I’m speaking live [today and tomorrow]

Looking back, it’s now clear my entire life has been a journey in the pursuit of health. This is probably true for all of us. The journey for some can be a struggle to survive and for others a drive to thrive. I was stuck in survival mode for a long time, and now I’m glad to say I’m thriving. 

But I’ll be the first to admit it’s been a work in progress.

Armed with the knowledge I have now when I look back, I can clearly see that my health issues didn’t happen overnight, but that they were an accumulation of things that happened throughout my life.

As I tell my clients, your body doesn’t wake up one day and decide to be dysfunctional.  What you’re experiencing today is a compilation of events that have happened over time, sometimes starting as early as the point of birth.  

For example, if you were born c-section or weren’t breastfed, then you didn’t get exposed to all the beneficial bacteria needed to develop a strong immune system. It’s like starting life with a health handicap.  

Combining a situation like that with childhood trauma, the standard American diet, environmental toxins, and the daily stressors of our modern-day world – it can easily lead to a state of poor health over time.

One of the earliest, most significant signs of my health status going haywire emerged a few years after starting my menstrual cycle.  

I was plagued with extremely painful and irregular periods, but I didn’t think much of it then.  I simply tried to ignore the issue.  I thought it was great when I didn’t get my period because I didn’t have to deal with it.  And when I did get it, I would load up on some kind of over-the-counter pain killer and go on my way. 

My mom left 7 years before all of this started to happen, so I didn’t really have a female figure in my life to turn to with these kinds of lady issues until my dad happily remarried around the time I turned 16.  By then, my period was so painful I would find myself sitting on the toilet bent over a trash can in pain and vomiting.  

That’s when I started the pill.

I mustered up the courage to tell my stepmom what had been going on and we took a trip to the gynecologist together.  That day started my 17-year codependent and destructive relationship with birth control.  

I’ve never been addicted to any substances, but sometimes when I look at how I used birth control to abuse my body and control my life, and how many other women I’ve known to do the same, I wonder if one day we’ll identify an addiction to this little hormone and health stealing pill.

Having a painful and irregular period from the get-go was an insight into what was to come down the road with my health. It served as a clue about the dysfunction that had already been occurring in my body probably for years leading up to that point, resulting in such drastic hormone imbalances. 

It kills me that our culture has normalized period pain, and how ignoring it or putting a pill bandaid on it is leading to other health issues down the road.

It’s time to recognize that just because something is common doesn’t mean it’s normal, and women don’t have to live this way. 

It’s time for women and our loved ones to come together.

Let’s end women’s suffering from hormone issues and encourage them/us to live fuller lives so they/we can be better daughters, sisters, aunts, grandmothers, mothers, partners, teachers, and leaders in the world – striking change for the generations of women to come, as well as positively impacting the men in their lives.

Join me TODAY at 4pm PT / 7pm ET when I host a fire-side virtual chat as part of the Menstrual Love Challenge.

And click here to catch my talk tomorrow about using food to obtain the perfect period during the final day of the Menstrual Love Challenge.