. Yeah. I bend reality all the time. That's like, I'm like a professional bender. Yeah. Are you acting like there's more than 24 hours in a day? Do you pretend like you don't get tired after, you know, 12 hours of working? like Where are you bending reality? And then to have a look at like, what do you do later?
00:20:41
Speaker
What do you do with lower quality? What do you not do at all? What do you delegate? A coach can really help you kind of take charge of your life again when everything else feels out of control. Yeah. I love that.
00:20:51
Speaker
Yes. And you've done that for me. So I appreciate that. Question about like, what can I be doing? What can healthcare providers be doing to better support this like dual biological and personal transformation? I mean, I'm sure you're doing this already based on how I know how you work, but any other practitioners, just the first question is how have you been?
00:21:11
Speaker
Yeah. What's going on, right? They could share, well, there was a death in the family. They could, you can make sense of the biological impact by hearing their context, listening to their symptoms. And I know this is what good practitioners do. They like, how bad do they feel?
00:21:26
Speaker
yeah Right. Even if you're within the brackets on the hormone, whatever, like what's your experience. And i would suggest at least from my own personal experience, if it's possible in your practice is, can you have a plan where you definitely check in, in three months?
Healthcare Communication Strategies
00:21:44
Speaker
Right. Because what I've experienced, and it could be different in the U S but in Switzerland, the time to the next appointment is either totally up to you. yeah Like they'll never call you again unless you make the call. And when you do call, they say it's in five months.
00:21:57
Speaker
Okay. and So like, can you give that person based on what they need, but every three months, a quick check-in or like, Hey, our next appointment is here. So then you can watch whatever you gave for treatment, watch the impact. And then they don't have to wait six months.
00:22:15
Speaker
Right? Yes. That would be really something. And I don't know, like from a medical field, I know you're not a therapist. I know you're not a counselor. You're not a coach and you shouldn't be, but I cannot tell you how many people that I have talked to who said, you know what?
00:22:29
Speaker
My doctor just listened. well because what they literally get it's terrible stories of face in the computer no eye contact with a patient or even back to the patient because there are computers over here yeah and no personal connection yeah and just if the doctor who is listening right now is male or never gone through perimenopause themselves you don't know how hard it is and it's okay you don't have to know right but just imagine This person might be struggling every moment of their day.
00:23:01
Speaker
yeah And so treat them with the care and the humanity, you know, by saying like, Hey, that sounds hard. Let's see what we can do to help you. Yeah. Right. yeah And it seems so simple. And yet so many people are not doing it Right. I guess there is an art to it. And we have come a long way away from the initial, even hands-on physician, like,
00:23:25
Speaker
healing, but sort of like this touch through healing, just through an exam and making a person's body feel validated because of what you are finding on examining them. It's a basic thing to say, but like, please do not dismiss them and say like, it's okay to suffer.
00:23:43
Speaker
It's just what you do. Like, do not dismiss them. And the other thing I would do, depending on where you are medically, yeah, If you don't practice in a way that will support their symptoms, that's okay.
00:23:55
Speaker
But just say the kind of support you're looking for is more, let's say holistic. Here are five people you can call yeah to get that. So they don't feel left alone.
00:24:07
Speaker
lost. Exactly. Exactly. No, that's really helpful. Thanks for that.
Sharing Experiences and Breaking Silence
00:24:12
Speaker
Okay. My last question for you, because I could talk to you all day. What do you wish you knew 10 years ago?
00:24:18
Speaker
Wow. I'm kind of glad I didn't know. yeah It is like childbirth in some ways. I do. Except it lasts forever. But you know what? Honestly, I have to say this is part of, I did this project called Wisdom Fusion around 2020, where I brought women from 20 to 75 together, multiple generations, and I had them talk to each other because I felt like when I got to my 40s, I started experiencing things nobody had told me about.
00:24:44
Speaker
So to be very honest, I wish that I had been surrounded by a group of women who had gone through the hard times come out on the other side and had some wisdom and could have shared that with me in advance.
00:24:57
Speaker
And that's part of my commitment. Now I have really wonderful colleagues who are, you know, pre-menopausal in the sense of they're and that's on their radar yet. But I try to also say, Hey, this is just so you know, i had no idea this was coming. It's okay.
00:25:11
Speaker
But you know, here's what I learned, how I had to advocate for myself, or here's what my clients heard. hurdles they had to overcome so they don't feel blindsided yeah or they don't feel alone and like something's wrong with them.
00:25:23
Speaker
Right. You know, like that example of with that low testosterone moment, if another woman has low testosterone and they they lost their oomph, others could say, oh, you're working too hard. You're not working out enough, you know, right and they're blaming her, not looking at what's the cause.
00:25:41
Speaker
Yeah. Right. So that's the thing I wish I had known. I wish I would have more quickly looked at what was going on with my body instead of taking such full ownership but in terms of it had to come from my agency and strategies. Right. Yes.
00:25:58
Speaker
I mean, Sunday, this is again, like we were talking earlier about my connection between taking care of women with fistulas in rural Africa and comparing it to helping women through perimenopause and menopause. And it's that same thing, like in these remote villages in Africa where they don't know why this woman ended up with fistula, they blame her every time. They say, you did something wrong. There was something that you must have done to bring this upon yourself. Yeah.
00:26:24
Speaker
Yep. And it's the same parallel situation through perimenopause. Like, oh, we don't know the reason. So it must be you. yeah But then if you meet someone who has had a fistula, had surgery, has gone on with their lives.
00:26:39
Speaker
And if she met that woman at that moment, she'd be like, What the hell? No, go get surgery, get yourself fixed and go on with your life. Right. Exactly. like if we have these connections with people and then help us understand what is happening. And if we talk about what's happening to women yeah don't kind of shroud ourselves in this silence, in this like stigma, then we could.
00:27:02
Speaker
Realize this is physical, this is biological and it's not your fault. Right. And there is treatment and your life is worth high quality. Yes, so absolutely.
00:27:14
Speaker
Absolutely. It is not okay to feel like shit. Right. And there are so many ways. It doesn't mean you have to have hormone replacement therapy. There's many ways to nurture yourself and your body through this transition.
00:27:28
Speaker
So find a method that matches your value system, your needs, your lifestyle, because I think too often we accept feeling like crap.
00:27:38
Speaker
Right. Exactly. Because you're not sick. You're just going through a transition. And so let's treat our health in that way. Yeah, exactly.
00:27:49
Speaker
Well, thank you so much. I'll put all of your information. If people want to reach out to you and follow you you've got great podcasts, websites, blogs, like everything. And of course, coaching, which I can attest to be highly valuable. So I'll put your information in our show notes. And thank you so much Sunday for your time.
00:28:07
Speaker
Wonderful. Thank you everyone for listening and watching. Have a great day. You too.