Tag Archives: change

Out With the Old, In With the New

New year New YouHere we sit on the brink of a new year filled with new opportunities and possibilities.

What does that mean to you period wise?

Here’s a quick list for consideration as you turn your back on the old and face the new.

  • try something new (product, attitude, activity)
  • learn something new (about yourself, your flow, your cycles, a product you’re curious about)
  • be curious (Infinity pads, menstrual cups, 100% organic cotton tampons, cloth pads, free bleeding)
  • be adventuresome (step outside of your menstrual comfort zone)
  • share (don’t keep your growth and discoveries to yourself)
  • prepare (the next generation to be period wise – you may be their only hope of a great start)
  • create change (first in yourself then in your world)
  • be period proud

Happy New Year!

2015 – Let’s Shake It Up

A new year prompts reflection, regrets, and resolutions.

I could have….

If only I had….

I’m going to….

On this first day of the new year, let’s shake it up.

Each month of 2015, do something different, period wise.

Think —

  1. Every time my period starts I
  2. The menstrual products I always rely on are
  3. My attitude about my period is
  4. I share the fact that I’m menstrual with
  5. The clothes I wear during my period are
  6. Fears and concerns I have
  7. My period panties resemble
  8. When on my period, I have never
  9. It’s always the same when on my period, I
  10. The last time I tried a new product was
  11. Openness about my menstrual experience with girls within my influence is something I
  12. My favorite cycle day is ____ because

As you glanced through the 12 thoughts above, images, feelings probably flashed through your mind. I know they did mine.

Let these drive you to shake it up period wise in 2015!

Farewell 2014

2014 will soon be little more than a bundle of memories captured in words and pictures, thoughts and things.

2015 will provide new opportunities to narrow focus and lean hard into what’s important.

What’s important?

Why, all things period wise, of course!

Take a moment and think back over your year, period wise.

  • What changes should you make going forward into 2015?
  • How would you like your experience to be different?
  • Who, within your influence, could benefit from your insight?

Ready or not, here it comes!  Five, four, three, two, one…Happy New Year!

One Hundred and Fifty-three Days of Possibilities

Today is the 212th day of 2014.

There are 153 days remaining.

153 days to

  • become
  • accomplish
  • change
  • add
  • subtract
  • multiply
  • divide
  • settle
  • disrupt
  • begin
  • stop
  • start
  • undo
  • grow
  • take on
  • put off

Don’t look back on the days now spent.  That’s not where the energy lies for your To-Do list today…tomorrow…the next 153 days.

You do have a plan for accomplishing your goals for 2014, right?  Take a look at it from a period wise advantage.

  1. Recalculate.
  2. Reschedule.
  3. Rephrase.
  4. Redefine.
  5. Realign.
  6. Refine.

Move forward with the plan.  Make each of the remaining 153 days move you into who or what you want/need to be on January 1.

Do it for yourself, period wise, and launch yourself into new possibilities.

Why Try a New Product?

I’m often asked, “Why would I want to try a different menstrual product if I’m happy with the one I’m using?”

My reply?  “Why wouldn’t you?”

All too often we settle for what is because of fear.

Yep.  Fear.

  • I’m afraid I won’t like it.
  • I’m afraid it will be money wasted.
  • I’m afraid it will be a waste of time.
  • I’m afraid I will have issues with leaks.
  • I’m afraid I won’t be able to use a…(cup, sponge, tampon, cloth pad, ultra thin pad, pad with wings…)
  • I’m afraid it won’t work for me.

How will you know if you don’t try?

When did we become afraid to try new things? Hey, we’re women! We’re fearless!  We LOVE new things!

New shoes, new purses, new hair styles, new clothes, new panties, new cars, new friends, new experiences, new social media groups….

We’re all about change and innovation.  So, why do we stick with the same old menstrual product year after year after year?

Hey, I have friends who are still using the SAME product they began using when young teenagers.  Times have changed.  Bodies have changed.  Menstrual needs change. And, so do menstrual products.

I’ll bet you have shoes for every event and activity – work, church, play, exercise, beach, pool…and I’m guessing you have one menstrual product (at best two) that you have used for years and years.

Question – what will you do when the company stops making them…changes them…store stops carrying them?

(I remember the panic I felt when OB Ultras were not available.)

Take a look at what’s out there. Don’t be afraid. Remember – you are fearless! And, truly, there’s nothing to fear.

And, while I’m on this soapbox, encourage the girls in your life to explore and experience many options.  Don’t let them settle for just one. And, don’t let them be afraid to try new products. Encourage menstrual openness and creativity via all the options available. Menstrual fear should not be a part of their experience.

Why try a new product?  Because your period is worth it!  And, so are you!

Besides, It’s period wise!

In with the New

A very important thing to remember from this day forward, for the next 364 days, is: change the year to from 2013 to 2014.

Apart from changing the 3 to a 4 in 2014, what else needs our attention as we welcome the new year and all the new it brings with it?

A new year is like other new things…it likes company.

Ever buy a new purse? Yep, a new purse begs for new shoes. A new house? Yep…gotta have a new sofa and new curtains. No way that old stuff is gonna work with new.

The same is true with a new year.  Why would anyone want to bring in that old stuff we lived in throughout 2013 and clutter 2014 with it. Nobody I know wants to end 2014 on the same page they ended 2013 on, but they’re bringing everything with them when they change that 3 to a 4.

Let’s change it up.

Let’s make 2014 a year that redefines menstruation and all things period wise. Let’s make it a year of discovery, of excitement, of body literacy, and acceptance.

  • What period wise resolutions will you make?
  • What unwise period habits will you break?
  • What period wise dreams will you wake?
  • What period wise chances will you take?
  • What weakness, period wise, will you stake?
  • What period product will you wisely shake?
  • What period litter will you forsake?
  • What will you change, period wise, and for who’s sake?
  • What action will ease another’s ache, period wise?

It’s time.

Day 1.

The past has passed. The future lies before us – each day new. Let’s embrace it and live fully as we lean hard into who we are and who we want to be this next year.

Begin now…there’s no better time than the present.

I can’t think of a better way to ring in the new year!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Out With the Old

It’s sad to say goodbye to an old friend.

2013 was a constant companion these past 365 days but at midnight tomorrow, 2013 slips away and I’ll see it only in my memories and in the blog posts I wrote.

2013 continued the changes that 2012 brought, but it also stretched and grew me in ways I’d not imagined or planned on: spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

In some ways, I grew stronger.  Muscles rippled as I threw myself into yard work and gardening. Health improved as I ate better (and less). I became a lean, mean, working machine.

In other ways, I grew weaker. I fretted and stressed over things I had no control over. And, I allowed things to discourage me and keep me from accomplishing my goals.

As I stand with 2013 at my back and 2014 facing me, I look at who I was this past year…who I am at this moment…and who I want to be this time next year.

It’s time to let go of the past and let my next step take me into the future, with each step thereafter leading me closer to the me I want to be.

Do I have it all figured out yet?  No.  But, I do know this:

  • I need to hang on to the things that push me forward toward the fulfillment of my dreams and lean all the harder into them.
  • And, I need to turn loose of all that sidelines me, distracts me, or drives me in a direction other than that which leads to the fruition of my goals.
  • I must be single-minded in my pursuit of making my dreams a reality.

What about you? It’s time to let go of the past. And, it’s time to embrace the new.

How does this apply to you period wise?

  • Are there attitudes about your menstrual experience that you need to discard?
  • Are there fears you need to address?
  • Are there products you need to dispose of?
  • Do you need answers to questions, or understanding about your own experience (or that of your daughter)?
  • Do you hate your cycle?
  • Are there taboos you want to break?
  • Do you want more from your menstrual experience than you have but are unsure how to make it happen?
  • Is there something you’ve always wanted to try…to do…but haven’t?

Let go of the old and embrace the new.

There’s a bright new world out there, period wise.

Let 2013 be the year that launches you into that new world of discovery, better health, peace of mind, menstruation appreciation, self awareness, and cycle embracing fulfillment.

Life Before Puberty

Do you remember what it was like before you began to change?

You know…before your body began to respond to the hormonal surges that turned you from a child into an adult?

How much do you remember about the carefree body of your childhood?

The NPR piece set my mind to thinking about my own experience – not only with puberty and the changes it brought, but before.

Before – when I was just a little girl and my biggest concern was what Momma would have for dinner and if I would like it.

As a late bloomer, I had many more years of carefree body life – far more than children who enter puberty at 4, 6, 8….

But, try as I might, I found it difficult to remember what it felt like to live in a prepubescent body.

Oh, I remember the fun…there was a lot of fun. From daylight until dark, days were filled with fun.

In the summer I ran around shirtless like the boys and thought it wasn’t fair that I couldn’t pee on a tree like they could.

I remember the last time I allowed Mom to bathe me, but not how old I was.  She was always careful to make sure I was clean and her manicured nails scratched my delicate skin as she washed between and within. I’d had enough – “I’ll do it myself,” I insisted.

Surely I could part and wash between and within that part of my anatomy far better than she. My fingernails were short and my fingers small. A quick swipe with a soapy washcloth was all I saw a need for.  I had no idea there were folds and bits and pieces of me that were unseen and needed to be clean.

Apparently they weren’t aware either.

My mother had breasts. So did my grandmothers and aunts. And, my female adult neighbors did, too.  In fact, all the women I knew had breasts. They were evident on their chests…bumps or humps or lumps that protruded and got in the way most of the time, especially when they tried to hug you, but they sure did make nice pillows for sleepy heads.

I had a chest.  No breasts on me. And, as far as I knew, no breasts for me. I was a girl – not a woman.

My grandmother once told me, “One day you will have some, too.”

My reply was “No, I’m a girl – I’ll always be a girl and girls have chests…they don’t grow breasts!”

Free to be and at ease with my body, I had no problem being naked…in my backyard, in the wading pool, in the tub, with my family…with my friends. Why would I need clothes?  Why would anyone?

And, why would anyone want to cover up what they had? I knew there were rules that applied to how people dressed and acted, depending on where they were and who they were with.  I didn’t know what social norms were but I knew what was accepted by my parents and expected by others. I just didn’t know why…or care why.

Until a friend who was three years older than I visited me for a day of play.

On previous visits, at the end of a long summer day of play, we had jumped into the bathtub together and splashed away until Mom declared us clean. The only difference in us was our ages and height.

This visit, as daylight dwindled, I was left sitting on the porch while my friend bathed.

“Why can’t we get a bath together like always? Why do I have to wait? There’s plenty of room for us both!” I whined.

Mom said, “She wanted to get a bath by herself this time. Sometimes girls want privacy.”

Privacy! That’s what people asked for when they were in the restroom stall and little kids peeked under to see if the stall was occupied.

Why would my friend need privacy to get in the tub?

“Is something wrong? Is she mad at me? Why doesn’t she want to play in the tub with me?” I quizzed mom.

“One day you will understand,” Mom said. And, with a kiss to my furrowed brow she left me to ponder her words.

And, ponder I did. It was a great mystery and I would be the great detective and set about to discover why it was my friend preferred a boring bath alone to a continuation of playtime.

So, I did what any great detective would do…I tried peeking in the bathroom window. And, yes, Mom caught me before I was able to solve the thing that puzzled me.

And, now, here was a new thing.  My mom was guarding the privacy of my friend and keeping me from her. Surely, I had done something horribly wrong and upset my friend, causing her to reject me and the friendship and openness we once shared.

Our friendship did change from that point onward. I didn’t understand the change until years later, of course, and assumed I was the cause of it.  I mourned the loss I felt and hated the walls that were erected between us.

Age became an issue. I wasn’t “old enough.”  Again…I didn’t understand.

It wasn’t a matter of age.  It was a matter of maturity, of puberty. My friend had become self-aware and sought to hide herself in a cloak of privacy.

I, on the other hand, had no such encumbrances. I had no such burden to bear. I was free to be – me.

There was nothing about me that I thought to hide. My freckled face…my chest…my arms and hands…legs and feet…there was nothing scary about them and no need to hide them.  Everyone had them, except for women, who had breasts and there were laws about letting those bad girls loose in public. I knew…my dad had told me so.  And, I could see why there would be.  Those things could be dangerous…could poke a kid’s eye out or get tangled up in the steering wheel or worse.

I felt sorry for my friend, and for other friends as well, who lost their freedom to be and enjoy unburdened days of childhood. Mom’s words would come to me time and again, “One day you will understand.”

That day came rather unexpectedly. I had stepped out of the tub and was drying myself when I felt soreness on my chest.  And, it seemed the soreness was directly centered under one of my nipples. There was a lump there. My chest was swollen a little there as well.

“MOM!” I yelled, and she appeared instantly in the bathroom door.  “I think I hurt my chest today.  I must have run into the corner of something.”

Mom moved in for closer look.  “Ouch!” I said as she touched my chest and put gentle pressure on the tender lump.

“Are you certain you ran into the corner of something? This is directly beneath your nipple,” she stated with an odd look of concern on her face.

I didn’t recall hurting myself but I had been quite active that day and anything was truly possible and I told her so. “Do you think I have…cancer??” I asked her.

“No…and I don’t think you injured yourself either,” she offered as she felt the other side of my chest and asked, “is that sore, too?”

I shook my head “no” and assured her it was just the one side.  She nodded and said we would keep an eye on it but she was sure it was nothing to worry about.

(NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT?  REALLY?)

Over the next few days I watched and waited for a bruise to rise to the surface but one never did.  And, the lump didn’t go down…it got bigger and even more tender.

Instead of going shirtless, I was instructed to keep my shirt on.  And, not only that, but I was given an undershirt to wear as well.

It became shameful to be shirtless.

Suddenly I became self-aware and sought to hide myself and my body.  I was embarrassed and confused.

Something was wrong.

And, I was alone.

All of my peers had moved on years before and those I now played with were younger than I and wondered why I had become aloof and secretive.

My grandmothers delighted in the fact that I as “growing boobies” and said so…to me. And, they also said that I was “becoming a young woman.”

“GROWING BOOBIES??!!!???  A young WOMAN?  ME???”

For the first time in my life I wished I knew curse words.

And, I wished I were once again 3…4…8…10 so I could throw a tantrum and act my age…the age I still felt at times…when things weren’t all mixed up and felt so weird.

“Now that you’re becoming a young woman” became the most hated phrase anyone could say.  Why?  Because each time I heard it, it spelled the end of one of my childhood pleasures.

Grow up?  Me?? For what reason? I was fine just like I was, thank you very much. Become an adult? A woman? A Mommy? Um…why?

For the first time in my life I saw growing up as an obstacle to being me.

From my earliest memories, when someone would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up I would say “a doctor…a nurse…an explorer… a writer….”  Becoming an adult was not even on my radar and certainly not on my horizon.  I saw no need for change…or to become.  I would just be.

And, I would be…me.

And, when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I began to answer “free.”

Free to be me – that’s all I wanted.

And, now, it seems that I’m coming full circle.  (No, I’m not taking off my shirt and running around the neighborhood half naked – laws haven’t changed.)

I’m rediscovering the me that existed before becoming encumbered with the burden of “becoming a woman.”

Do your girls a favor –

  • Prepare them EARLY, explain to them, don’t be secretive.
  • Be open – with your own experience, with age appropriate information.
  • Make “the change” a normal part of THEIR growth…explain, explain, explain.
  • Help your girls see that it’s about becoming MORE who they are and not a time when they lose who they were.
  • Don’t force them to embrace an identity they are unfamiliar with and one that makes them uncomfortable, secretive and embarrassed.
  • Growing up is confusing enough as it is.  Don’t make things harder than they are.

7 Ways Lindsey’s Menstrual Cup Changed Her Life

I came across a blog on So Easy Being Green that I simply cannot resist sharing.

Perhaps it’s the colors. Or, maybe it’s the beautiful pictures. Or…it could be that the topic is reusable menstrual cups.

It could be that it’s all that and more – the “more” being Lindsey and her delightful way with words.

Lindsey describes herself as a “green Mommy blogger” whose first and foremost roles are “Mommy” and “Wife.”

7 Ways My Menstrual Cup Changed My Life describes Lindsey’s experience with a Lunette cup – (size 2 according to the pictures) and her thoughts concerning it.

“It has literally changed my life and I finally found freedom from my period.” — Lindsey

If you’ve never given reusable menstrual cups much thought, do the period wise thing – be open to change.

Currently, three companies of reusable menstrual cups have received US FDA approval: Lunette, Moon Cup/Keeper Cup, and DivaCup.  Instead SoftCup has also received FDA approval for both the disposable and the reusable cups.

Why are we hesitant?

Your menstrual product of choice is not working as well as you would like…leaks, frequent changes, itching, irritation, cost…you’re not completely happy with it, but you are not open to change.

Why not?

If we are dissatisfied with clothing, what do we do? Continue to wear what we’ve always worn?

If we don’t receive service we like at a restaurant, what do we do? Go back to the same place time and again expecting different treatment?

If we don’t like a particular brand/type of food, what do we do? Purchase it again and again, eat it and complain about how much we dislike/detest it?

If we are watching TV and don’t like what’s on the channel, what do we do? Settle in to view something that doesn’t meet our needs or speak to our desires?

No!

Then, why do we continue to use the same menstrual product for years even though our needs change?

There are some awesome menstrual products available now and if you’re stuck in the rut of using the same product you’ve used since X, I encourage you to open yourself to the idea of trying something new.

What do I recommend?    I recommend that you shop your options.  Take a chance. Try something new.  Explore the new pads, consider cloth, and give menstrual cups a look.

As always, I welcome questions and will help you find answers as you look into the options available to you.