As we talk about the menstrual cycle, women’s mental health, and the emotional well-being of people with estrogen cycles, there are two strategies we apply.
The most common is a repairing approach to mental health.
Here, we proceed with repairs of what gets broken after a period of time of pushing through and living out of sync with a cycle. We reach out for healing practices and techniques to help ourselves in a moment, just enough to keep going.
We seek repair in a glass of wine, meditations, rigorous workouts, a round of therapy, self-isolation, pharmaceuticals, holistic practices, Tarot and crystals, or a combination of them all. This approach can bring promised relief, but it often keeps us in a cycle of “fixing” ourselves just enough to keep going till next breakage.
The second approach, much less practiced and the one we should be embracing, is sustainable.
Here, there is little to fix as we learn to live in sync with the phases of the cycle and become capable of anticipating the natural flow of our physical and emotional needs. We match our energy levels with the right mental and physical load, not vice versa. We match our commitments to the coming phase, mood highlights, and behavior.
Just do the math. Born in 1987, I have about 170 menstrual cycles left until menopause, and I’d rather meet each one with grace. I won’t always have access to repair kits and treatments, and I won’t always want to use them. I won’t always have the money or time to lean on therapy, retreats, or costly routines to repair my mental health. But I will always have the muscle memory to recognize my patterns—physical and emotional—throughout my cycle.
This, to me, is the only path to real mental health and emotional well-being for women and estrogen living selves. And it’s the path I choose.