🌸 PERIMENOPAUSE MADE ME THINK I WAS LOSING MY MIND — HERE’S WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED

There is a very specific moment in a woman’s life when she looks around and thinks:

For me, that moment happened in the middle of Tesco, holding a cucumber, crying because I couldn’t remember what I came in for.

And listen — I am a certified menopause coach.

I teach women about perimenopause.

I explain symptoms.

I guide them through the chaos.

But nothing prepares you for the day your brain decides to take an unapproved sabbatical.

People talk about brain fog like it’s a cute little cloud.

No.

Mine was a full‑scale meteorological phenomenon.

I’d walk into a room and forget why.

I’d open my laptop and forget what I was doing.

I’d start a sentence and forget the ending.

I’d forget words like “spoon,” “Thursday,” and “that thing you put tea in.”

My brain was buffering like a 2003 computer.

And the worst part?

I thought it was me.

I thought I was failing.

I thought I was losing my edge, my intelligence, my competence.

But here’s the truth:

This is exactly why I created the Second Bloom Clarity Guides — gentle tools to help you understand what’s happening inside your mind and body.

Perimenopause isn’t just physical.

It’s emotional.

Deeply emotional.

One minute I was fine.

The next minute I was crying because a pigeon looked lonely.

Then I was angry because someone breathed too loudly.

Then I was laughing at a meme.

Then I was overwhelmed because the laundry basket existed.

It felt like my emotions were being controlled by a toddler with a remote.

But here’s the thing:

My body was asking me to slow down.

My nervous system was begging for regulation.

My emotions were trying to tell me something.

And once I listened, everything changed.

I remember sitting on the sofa, exhausted, overstimulated, and convinced I was falling apart.

Then I did something revolutionary:

I Googled my symptoms.

And suddenly — everything made sense.

The mood swings.

The brain fog.

The sensory overload.

The anxiety spikes.

The rage.

The tears.

The fatigue.

The forgetfulness.

The “I can’t do life today” days.

It wasn’t a failure.

It wasn’t weakness.

It wasn’t incompetence.

It was perimenopause.

And for ND women like me?

It hits differently.

Harder.

Louder.

Messier.

More intensely.

Because our nervous systems are already running at 120%.

Add hormonal chaos on top?

Boom.

Full system reboot.

Here’s exactly what helped me — and what I now teach my clients.

Fine is a lie.

Fine is masking.

Fine is survival mode.

I started telling the truth:

Instant relief.

Not a productivity routine.

Not a hustle routine.

Not a “fix yourself” routine.

A regulation routine.

This changed everything.

You can’t out‑discipline biology.

You can’t out‑organise hormonal chaos.

You can’t out‑plan a fluctuating nervous system.

But you can work with it.

I started tracking patterns.

I started honouring low‑energy days.

I started celebrating high‑clarity days.

I started listening to my body instead of forcing it.

Not in the old way.

Not in the “push harder” way.

Not in the “prove yourself” way.

In the Second Bloom way:

Soft.

Slow.

Steady.

Sustainable.

Self‑honouring.

If you want weekly support, stories, and soft‑power tools for your own Second Bloom, join the Second Bloom Newsletter — it’s where I share everything

I wish someone had told me sooner.

Perimenopause isn’t the end of your identity.

It’s the evolution of it.

You’re not losing your mind.

You’re shedding old patterns.

You’re releasing old expectations.

You’re stepping into a wiser, clearer, more powerful version of yourself.

A version who:

This isn’t a decline.

This is a transformation.

This is your Second Bloom.