My Menopause Blog

I have a new idea about my Club Meno blogroll that lives in the right hand sidebar. The original, albeit purist thought was for the club to be for women blogging about menopause.

Silly, shortsighted me.

No sooner had I put my bags in my room and enjoyed the secure feeling of sitting on a non-moving toilet was I compelled to head out again. I instinctively wandered towards the sounds of shrieking women and water splashing.

Turns out bloghers shriek.

Instantly I meet my first live blogher who coincidentally is ‘of my ilk’ but does not choose to pontificate endlessly nor specifically about Planet Menopause. As we chatted, enjoyed a meal together, dove deeper into life topics and finally said goodnight, I realized that she belonged in Club Meno.

And so I welcome Marie of Alembic to the club.

Which brings me to the next part of my two-part shift of perspective. If you are a menopausal woman, in any stage of whacked-out-ness and you blog about your big toe, your garden, the kick ass sex you’ve been digging or some slice of life that rocks your world, and you’d like to be added to my Club Meno Blog Roll, leave me a comment and I’ll fix you up.

One sure fire remedy for menopause is realizing that others exist. Let the Club be your new touchstone.

Sue Richards
Tags: My Menopause Blog, my menopause blog,blog,Sue Richards, peri-menopausal, wise woman, menopause relief, club meno, information on menopause,menopause symptom, menopause,blogher, bloghercon, Women, wisdom, womens health news, San Jose, menopause symptoms .Order a Breast of Canada calendar today.

Find out what’s cooking in my town at Blog Guelph.

Made it!

Sue Richards

Tags: My Menopause Blog, my menopause blog,blog,Sue Richards, peri-menopausal, wise woman, menopause relief, blogging, information on menopause,menopause symptom, menopause,blogher, bloghercon, Women, wisdom, womens health news, San Jose, menopause symptoms .Order a Breast of Canada calendar today.

Find out what’s cooking in my town at Blog Guelph.

My blogging gloves are packed in my carry on and I’m good to go. Whether I’ll have the courage to flaunt the babies at BlogHer is a story yet to unfold. But I’m already imagining the Q and A at customs.

Customs Man: What brings you to the states?
Me: Blogging.
Customs Man: (confused look…. then he spots the gloves). Um….and these?
Me: Blogging Gloves.
Customs Man: Please come with me.

On second thought, maybe I’ll go slip them into my checked baggage.

Sue Richards

PS: Thanks to And Venus Smiled for the lovely blogging gloves and for reading my blog.

Tags: My Menopause Blog, my menopause blog,blog,Sue Richards, peri-menopausal, wise woman, menopause relief, blogging, information on menopause,menopause symptom, menopause, blogging gloves, fear of aging,wisdom, womens health news, evolving, menopause symptoms .Order a Breast of Canada calendar today.

Find out what’s cooking in my town at Blog Guelph.

I’ve been leafing through a borrowed book titled: The New Feminine Brain and found the following direct question.

Are you acting like an “old lady” or a “wise woman”?

Hmmmm….I thought as I noted my black mini skirt…is there another option?

Sue Richards

Tags: My Menopause Blog, my menopause blog,blog,Sue Richards, peri-menopausal, wise woman, menopause relief, blogging, information on menopause,menopause symptom, menopause, old lady, fear of aging,wisdom, womens health news, evolving, menopause symptoms .Order a Breast of Canada calendar today.

Find out what’s cooking in my town at Blog Guelph.

I have a growing list of tasks to perform before I head off to BlogHer at the end of the week. Strange projects like fixing my garden gate and vacuuming have made it onto my list. Hardly essential to the trip but somehow important to my psyche, chores that have accumulated beg to be completed.

I’m no stranger to the conference setting. My collection of name tags that hang from my front door key holder is a tangled web of plastic sleeves and clips. Upon closer inspection you’ll find two subjects …. music and breast cancer. Oddly I’m neither a musician nor a breast cancer survivor. My skills as a producer, publisher and cultural animator simply found a place within these domains.

BlogHer may or may not be another story. My skill as a blogger falls within the content category and quite far from the technology department. I’m attempting to carve out a career for myself rather than blogging as a hobby. I read a few other blogs but generally like to be off line as much as possible. My sense of marketing on the web shows an understanding of the concept but my vocabulary lacks the terms.

Another words, I’m on the verge of taking a long walk off a short pier. I may arrive at this conference and instantly find my place of comfort. But there is a chance, as there always is when taking a risk, that I’ll end up introverted in the corner, in some menopausal state, wishing the clock to tick faster.

I really hope that doesn’t happen. For the last few years I’ve tried not to wish for tomorrow. When I look at the calendar and see 2006, I wonder how the hell that happened. I distinctly remember 1981. Then there’s a blur. Now this.

As a messenger, my menopause tells me that time has passed. Like a teeter-totter the change of life gives hints of the future and long views of days gone by. Some how, I want to straddle the two and be present right now. I like to reflect. And I love to wish. But more and more, I simply like to be.

Sue Richards

Tags: My Menopause Blog, my menopause blog,blog,Sue Richards, peri-menopausal, menopause relief, blogging, information on menopause,menopause symptom, menopause, BlogHer, fear of aging,wisdom, womens health news, conference, menopause symptoms , bloghercon, Women.Order a Breast of Canada calendar today.

Find out what’s cooking in my town at Blog Guelph.

Photo Credit: C. Herick. Hat and Art Direction: A. Sutherland

My Menopause and I are heading out for a few days of relaxation by a lake. We’ll be back Monday. (Buoy Oh Boy is going too. My Blogging Gloves are not.)

Sue Richards

Tags: My Menopause Blog, my menopause blog,blog,Sue Richards, peri-menopausal, pause, menopause relief, blogging, information on menopause,menopause symptom, menopause, blogging gloves, vacation,wisdom, womens health news, fun, menopause symptoms , photo , energy.Order a Breast of Canada calendar today.

Find out what’s cooking in my town at Blog Guelph.

Last week during torrential rains, which resulted in a flooded basement, I reached a new comfort level with old home ownership. As I observed the slow trickle of water seeping in from my front of house basement corners, I quickly assessed the speed of flow and proximity of goods that should stay dry. Then I did the math. Would I have time to make and enjoy a coffee and cruise through the morning paper before taking up the task of basement mopping wench?

Confidently I assured myself that indeed the better way to start the day was with java. After 17 years of owning this abode, I’m fully aware that the basement enjoys an annual flood. Getting into a flap over it has never changed the situation. Unless you consider all the negative fallout that comes from being in a flap… particularly the flap that starts out first thing in the morning. Entire days have been spoiled that started out this way.

I call this line of thinking ‘Girl Logic’. I believe there is a passive smartness to conducting myself this way. Certainly it could be argued that replacing passivity with action might solve the flooding issue once and for all. But here’s where the new comfort and Girl Logic comes in. My old house has a number of issues that could do with attention at any given moment. I could spend much of my time and all of my money addressing those problems. Or, I could enjoy a coffee and relax. An even better solution is to find the fine balance in between.

Like this. When all manner of weather started appearing inside my home thanks to rotten windows, I stopped making coffee and instead made a phone call to have new windows installed. Girl Logic knows when to change modes and step up to the plate.

Post caffeine and daily news, I returned to the scene of the wet crime being committed in my basement. My puddle had grown considerably but not beyond what I had imagined. I mopped for half an hour, repositioned the dehumidifier and fan and cranked the windows open a tad more. Within the day, the whole area was dry.

I’m a much more confidant homeowner now that I am used to my old house and its charms. Coincidentally, I’m a much more together menopausal woman now that I’m getting used to my menopause and its funky manifestations. I don’t need to react to every strand of fly-off-my-head hair as though I’ll be bald by dusk. Instead I can make a pot of tea, kick back in my hammock and read the paper. Ironically, the less attention I pay to my locks the fewer of them fall out.

Sue Richards

Tags: My Menopause Blog, my menopause blog,blog,Sue Richards, peri-menopausal, dream, menopause relief, blogging, information on menopause,menopause symptom, menopause, my old house, fear of aging,wisdom, womens health news, hair loss, menopause symptoms , panic attack , relax. Order a Breast of Canada calendar today.

I am not prone to nightmares… at least in the plural sense of the word. Instead I’ve managed the same one over and over again.

I’m in a phone booth. It’s raining hard. The person outside the solid door is wearing lemon yellow pointy high heels. I can see the tips directed menacingly toward me under the doorway. It is clear to me the wearer plans to kill me if I leave the booth. Everyone I call for help is unavailable yet I keep leaving messages. Meanwhile yellow shoes waits silently and the rain pounds a steady beat.

The first time I had this nightmare I was camping with a group of about 20 strangers in a fairly remote place in New Zealand. Deep within my dream state, I was able to summon a long drawn out HELP that filled the ink black night and set the rest of the campers on high alert. Not my finest outdoorswoman moment but certainly a memorable one.

Since that debut, yellow shoes have visited me about once a year. The last time, I slammed my booted foot down on the pointy toes then smashed the door in her face before bolting for safety. It’s possible that I’ve ended yellow shoes reign of nighttime terror with my bold escape.

Panic attacks are commonly listed as a symptom of menopause but I’ve never found anything written to suggest nightmares come with the package. Still I would say that the nightmare fits with the mood of a panic attack so it’s not a big stretch for me to believe the two are connected.

Since turning 40 but seldom before, I’ve had occasional panic attacks that render me stupid. There’s no shiny side of that coin to enjoy. A mutant scary seed gets planted in my brain and off I go on a wildly terrifying ride in my mind. Fortunate for me I’ve spent some of my time on this earth studying yoga and mindfulness mediation. Both help me defuse the worst of the attack and bring me back to a state of calm sooner than later. I also know to refrain from operating heavy equipment should I get whacked out on fear, drink plenty of water and stay put. No need to add further injury to my over zealous nervous system by crashing into something.

Perhaps I’m lucky. When I boil down my menopause, it really isn’t that frightening. The hair loss has slowed down. I’m less freaked about what I don’t remember and my energy level seems to have stabilized somewhere above slug speed but well below rabbit. My missing menses no longer worries me and I’ve learned that my puckered skin goes away when I stop looking in the mirror.

But every now and then I flare up when thoughts of nursing homes or restricted mobility creep into my consciousness. It is then that I remind myself how prudent it is for me to keep my mind on and in the present moment.

Sue Richards

Tags: My Menopause Blog, my menopause blog,blog,Sue Richards, peri-menopausal, dream, menopause relief, blogging, information on menopause,menopause symptom, menopause, yellow high heel, fear of aging,wisdom, womens health news, nightmare, menopause symptoms , panic attack , energy. Order a Breast of Canada calendar today.