Today we held our special event ‘Top tips from AWARD-winning Menopause Friendly Employers’. It was such a joy to experience the generosity of so many inspirational employers, sharing their ideas to encourage other employers to become menopause friendly.
Menopause Friendly Small Employer of the Year, Marine Management Organisation, talked about the impact of ‘caring and sharing’, the power of shared stories and involving as many people as you can. As part of that, they shared a poem that resonated so much with the event attendees that they asked for it to be shared. The comments in the chat amounted to a virtual standing ovation.
So here is the poem, shared to celebrate World Menopause Day 2023. Can you identify with this?
The perfect storm….
The perfect storm of hormones raging
Teenage kids with hormones changing
Me on the change ‘the second spring’
Though I want to cry and fight, not sing
Their moods are buffing up against mine
My husband dodging the hormone land mines
It’s not just me, it’s our age you see
The Peri has hit all my tribe lately
My friends are going from drama to crisis
No time to support them, so busy my own life is
One’s selling her business, one’s leaving work
Another left her husband, but he was a jerk
The one medicine, alcohol that fills the void
Is the same one we are all told to avoid
Exercise, diet and nutrition they preach
But my size 12 body is still out of reach
Good fats, bad fats, no fats, grow fat
Try this, try that, head spin, fruit bat
The Symptoms, lots and varied, let’s see…
Brain fog, fatigue and anxiety
Low moods, no mood, fierce moods, hot flush,
Aching body, dry eyes, headaches, and thrush
My brain is not working like it used to
Have to make notes so I don’t forget what to do
Can’t be everything to everyone, as they deserve
It appears selfish but only myself can I serve
I’m up with the larks and out like the dead
The silliest worries spin round in my head
My parents are aging, their health in decline
They need our help more but say they are fine
The guilt that I feel has gone through the roof
New contacts must feel that I’m being aloof
But I’m on HRT now and feeling more sane
My energy’s back up, I run and weight train
I’ve reframed how I do things and what I prioritise
I plan more and do more, learning to strategise
At work I have become a menopause advocate
To help change the culture and talk more about it
This flexible working helps me no end
To help out my parents or give support to a friend
I get out in nature and swim in the wild
I’m patient and calmer with said teenage child
Most of my friends are now on HRT too
Our symptoms have mostly reduced to a few
I am feeling more balanced now, I feel more free
I feel more level and feeling more like me
By Jess Churchill-Bissett
Marine Management Organisation
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