Groundhog day/month/year.

Oh boy. Here we go again.

That’s what it feels like a wee bit doesn’t it? I’ve said it before and yup, I’m about to repeat myself, August started off feeling so positive, then the OMG news cycle started with Afghanistan and what that nation was having to cope with, and it just felt we were all on a slip slide with them.

So here we are again, coming up for Christmas, and we have a new bloody variant of this b**tarding virus, as i call it, going about, and our news cycle is full of it. Now, more than ever, it’s important to stand guard to your mind, and not let feelings of hopelessness take over.

So, here is my action plan to help out during this trying time.

Create healthy news habits

Notice how many times you are picking up your phone during the day, and if you are simply doom scrolling, I choose to get my news (I’m a poet and I don’t know it), from listening to the radio in the morning, and then at lunchtime have a quick scroll on Twitter, and then I watch the 10pm news at night, if I feel like it. That’s it. Oh, and speaking to my Mum.

I’m not really on Facebook that much, so thankfully I am not getting targeted by others with either adverts or their content, but what I would say, with kindness, is, if you have people in your life who share a lot of content about covid 19 on their social media, and you find it triggering, maybe try muting it for a while.

Focus on the present

Sounds easy doesn’t it? Focusing on the present really does mean having a word with yourself and putting down your phone. Today, I have made a list of things I’d like to get done, this blog post being one of them, and I don’t know what’s going on in this mornings news yet, I am choosing to focus on my writing this morning. And coffee.

I am such a fan of a list. I made a one a couple of nights ago of all the things I keep forgetting to do, and also a list of Christmas stuff to get through and I’m feeling productive AF. For me, the more organised I am, the less stressed I am. That also includes leaving the house a lot earlier if I need to go out, it really makes difference.

Continue with your self care

Oh wow. It’s that self care phrase again. Whatever yours is, do it. I KNOW I feel heaps better when I have done a pilates or barre class online, and I always feel better after my cycling commute to work, unless it’s Thursday, because Thursday is ‘drive like a bam’ day in Glasgow. I have NO idea why, but if I get a close pass or someone who is literally just off my back wheel, way too close, it’s a Thursday.

What is your go to feel good stuff to do? Here is mine.

Facial massage when I cleanse my face

Chamomile tea with a splash of apple cider vinegar

Going to bed early with a book

Making an effort to moisturise my hands, especially with all the handwashing we are doing

Pilates and barre for the win. Sarah Gorman is a favourite

And, of late, making a hot chocolate with a slug of Baileys in it.

Keep yourself safe.

I am doing all that I can to keep myself safe. I do all that I can and stay away from others who are maybe not so bothered. I can’t police the world.

It really is down to just doing everything that we have been doing over the last 18 months or so.

Good ventilation has always been our first line of defence, then face covers, and hand washing. I don’t think i’ll get back to the stage mentally where i was disinfecting my shopping and my outdoor shoes (please tell me I wasn’t the only one), but I must admit I still do my steering wheel when I get back from the shops. I have no idea why. There are effective hygiene measures, then there is hygiene theatre. I just stick with the sensible basics. A definite hygiene theatre moment for me, was , last year, when i got back from the shops, I would undress at my front door and stick everything in washing machine.

We really don’t know what we were dealing with, but why was I acting like I was Karen Silkwood. It made me feel better.

Try to avoid worst case scenario thinking.

This is pretty rich coming from me. I have really had to work on this. I must admit though, my catastrophic thinking is greatly influenced by other people in my life. If someone continuously is doom gloom despair and despondency when they are around you, you can get pulled into that line of thinking.

I used to have someone in my life like that until recently, when I just decided pommes des terre, sur la cotes. Tatties over the side. I feel so much better about life now. I have breathing space.

It all goes back to controlling what you can control, and being present in the NOW instead of trying to forecast what will happen. Here is a good website for you, if you feel that covid 19 is taking up way too much space in your head.

Also, remember to talk to your friends and family, and keep an ear out for anyone who is being a bit quiet.

Anyway, I hope you found this useful.

What we are going through now, can’t be any worse than what we experienced last March 2020 when we really really didn’t know what on earth was going on. Now we kind of do. Ish.

Stand guard to your mind.

Elizabeth x

Perimenopause - don't think 'I've got heaps of time'.

So Anyway… Don’t wait to plan your health and wellbeing.

I’m not trying to be the harbringer of doom, but if you a woman, and even if you think you are NOWHERE near menopause or perimenopause, please up the ante on how much notice you give to your periods, cramps, and any other kind of hormonal upheaval you experience during the month.

Keep a health diary, make a note in your phone, or actually have a small paper diary that you use to mark things in that are worthy of remark. When I was a teenager, my periods would absolutely cripple me with cramps and feeling as if my legs both had air pressure pumps attached to them. In my 20s it was only every 3rd of 4th period that would do that, then in my 30s, my period would arrive and I wouldn’t have known any better.

When I hit 40, that’s when the ugly crying and feelings of doom started, but it was like a 2 week lead up to it, and it was the emotional side of it that would cripple me, and then all of a sudden it was permanent feelings of low confidence, not knowing how to dress, 4 changes of clothes before leaving the house, and excessive sweating due to that. Stress was a major factor.

Notice what you notice. Don’t leave anything to do with your health down to chance, or , I’ll deal with that later. Have a note of what your numbers are. Do you know what your blood pressure last was? Smart watches are brilliant for keeping an eye on heart rates etc aren’t they? When was your last smear test? Are you due another one? Has your GP even spoken about perimenopause with you, or asked you about your period?

I think as people these days, we are always aware of what everyone else is up to, and sometimes not paying enough attention to ourselves. Keep a note on your own wellness. I live on my own and have more than enough time to take care of myself, but a Mum or Dad with kids, possibly only eating their leftovers and not having a proper meal themselves, I see you.

That’s why we have thousands of women up and down the country in tears ( I read it on community facebook groups) in tears because they don’t understand why they have put on weight or just feel worn out all the time.

It’s an honour to get old, and we are the first generation of women to be able to talk about periods and menopause because most of us are lucky enough to have Mums or Aunties still alive. My own mother lost her Mum when she was 29. My Grandma was only 54. No age at all. What that meant though was my Mum had nothing to compare it to when she experienced it. No one to talk to. I’m lucky that I can talk to her.

What I would urge you to look out for as a fabulously maturing lady are:

Crying a the drop of a hat

Not feeling comfortable in your own skin and losing confidence

Explosive rage, which is basically fear and feelings of not being able to control your surroundings (why would you want to control other people anyway? We can’t police the world. It’s a difficult one)

Your period being like playing the lottery 26 days, 46, 33, 23…

I don’t have the scientific background but I do have the ‘back to the future’ mind. I do think in the next couple of years, we will have devices at your front doors to breathe on and tell us whether we are virus free, and also a little pad we can wear that will tell us daily whether we need more carbs, protein, hydration, when our cycle is due, what levels our oestrogen is at.

I’m not suggesting for a moment that we promote health anxiety, but what I am saying is that, I have been upright for 52 years now. I look after myself physically, and mentally as best as I can. To be honest the mental side of it, is the bigger struggle, just watching the news, I feel like I need a cushion to hide behind.

Start taking notice of yourself. If you knew as much about yourself, as you knew about Harry Styles (just me?), or what so and so on Instagram is up to, it would give us a massive heads up.

Onward!

Elizabeth

It's all change with 'the change'.

So anyway.

After a few years of studying and researching menopause, turns out I need to listen to myself more often.

Oh boy.

Like everything in life, I think I have worked something out, then the plot twist happens.

Don’t worry, it’s nothing more than simply overeating, but its amazing how it can get out of control.

My amazing 50 something body has changed tack again, going in another direction that seems to be very fond of making all my cloths feel a bit nipped.

Lockdown has affected us all, in many different ways. I have started wearing my fitness tracker again as I was more than aware of not moving enough, over the last couple of months, especially not working at the moment.

The overeating was very subtle, and it took my sister to flag it up to me.

Would you believe that having a period actually uses up a lot of energy, so when in menopause, and your period stops, the amount of calories you need daily/weekly/monthly drops too. It does’t help that during this process, our leptin levels also drop. Leptin is the hormone that tells you to stop eating as you are full, so the menopausal munching continues! Oh my!

I also noticed that I wasn’t doing myself any favours at all, by eating light during the day, then having an enormous dinner. So have switched it up, and am now making my evening meal lighter.

So I really have had to go back to basics. Get outside walking daily for at least an hour. Revisit my beloved Toned in 10 Davina McCall DVD, and start eating delicious homemade soups in the evening.

If you are trawling the internet looking for menopause advice, look no further than my Menopause Workbook, available for £4.99 from my website. I wrote it, and it’s jam packed full of helpful information to help you take steps towards better menopause management.

There is no magic pill to make the symptoms completely disappear, but there is great deal you can do, to turn the volume down, including a focus on stress reduction.

Find out more here.

Onward!

Elizabeth

You do you. (Really well!).

So anyway… here we are. As I write this, we are at the end of week 10 in lockdown Scotland. I haven’t been able to work at all during this time, and although I AM looking forward to getting back to work, doing what I love, I am also cherishing this time to try to make sure that everything is in the best place that it can be, from my house and garden, to my mental health.

For those of you, who, like me are not seen as key workers and haven’t been working from home, I’m wondering what GOOD habits you’ve formed and am keen that they don’t get given up. For me, its my daily walk with a podcast, its the opportunity to have what I call a ‘15 minute win’ either in the house, my garden, or my business, that really stand out. For me, being present and not distracted, and getting through all the thins I have been putting off for a while because I thought I didn’t have time.

This lockdown time will soon be over, it doesn’t feel like it, but it will!

I’m more than aware that some of your reading this will NOT have stopped working all through these last 10 weeks and I applaud you. Everyone from energy providers, to train drivers, keeping the supermarket stocked, farmers, and our amazing NHS.

I am wondering, however, what life will be like for our corporate athletes as we venture our in the work world again? Will offices to go in phased returns in shifts? Will the open plan office be a thing of the past, and you all have ‘pods’ that you work out of? Are we moving towards a more gentle way of living where employees may actually be encouraged to work from home? I’d love your comments on this so please join in! Also, who is NOT missing the daily commute to work and losing an hour or so either side of the day? That must be lovely.

As a massage therapist, my client base is pretty much relieving back neck and shoulder tension from people sitting at work for most of the day, if you have been working from home what have you enjoyed the most about it? What do you NOT want to go back to?

My work life will certainly be different for me when I return, before I used to run my appointments on the hour 4 in a row, not any more! 15 minutes between clients will now be the norm, and to be honest I don’t know why I wasn’t do that before.

The reason for the gap is to allow for used to be my nightly touchpoint cleaning duties, to now be my hourly ones. This will actually remove a lot of stress for me, and also, give my clients more time. Thats the really important bit. Sometimes its the last 2 or 3 minutes that a client remembers the most with me, and I am looking forward to that 2/3 minutes more than ever. That feeling of having given a great treatment and seeing my clients reaction to feeling either no or greatly decreased discomfort is just wonderful.

This is just ONE of the great things to come out of this time in our lives. I’m so looking forward to being with my friends and family again, I think that we will be more present than ever in each others company. Seeing real people that you love is something to celebrate.

What the point of this post? To give you a heads up to keep enjoying the things you may have taken for granted possibly in the past. Spending time with friends and family, just ‘being’ with one another.

I wish you the best of health.

Elizabeth