PERIOD talk! (2/3)

Before creating a final period post, I thought whilst I'm midway through Masie Hill's Period Power, It'd be a good idea to come back on here and discuss a few things. This is all just absolute basic common knowledge that everybody should have, but for some reason, before diving into this book and my little adventure into discovering my own body etc. It turns out I knew very little of how everything worked, which was equally frustrating, because I bloody wish I'd known it all when I was 15/16 but also rewarding because now I can begin my journey knowing just what's going on in my body. 

It's crazy how every female body works incredibly different and has different responses/ reactions/ things going on down there. I never knew just how much your period ties in with health, a good regular cycle and ovulation (when an egg is released for fertilization) is a great sign of health and even though it doesn't feel so great whilst you're on your period, it's one way in which you can practice gratitude, knowing your reproductive system is working very hard and keeping healthy, is something to be grateful for. Life can effect your cycle and your cycle can effect your life. If you're experiencing problems such as no bleeding at all, too much bleeding, extreme mood swings, extreme pains or unexplainable feelings... it's always a good idea to speak to your doctor or a professional, I know that women's health and periods are really understudied and often pushed to aside, doctors will try to fob you off with an alternative without actually researching into your concern, so make sure you know where you're going for help and research yourself.

Emotions during your period can be telling signs of unresolved situations/feelings in your cycle and I know how easy it is just to put up with/ or dismiss feelings because you know you're on your period but it doesn't have to be this way. Obviously hormones fluctuate which then causes emotions to change or intensify but it doesn't and shouldn't be unbearably painful, if so you should seek help but before then, evaluate your life, do you have supportive relationships? are you too hard on yourself? is the same emotion appearing each time? 

Your cycle is split into 4 different categories- winter, spring, summer and autumn. I'll go into more detail about the specifics in my next post, hopefully from this general info you can do some research yourself... but back to the topic, during these different time periods your body needs different things and you will behave in different ways. I was so unaware of any of these things, mainly because I've spent a good chunk of my life not even aware of my body, surroundings or life in general. Living in auto pilot, being depressed or just generally not caring or being interested means you've probably never noticed the changes your body/ mind goes through but when you do tune into your body, WOW! It's absolutely crazy. First thing first is track, track,track- if you don't know when you're having your period or ovulating, or what stage of your cycle you're in you wont be able to help yourself, being aware is the best thing. (Clue is an amazing app to track almost everything!) If you're aware you're coming up to your autumn (just before your period) you can harness your life around that week knowing you're not going to be your best self.

There's so much I could say about this topic, I literally could go on forever I feel like creating a podcasts or some form of audio material just because there's so much to say!!! I just want all of us who have periods and experience these feeling whether they be extreme or subtle, to know that we're not alone and you're not 'crazy' for feeling any type of way on your period/before!