Embrace a cyclical nature of development

I work with leaders and change agents who are in their mid 30s-50s. I, too, fall in this range. The menopause transition will impact every single one of us either directly or with loved ones and colleagues. The symptoms emerge exactly during the time period when you are caregiving (children, loved ones, elders) and/or navigating the height of your career or a second and third career transition.

Given this, the menopause transition should be part of all leadership and professional development - as in - how do you help yourself and others harness this critical rewiring of everything in an embodied, strengths-based way to make a bolder impact? Dream with me the possibilities of feeling prepared and educated to empower ourselves and others.

What we have instead is the emerging shifts happen to your mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, and creative bodies–layered underneath silence and taboo societal and workplace norms.

It struck me during the webinar last week that the menopause-transition decades are actually part of reclaiming how we work and live outside of the linear, upward trajectory capitalist framework we have all been taught and trained in. 

The menopause transition then is an invitation to (un)(re)learn how to embrace life’s natural cycles in a slowed-down, intentional way in order to make your life’s work matter.

I want cycles of working that are in alignment with the seasons of life. I want this in my day-to-day approach of running my business. I want this for the clients I work with 1:1 in mentorship coaching and for my organizational clients, too. Of course, I understand fully well that this approach isn’t embraced because it is inherently anti-capitalist by not being driven by constant production. Contextualizing that into this conversation, then I see why menopause has been nearly erased from our collective understanding and wisdom. And likewise, why many of us have been socialized to not feel, acknowledge, and definitely not express our rage and anger.

Speaking for myself, I don’t want to go back to the go-go-go overing chronic burnout lifestyle of my 20s and 30s where I prided myself on juggling a bazillion things. I still have a shit load of ambition and motivation - I’m Capricorn with Capricorn rising after all. What’s the give then, you’re wondering?

Transitioning through menopause about a decade earlier than average has shown me that I have zero extra energy, interest, patience, or tolerance for bullshitery. I fully think this timing, along with the pandemic hitting, propelled me faster and sooner into leaving academia. In part because, I need all of my work and efforts to 100% be aligned with the impact I want to make with my life and work. Life and work are 100% intertwined in a healthy boundaried (mostly) manner. I don’t have time or interest for bullshit work or tasks. Also, sometimes I still have to do them, but far fewer now.

Now though, when I’m not 100% embodied into doing something, you know it. It shows up in my procrastination, my resistance, my mood, and my lack of energy. It’s freeing and empowering in part because it comes with self-accountability, motivation, and the choice to change course when I need to. It allows me to respond to client needs and organizational trends rather than be mired in stuckness and resistance to transformational changes.

All that to say, how might you want to redesign your own development in an empowering way?

What would living a more cyclical work life look like?

What would it take to shift towards that?

What would you have to let go of? 

What could you focus on instead of doing so?