Menopause is a hero's journey

(More than a bit like every story you've ever been told)

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What I know for sure is that a huge part of this peri-to-post menopause transition has to do with our spirit and soul. I believe to my toes that it is truly a hero’s journey, not unlike the one at the heart of every story you’ll ever read or watch or hear. Broken down simply, in the “hero’s journey” – as coined by the American writer Joseph Campbell – there is a call to adventure and a crisis faced, complete with self-doubt, fear, plot twists and an all-seems-lost dark night of the soul (or 20 of them). No hero ever wants to answer the call, by the way, whether it’s Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon or you ignoring your panic attacks, so don’t feel bad about that.

And then, after it is all over, after the near death and rebirth, there is the return. Through the journey of menopause we know from most of our older siblings that if we get to come home, it’s not only to those we love, but also, gloriously, to ourselves.

Like many people, I’ve struggled with a see-saw of a…