The Heart & Hormones

Posted on February 18, 2020 by dragonspitapothecary

I have now reached this time in my life where I notice things changing in my body. These changes have been subtle for the most part but yet ever present. In honesty they have made more more aware of how things are always changing around me. I’m not slowing down as a result and life pretty much goes on as it always has but yet these changes are happening and I can no longer not acknowledge them.

We all know time passes too quickly. In a blink 10 years is pass and we’re doing century pictures on our Facebook timelines again. We see our family and friends getting older and think that can’t possibly be happening to us too. Yet it is and while we try to ignore we notice it more and more. That slight change in our hair texture. The appearance of fine lines. The change in our energy and appetite. The interests and priorities we see ourselves switching to. All of it occurring in small changes until one day we realize time has passed yet again and we are awakened to our own changes we are learning about.

For me these changes have awakened an increase interest in my heart and hormones. Most definitely my hormones have been taking a larger part of my awareness with the changes they are forcing through my body. Where I once never questioned my sleep quality I now find I don’t sleep as well and I wake in damp clothes from night sweats. It also has changed my energy. Where once I could go non-stop and get what I needed done, I now find I need to slow just a bit and steady my pace. This of course makes me aware of my heart and the beating it does to keep everything working and going. Am I doing what I can to keep it healthy? Have I given it enough love and care to carry me through this next phase of my life? Have I healed my relationship with myself to trust and be aligned with how to move in this season with grace?

I don’t want to say you stop caring when you get older but you realize different interests and priorities. You are drawn to different things than you were before that influence different areas of your life. Where once it was all about friends and having fun, it is now about quality of friendships and relationships providing enriching and fulfilling adventures that make good memories. I have really noticed most I have stopped caring what so many think about me or if I’m meeting their expectations. These days it is more about if there is a equal give-and-take that drives to me foster and solidify relationships. You definitely start to see the longer term, built to last aspects of a lot more areas in your life.

In my journey of living more natural on my terms these past couple years, I have really worked to align my emotional well-being with my physical body needs. It isn’t always easy but it’s been something that has changed my perspective of health. I’m interested in things that make me happy, support what I need and enable me to experience life on my terms. That truly is what living more natural is really about too. That has manifested in ways for me to honor my body’s changes into this next phase with a greater anticipation and not dread old age. It feels instead like an awakening where I find this whole new place to explore, enjoy and learn in. I am finding others like me who don’t want this next season to be filled with pain, dread or regrets. Instead it’s a uplifting, rewarding and honoring sensation that spreads throughout my body and my heart.

Too often we can quickly run into things in this phase of our life that become complicated, risky and are scary. When I started having significant pain in my menstrual cycle for instance I found that traditional medicine starts you on this path of hormone replacement treatments without really getting deeper into what is occurring in your body. In my case it was a simple low dose birth control that was meant to help regulate my cycles and relieve the severe