During the menopausal years it can feel like EVERYTHING in your life is changing. This time of rebirth can be really tumultuous. Self-care becomes very important. Your emotional and physical needs are changing, and your self-care needs change too. Have you prioritized self-care?
You may be dealing with children leaving the nest, changes in your marriage, new career demands, caring for aging parents, and in the middle of all that, the emotional, spiritual, and physical challenges of peri-menopause and menopause. No wonder so many of us feel exhausted, depleted, and uncertain.
The physical symptoms we experience are often a cry from within – the voice of the wise self has been trying to get your attention for a long time, saying “slow down, listen deep, open to transformation!” – but the demands of life have made it difficult to hear. So the call gets stronger. Eventually it can take the form of burn-out, exhaustion, sleep problems, and painful reproductive health issues. I know, I’ve been there!
So what can you do? You can start today, in small ways, to nurture yourself more deeply, and carve out small areas of spaciousness and ease in your busy life. Just make some space to listen to the wise self within. Baby steps and small simple acts are fine – do what you can, today, to begin nurturing yourself in a new way.
Can you commit to a daily practice of just fifteen minutes a day? Fifteen minutes of loving self-nurturing, fiteen minutes of opening up space for the wisdom to emerge from within. It’s not much of a time commitment, and if you do this consistently, you will feel things start to shift towards ease and spaciousness.
Fifteen minutes of what? You choose what speaks to your soul. What activity feels like a big exhale to you? A sense of ease when you think about it? These things work for me:
~Touching nature. Putting my feet in the grass, gazing at the moon, and especially, walking near water.
~Journaling. Lighting a candle and pouring a cup of tea, and sitting somewhere quiet to put my thoughts on paper.
~Arranging flowers and/or crystals on tabletops and shelves in my home. I love creating beauty around me, and flowers and crystals carry healing energy.
~A warm bath! This ALWAYS works. Be sure to fully set the scene, clean bathroom, music, candles, aromatherapy, sparkly water with fruit to sip, something pretty to put on afterwards.
~Yoga or meditation. Even just fifteen minutes of stretching can be a total re-set. Again, setting the scene is important – candle, incense, music, a clean private space to practice.
Those are some simple ideas for self-care baby-steps. I’d love to hear your ideas for fifteen-minutes-a-day self-care routines. What works for you? What would you recommend to other women?
Love,
Bronwyn
