Lunar versus Solar Model of Society
The rock bottom hormones people who menstruate experience are real.
Yesterday was tough. I felt like a worthless POS. I felt hopeless.
I woke up this morning and had started my bleed. About 4 days earlier than I anticipated.
Having taken an outstanding course called “Cycle Powered” by Jamie Watkins Kagianaris about my menstrual cycle, I learned that our culture is based on a Solar Model of behavior.
Men are like the sun - pretty constant (men, you have hormonal cycles, too, but they occur over 24-hours rather than a month).
Our culture is built around constancy - we're expected to show up the same way everyday despite how we're feeling.
This model just doesn't work for people who menstruate.
It's like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Not going to happen, folx.
We're built around a Lunar Model of behavior. Like the Moon's cycles, throughout the month our hormones fluctuate, our fatigue fluctuates, our productivity fluctuates, the hemispheres of our brain that are firing fluctuate.
We - the Menstruatrixes - are actually quite predictable once we start tracking our cycle, our moods, our physical symptoms, etc., but until we track, we don't really know when to expect what and we can appear as hypersensitive, unstable, moody, etc.
When we start menstruating, our estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone - which have been at rock bottom just prior to starting menstruation - start to rise. The negative self-talk, the brain fog, the overwhelm, the anxiety, and the depression that often hit us right before we start to bleed lift.
And we feel better!
If we can be allowed to sync our lifestyles with our hormones, not be expected to fire 100% every day, we can actually create and produce in a much higher fashion during those times of the month when our body is hormonally primed to take action.
Those of you who don't menstruate will get to understand us better as we understand ourselves better and communicate our body's cycles to you.
Which opens up communication, love and respect.
Which I think most of us actually desire.
To see and be seen.
To be loved for who we are.