Written by Angela Ysseldyk CNP, BA
Awareness + educated action = an empowered woman
Being your best self starts with you. Kindness to yourself matters. It starts with awareness! Sometimes you need to cut the noise so that you can listen.
Here are 3 steps you can take now to learn more about yourself and take action from there.
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Self awareness.
Having personal awareness of how you are doing (and not covered up by ‘busyness’, coffee, stress etc.) is really important. Stopping and being still enough to listen and reflect on that is very important. Your body does not lie. Tap into your intuition to make subtle shifts in your approach that day.
Action item 1: Reflect on your home base state (when you wake up). How do you feel? What are your first thoughts? What are your top coping mechanisms? How are you distracting yourself? (i.e. coffee, busy-ness, wine, food). Can you create some space to launch your day from a new place? Meditation, gratitude before fight or flight?
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Hormone awareness!
Sometimes how you feel reflects where you are at with your cycle and hormone levels. Hormones play an important role in how you show up. Knowing that is a reminder not to take yourself too seriously and to ask yourself how you can be kind to yourself during times of imbalance. You can track your cycle to learn about yourself. Notice and understand where you are in your cycle. Hormones (and their imbalance) play a role in your emotions and energy levels. Take a note. Many women are not aware.
Action item 2: Track patterns with your phase. Your cycle is an average of 28 days (give or take 4 days) and should be effortless. Day one is the first day of bleeding. Extreme symptoms can be relieved with some subtle shifts in your choices. (hint* stress and liver/gut health are players here)
Practice self-care during PMS: go to bed early, exercise less intensely, meditate, avoid annoying people, drink extra water, get enough magnesium, cut out alcohol.
Are you in the first phase (first 10-16 days) called the follicular phase?
- Menstruation occurs here. Are your periods scant, heavy, painful, irregular? Should last 3-6 days. What are your symptoms?
- Progesterone levels are at their lowest, estrogen levels go up and testosterone levels up typically between days 6-14. Mood and confidence levels may be higher here
Are you in the second phase – the luteal phase (days 14-28)?
- The middle. Are you ovulating? Typically, day 14-18
- Then progesterone levels rise. Estrogen levels fall. Symptoms can include mood changes, bloating, irritability, tiredness, headaches, acne, tiredness
- The week before you bleed is typically when women experience PMS. (See tips above for self-care during PMS)
Action item 3: Read our evidence-based blog about ‘’how your hormones affect you daily’’or look for signs of magnesium deficiency in the blog below. See what inspires you and go from there.
Many women are deficient in magnesium – are you one of them? Read this article to learn more.
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Self-care awareness.
Self-care and wellness fall under 3 main categories: Physical, mental, and social. Women usually fall short in one or more categories.
Thought starters……Ask yourself:
- What are the ways I believe I need to be superwoman?
- Are the beliefs I have about being a ‘superwoman’ true?
- What are the things I can can say no to, so that I can say yes to myself?
- What are the ways I am carving out time for myself?
- How am I looking after my adrenal glands (stress), gut (digestion) and liver health (clean eating)?
- How am I surrounding myself with supportive friends and women, family and people who lift me up?
Action item 4: Write down 10 things that give you joy. Commit to doing at least one of these daily
