I work with leaders and change agents who are in their mid 30s-50s. I, too, fall in this range. The menopause transition will impact every single one of us either directly or with loved ones and colleagues. The symptoms emerge exactly during the time period when you are caregiving (children, loved ones, elders) and/or navigating the height of your career or a second and third career transition.

Given this, the menopause transition should be part of all leadership and professional development

It’s been five years since I nudged myself forward in ways that felt scary AF and super vulnerable. In retrospect, that was a small step but a critical one to learn how to show up in bigger, more authentic ways. I’m celebrating five years of a journey to push the edges of my discomfort that has grown my window of tolerance. I’m also cheering for the ripple effect that this inner work has had in supporting others as they develop their voice as well.

While it has only been about 125 posts since I first hit ‘publish’ on April 24, 2019, I can see how I charted a path to discover my authentic voice.

Language is powerful. The words we use and assign meaning to help shape the stories our brain tells us. There’s that powerful moment when someone tells you or you read something that encapsulates an experience you’ve been grappling with. This often happens when I offer the label of “grief” to what they are feeling - be it career grief or climate grief or another kind of disenfranchised grief. I see then that AHHA moment of, “Yes, that’s it!”

Language can also shape how we come to think of ourselves and our life’s transitions.

The brain tells you stories all damn day long and then creates dreams to catalog those stories.

The human brain creates a version of reality for you based on a cumulation of past experiences, surroundings, selected memories, and stories we tell ourselves. The brain has evolved to keep us safe. As our brains got bigger and our muscles smaller (relative to the beginning of humanity and other animals), the brain needed to find ways for safety while also being able to digest information from our environment or surroundings and our body quickly.

Change is a given. Transformation is that change done in an empowering way. And that latter part is a choice. Your choice.

There are so many opportunities for transformation in our life journey. The world is begging and pleading for transformation all around us. This is why you find my weekly newsletters popping around topics of grief, career changes, leadership, menopause, climate, gardening, writing practices, creativity, around and around.

The journey through and with menopause is one LOUD invitation into your own empowering transformation. Menopause is about embodiment and reclaiming our own stories. It’s about how you (re)learn to connect to your body (and its inherent wisdom) when society, education, and work systems have all taught and trained us to be disconnected. One of the main ways that disconnection gets perpetuated…

Touchpoints throughout every week, sometimes days, now contain regular conversations on grief. My own, friends, clients, and strangers in passing. There is so much to grieve. The world has become more painful and traumatic. Loss is more present than ever. And, also, the world has always been traumatic for some. Many of us just didn’t or couldn’t see it or it was easier to turn away.

Grief is something to turn towards, not away from. We show our humanity and the potential to do things differently in how we build a relationship with our grief.

The pathway to purpose is an intentional process of self-discovery, reconnection, and alignment with your values.

In the Rust Out workshop earlier this month, we explored values, mind-body connection, and a practical pathway to living in alignment as you reshape your core purpose.

I led participants in a somatic exercise of Curling and Unfurling, symbolizing both metaphorically and symbolically contraction and expansion.

What keeps you from feeling more “Hell Yes” moments and choosing embodied action steps to support those?

I want you to have more ‘yes’ in your life! And saying ‘yes’ may sound counter to my normal message of ‘no’ is a boundary and the path out of overing. But hear me out.

The ‘yes’ I’m talking about comes with being intentional about what brings you joy and nudges you towards value-aligned living and working.

Underneath burnout, rust out, grief, blocked creativity, and resistance to change is betrayal.

Clinically, betrayal is “the sense of being harmed by the intentional actions or omissions of a trusted person.”

Even in that brief definition, betrayal feels heavy. Let’s break it down:

Here’s a common response I hear from clients on why they hold themselves back:

“Saying no and having boundaries feels selfish. I don’t want to be seen as a selfish person.”

You may hold such negative connotations to the concept of yourself being ‘selfish’ even if you applaud others for prioritizing themselves. Or you may resent them for it. That frustration likely has roots in your own desire to prioritize yourself.

I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions and mostly have moved away from goal setting in the traditional sense. Since my birthday is right before the new year, it always feels more like setting intentions for my next trip around the Sun.

Over my break, I reflected on the last year-ish. Always a qualitative researcher at heart, I coded my previous journals for themes and insights. Sure enough, my potential for growth and my hijacking patterns were both beautifully glaring at me, directing my attention to what is needed this year.