I’m a little bit older than you - I’m 49 and also a late-diagnosed autistic - and agree that there’s something undeniable that accompanies perimenopause. Until that point, it was easier to delude myself about the realities of getting older. But once those hormones really start dropping and the shifts accelerate, I found it impossible to ignore. It’s also a time of decisions. How hard was I going to fight against my changing body? Not much, it turned out. I decided that observant surrender was the way for me. I’ve worked with my very knowledgeable physician to treat problematic symptoms as they arise (taking progesterone to help with disrupted sleep, for example) and continue to do my best to take care of myself as I always have. But I am not going to try to pretend I am the same person that I was when I was 25. My body is softer and so am I. My face has some wrinkles because of 49 years of sun and laughter. I’ve become invisible in a way that I thoroughly enjoy. I’ve found a lot of freedom in this phase of life and I’ve heard from women older than me that it only gets better from here.
I love this comment so much 🥹 thank you for taking the time. I also love “observant surrender.” Yes. This is what I aspire to as well. I’ve realized that my resistance to these changes is what caused a lot of suffering, which in turn caused more symptoms. It seems like the perimenopausal body is just more…delicate? So it needs more acceptance in order to feel settled - and that takes work at first.
I love that you say delicate. I’ve been saying that I’m less resilient but that just didn’t feel right. I don’t do well with the same level of bs that I used to and I think that’s a good thing! Delicate to me = more conscious of where and in what I invest my energy.
It's funny because as much as we're all the same going through the peri process, there are so many differences as well. I *definitely* also feel less resilient. I feel like my capacity for stress is less - I don't know if it's just my body's container has grown smaller or if I am less tolerant of what I feel to be needless nonsense. Lol. Who knows!
I’m a little bit older than you - I’m 49 and also a late-diagnosed autistic - and agree that there’s something undeniable that accompanies perimenopause. Until that point, it was easier to delude myself about the realities of getting older. But once those hormones really start dropping and the shifts accelerate, I found it impossible to ignore. It’s also a time of decisions. How hard was I going to fight against my changing body? Not much, it turned out. I decided that observant surrender was the way for me. I’ve worked with my very knowledgeable physician to treat problematic symptoms as they arise (taking progesterone to help with disrupted sleep, for example) and continue to do my best to take care of myself as I always have. But I am not going to try to pretend I am the same person that I was when I was 25. My body is softer and so am I. My face has some wrinkles because of 49 years of sun and laughter. I’ve become invisible in a way that I thoroughly enjoy. I’ve found a lot of freedom in this phase of life and I’ve heard from women older than me that it only gets better from here.
I love this comment so much 🥹 thank you for taking the time. I also love “observant surrender.” Yes. This is what I aspire to as well. I’ve realized that my resistance to these changes is what caused a lot of suffering, which in turn caused more symptoms. It seems like the perimenopausal body is just more…delicate? So it needs more acceptance in order to feel settled - and that takes work at first.
I love that you say delicate. I’ve been saying that I’m less resilient but that just didn’t feel right. I don’t do well with the same level of bs that I used to and I think that’s a good thing! Delicate to me = more conscious of where and in what I invest my energy.
Thank you for this 🙏🏻
It's funny because as much as we're all the same going through the peri process, there are so many differences as well. I *definitely* also feel less resilient. I feel like my capacity for stress is less - I don't know if it's just my body's container has grown smaller or if I am less tolerant of what I feel to be needless nonsense. Lol. Who knows!