The Power of Periods

[Image from Canva.com]

As I reflect on the journey that has been pregnancy, I realize that I noticed very early on that there’s something that I’ve been missing immensely since becoming pregnant… my menstrual cycle.

I miss the rhythmic ebb & flow.

I miss the deep connection with my body.

I miss the way my needs & energetics shifted on a weekly basis in a predictable & beautiful way.

I even miss tracking my cycle on my cycle chart.

And, I miss bleeding.

I miss the monthly release & rebirth.

I miss the nourishing bleed rituals.

I miss washing and wearing and preparing my cloth pads.

And, yet, I realize that I’ve never heard another woman express that she missed her period while she was pregnant & postpartum. In fact, everyone I’ve ever mentioned this to has laughed and said something like “You would! I loved not getting my period.”

And it’s got me thinking about how we’re never taught to have a positive, loving, symbiotic relationship with our menstrual cycles. We’re taught to curse them. To suffer through them. But it doesn’t have to be like that.

Imagine looking forward to the arrival of your period each month.

Imagine not feeling inconvenienced by your bleed when it shows up on your wedding day, honeymoon, or birthday.

Imagine experiencing your menstrual cycle as a pool of infinite wisdom, revealing to you your deepest power and untethered self.

Imagine viewing yourself as part of an unbroken lineage of menstruating humans that dates back to the very first human that was ever conceived and born into this world.

Imagine the awe of realizing that every person you’ve ever met, every person you’ve ever passed by on the sidewalk, every person who has ever lived and breathed here on Earth since the beginning of human existence is the direct result of the menstrual cycle - of a bleeding human just like you.

When we choose to see the menstrual cycle in all her glory her strength, wisdom, and herpower become undeniable, immense beyond comprehension.

She is a force. She is primal wisdom. She is unbridled wildness. She is the life-giver. She is creativity embodied. She is limitless potential.

And, she is in you.

She is in me.

She is in every menstruating human.

How different the world would be if women, girls, trans, non-binary, and all menstruating humans were taught to see the menstrual cycle from this lens.

Not your curse, but your superpower.

Not an inconvenience, but a gift.

Not gross & disgusting, but beautiful and natural.

Not a disruption of your life, but a source of unparalleled creation and potential.

Not your enemy, but your sacred sister.

How different our lives would be.

Vibrant.

Powerful.

Confident.

Sacred.

Intuitive.

Connected.

EMPOWERED.

That’s the world I want for our young girls. That’s the world that I want for my friends, sisters, and clients. That’s the world that I want for trans and nonbinary folks struggling with what it means to bleed outside of the walls of womanhood. That’s the world I want for you and me.

That’s the world we deserve.

And, we don’t have to wait for Them to give it to us. We can create it for ourselves.

Be a source of period pride for the young menstruating humans in your life. Let them know what a gift it is to cycle and bleed.

Do the work yourself to heal your own period shame. Choose to reclaim your menstrual cycle for the powerful gift that it is.

Educate the men and boys in your life about the importance of the menstrual cycle and how to respect it and all who menstruate.

And when your menstruating days come to a close, honor all the bleeds of the past and celebrate the richness that lies ahead as one who has absorbed all that her bleeding days had to teach her and now ventures into a sacred realm as The Wise One with the teachings that come from a lifetime of cycling, flowing, bleeding, and growing.