The Meaning of Menopause

The expected and evolutionary physical changes in a woman’s life include menstruation, pregnancy, birth, and menopause. While pregnancy and birth are welcomed and highly valued, menstruation and menopause are not. They are dreaded events that feel more like a nuisance than a natural life event.

We have made some recent progress in shifting the cultural narrative around menstruation, but menopause is still highly misunderstood and unappreciated for all that it means and can offer. This is in part due to the fact that the stories we tell ourselves - and that are being told TO US - do not reflect the reality of our bodies and the changes we are undergoing.

Menopause is not something to “manage”. It is not the “beginning of the end” nor is it a slow decline to death. It’s a time between stories where the old story fades and the new story is waiting to emerge.

Like most things in life, our experience will be determined by our perspective. If we see menopause as a symbol of becoming decrepit and old, this inevitable life change will be miserable and unwelcome. If we see it as an ending to a phase of life as well as an opportunity for something else we may be lucky enough to gain something from it.

So how do we find the meaning of menopause?

We start by accepting the change and grieving the loss. The cycle of life in the natural world teaches us that growth and death are inevitable cycles that occur with every living species. With menopause the dying-off process is physiological, but this needs to be honored and grieved like any loss.

We then ask ourselves, “What’s next?”

Menopause is a transition, and it is also a rite of passage. These natural changes move us through a transitional space where we are releasing what has been while staying open to what may become. This is a time rich with opportunity, but only if we make it that for ourselves.

Lastly, we turn inward.

We reimagine ourselves as becoming the truest version of who we were meant to be. We focus more on the natural unfolding of the self, and we shed what no longer serves us. Like a snake shedding its skin, we conjure new life from the dead parts we actively release.

And we write the next chapter of our lives using a language we create, and a story we can authentically own.