[00:00:00] EMMA: Today I wanna talk about the seasons that we don't talk about enough. I feel nervous about this because this isn't totally businessy, but oh my goodness, the women that I work with are struggling with this. We are gonna talk about perimenopause, menopause, and showing up anyway.
[00:00:36] I wanna start this episode with a story.
[00:00:40] My mom at 37 got diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She had hot flushes. Hot sweats. She didn't sleep much. Her weight was all over the place. She thought she was going mad. She had brain fog. She got diagnosed with bipolar.
[00:00:56] I'm not sure it was bipolar. I think it was menopause that sent her on a whole trajectory, which you've heard about in this podcast before. I got married late. I'm the second wife of my current husband. He happens to be my first and only husband, and we had, we tried really hard to get Evie and we had multiple miscarriages before Evie and a couple after.
[00:01:21] And I remember after the final miscarriage, I was 37, I went to the doctor and would run some blood tests and she said, yep. And very doctor mannerisms, as you can imagine. Yep. You're not gonna get pregnant. You've headed into perimenopause and I'm like, what? Excuse me at 37, are you sure? I'm 37. It's, I'm very young and I have, my body was able to get pregnant.
[00:01:49] She's like, you'll never hold. You'll never hold enough to have another baby. Now, when you are desperate to give a sibling to. One of your [00:02:00] children and I already had two bonus kids, so I am so incredibly lucky and grateful for that total of three children, but I really wanted a sibling for Evie. When you get told point blank, it's not gonna happen.
[00:02:12] Even if you go on IVF, you have a 5% chance and you're heading into perimenopause, it's like bang, bang, bang. And I'm just like, what? Now I've just turned 48. That is 11 years in perimenopause. And over the time I have thought I was going mad. I've had the hot sweats, I've had the brain fog, I've had the frozen shoulder, I've had the slurring of words.
[00:02:39] You name it, I have had it. So I am not coming to you. With zero lived experience, I'm coming to you with 11 years of the ups and downs of not being able to have another baby, of having multiple miscarriages that my body just would not hold and of sitting in perimenopause for a long time. I don't feel like enough business conversations happen
[00:03:06] with this season that we're about to talk about.
[00:03:09] We've talked about the hormones, the brain fog, the hot flushes, the sleepless nights, the tears that come out of nowhere. The partners who gently ask, are you all right? And then they back away slowly. because this season is so real, 10 years I've been living in this season, and if you're in it, you will know exactly what I mean.
[00:03:30] And here's the thing, life still goes on. Business still needs you. Your kids still need you. Nothing stops, and you can still show up even when your body is throwing those curve balls at you. This affects so many women in business, but often it just sits quietly in the backgrounds of our lives. Families call their moms crazy.
[00:03:57] Moms are hanging out [00:04:00] to just escape their own skin, and this season of hormones shifting and changing can make you feel like a stranger in your own body. One minute, you're fine. The next minute you're standing in front of the freezer just trying to get some cool air, and then you have to step into a coaching call or run a workshop or lead a team meeting.
[00:04:22] And I wanna acknowledge this season with complete honesty, compassion, and a little bit of humor, because we can talk about strategy all day long. But some days the biggest challenge is simply getting a good night's sleep. The hormones that hijack us start there, shall we? Perimenopause is not gentle. One day you fe feel completely normal. And the next, your emotions have decided to take you on a rollercoaster that you did not buy a ticket for. The brain fog is real. I have walked into rooms with complete confidence, stopped mid-sentence and thought.
[00:05:02] I have absolutely no idea what I was about to say. And this comes from someone who speaks for a living. So there's that. Then there's the hot flushes. You're in a meeting nodding along professionally, and your body suddenly decides to recreate the core temperature of the sun. Night sweats. Let's talk night sweats.
[00:05:24] Let's talk disturbed sleep. Let's talk. Waking up at 3:00 AM for absolutely no reason. And then let's try talking about being a fully functioning adult businesswoman the very next day. If you are experiencing any of this, Please know you're not imagining it.
[00:05:40] You are not weak. You are not being dramatic. Your body is literally recalibrating. I like to talk about the partners who love us through this, even though most of the time they have NFI. What is going on? My husband is amazing. There [00:06:00] is a guy on Instagram, I must find him for you. His name is Mitch J Academy or something like that, and he talks about, he's a personal trainer and his wife is thick into perimenopause, and he talks about how she breathes fire and that she's an angry dragon, That men as husbands or we as partners need to be considerate of it and basically shut up from time to time and just support those, people in our lives who are going through that. So I wanna shout out a moment for the husbands, for the partners, for the significant others, because they're learning just as we are, right?
[00:06:43] The ones who wake up at the sound of us throwing off the duna for the 10th time. The one who gently asks if we're all right while we cry because our favorite mug was in the dishwasher. The ones who sit beside us with a cup of tea and pretend not to notice when we are fanning ourselves with the nearest notebook, we appreciate them.
[00:07:05] We love them. Sometimes we forget to say that.
[00:07:09] We have to show up anyway, this is just part of the job. This season is hard. It's freaking hard, and yet business does not pause for it. Blokes don't have to deal with it. By the way, if you're a bloke listening to this, go give your partner a cuddle. She probably needs it. Clients still show up, meetings still happen.
[00:07:29] Revenue still needs to be generated. Oh my goodness, the list goes on. But here's what I want you to hear. Showing up does not mean
[00:07:40] pushing through
[00:07:42] like nothing is happening. Showing up means adjusting in a way that honors your body, your energy, and your needs.
[00:07:51] Some days you'll need to reschedule. Personally, don't love the reschedule. Some days you'll need to do that. Some days [00:08:00] you'll need to have a nap before you can tackle your inbox. Totally fine too. And some days you'll need to lower the bar so you can keep moving. That's a hard one for me. I have very high expectations of myself.
[00:08:13] Right. But it is all right. It is not failure. It is wisdom. We are women of a certain age. We have lived enough life to know that seasons ebb and flow, and this one will too. By golly, I wish it would hurry up for me just quietly. 11 years is a long time. And what I want you to know is that we can acknowledge the season without letting it own us.
[00:08:42] I wanna be clear that this is a season. It's not a sentence you might feel off. You might feel so unlike yourself. You might feel a bit wobbly, but life does not stop because your hormones are having a rave party. I wish it did. You still have dreams, you still have goals.
[00:09:02] You still have a business that needs your leadership and needs your brilliance. You can honor your body and still keep moving forward. You can rest and still build momentum. You can have brain fog and still have genius ideas. You can have hot flushes and still be the most powerful woman in the room.
[00:09:23] You're not broken.
[00:09:24] You're just evolving.
[00:09:26] So what I wanna say is this, my lovelies, oh my goodness. If you are in this season of perimenopause or menopause, I want you to know this. You are not on your own, you are not behind. You are not failing. You're going through a transition that millions of women have traveled before you. Take care of your health.
[00:09:50] Ask for what you need. Slow down where you can, and keep showing up for yourself and your business. Because even in this season, even in this [00:10:00] season, you are capable of extraordinary things. If you're listening to this and thinking, Emma, this is exactly the season I'm in. Firstly, sorry. But secondly, if you're thinking I could really use some support right now, someone who gets it, someone who understands it, then I wanna gently invite you to consider working with me one-on-one.
[00:10:22] This stage of life can feel wobbly, confusing. And a bit lonely. Your body is doing one thing, your brain is doing another, and you're still trying to hold a business together. You do not need to navigate that on your own. And in my one-on-one coaching, we look at the whole picture, your energy, your priorities, your business model, your rhythms, and we shape a plan that works with this season, not against it.
[00:10:49] And if you want clarity, structure, and accountability, and a place to talk honestly about both business and life, then working together might be exactly what you need right now. You can reach out through my website, send me a message. I would love to support you. Until next week, please take care of yourself.
[00:11:07] Honor what your body is asking for, and remember that you can build beautiful business even in the middle of this season.
