This is part of a series of blogs on the changes I made when menopause started affecting me and my training. For the others see intro, training and recovery and physical impacts. What worked for me might be different to what works for you but hopefully it gives you some ideas of things to try.
Want support with training during menopause? Join me for Menopause Week - 8th to 11th October
If you’d like to learn more about navigating your training through (peri-post) menopause then join me for my upcoming Menopause Week - a free series of online events where we’ll be looking at all this and more in more detail.
Mental health and mindset during menopause
I’d made such massive progress on my mental health and mindset in the last few years, and I was terrified to find myself slipping back into old ways as my hormones started changing.
Out of nowhere I felt like I was falling back into a hole of depression with weeks where I’d burst into tears for no reason.
Most scarily all the ‘ladders’ I’ve taught myself to climb out of the hole felt like they had just dissolved away.
What I did to change things:
The biggest change was starting HRT which thankfully seems to have addressed the sudden, massive emotional changes.
I am continue to work on my mindset every day, using the model I use with my clients:
1. Being aware when I am having a thought that isn’t helping me.
2. Being aware the thought isn't fact and choosing to challenge that thought.
3. Choosing to change or reframe it for one that serves me better.
Practicing gratitude, mindfulness and finding joy
Menopause is a bloody great pain in the arse and I’d rather have the body of a 30 year old, but I don’t, so I’m trying to put my energy into things where I can make a difference, and focussing on the positives rather than wasting energy fighting things I can’t change.
I don’t have a specific gratitude practice (although that’s a great place to start), instead I look for joy and things to be grateful for throughout every day, especially finding the beauty in the outdoors whilst I'm training or walking
When things get hard, instead of dwelling on them, I try and find the reasons to be happy and grateful instead, for example:
Gratitude for these changes happening now whilst I still have the time and energy to implement changes and make a difference for the long term.
Gratitude for how incredibly lucky I am to not have experienced anything more severe and to be generally healthy, be able to afford to pay for yoga lessons, to have access to knowledge and to navigate my way through.
Gratitude to my younger self for investing time and energy into mindset work and strength and conditioning, giving me a solid base to work from rather than having to start from scratch at a point when I’m already feeling vulnerable.
Finding other ways to support my mental health
The hardest time was when the doctor told me to stop exercising whilst they looked into my heart palpitations. It came at a time when my mental health and sleep was already bad and it really hit home how much I depend on exercise not just for my mental health, but my social life, my job, as a break from work, and even my identity.
I avoided catastrophising and worrying about ‘what if the doctor tells me I can never exercise again’ and instead focussed on what I could do and control right now.
I try to be mindful and live in the moment rather than wasting my time worrying about things I cant change from the past or cant do anything about in the future. Initially I used various apps (see training and recovery) and occasionally still do, but mostly it's about being present in the moment.
I’d love to doing regular journalling but I’ve not cracked that one yet. Rather than beating myself up I make sure at least I use it when I most need it - if I’m getting stressed or upset about something, I turn to my journal and thrash the issue out for the better.
And because I know I wont do it myself I take part in groups like MHEC which support me to do regular journalling and self-accountability sessions.
I found other ways to support my mental health such as morning walks and yoga – turns out I’m quite good at prioritising training but useless at prioritising myself in other ways. So I tried to understand why was this and what could I learn.
The why is ongoing, but in the meantime I accepted I wasn’t getting the yoga done by myself so I signed up for Yoga for Wellbeing classes.
I found things beyond exercise that made me feel better, such as an open air painting class and a highlight of each month is my Nature Writing for Wellbeing classes
I became mildly obsessed by birdsong and the Merlin app
This set of changes is the probably the most significant I have made this year. Not just for all the benefits they bring, but the mindset shift needed to ‘allow’ myself to invest in things for me beyond work or training. I hadn’t realised how big a shift I needed to make there.
I don’t know for sure how resilient I would be if I had to stop exercising again or my mental health took a big dip. But I feel like I’m in a much better place, with more things in place to give me a rope to grab onto before I fall too deep into the hole again.
Got questions or suggestions?
What have you found works best for you? Do share any suggestions in the comments.
Or if you have questions why not join me for Menopause Week
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