I Didn’t Know I Was in Perimenopause

I Didn’t Know I Was in Perimenopause.

I Thought I Was Losing My Mind.

When my symptoms started, the conversation around menopause simply didn’t exist. At least not in my world.

I didn’t have language for what was happening to me. I just knew that my body felt unfamiliar. My energy was unpredictable. My emotions didn’t feel like mine. And no one – not doctors, not friends, not family – suggested that what I was experiencing might be perimenopause.

I thought menopause was for old women.

And I didn’t think of myself as old.

So I did what so many women do. I dismissed it. I blamed my thyroid. Stress. Life. Another bad week. Another bad day.

The first time someone mentioned menopause to me, it caught me completely off guard. I was having a hot flush, and a woman I’d just met quietly said, “That looks like menopause.” I remember thinking, No way. I’m far too young.

But the symptoms didn’t stop. They kept coming. And slowly, without me realising it at first, something else happened too.

Because I believed menopause meant “old woman,” I started to age – not just physically, but in how I saw myself.

My confidence dipped. My expectations shrank. I quietly assumed that the best parts of life were behind me.

I didn’t consciously decide that, but it seeped in through the cracks.

Through the confusion. Through the lack of answers. Through the absence of any real conversation about what this phase of life actually looks like.

The Cost of Not Knowing

We talk a lot about mindset in health and wellbeing, often in a way that feels vague or dismissible. But here’s the truth I lived: what you believe about your body shapes how you experience it.

Because I didn’t understand what was happening hormonally, neurologically, and emotionally, I filled in the gaps myself. And the story I told myself was not a kind one.

I thought I was failing.

Failing at coping. Failing at ageing “well.” Failing at being resilient enough.

And that story aged me faster than any hormone shift ever could.

The Moment That Changed Everything

One day, seemingly out of nowhere, something shifted.

I was reading about a woman in her 70s who had started lifting weights in her 50s. I watched videos of her doing chin-ups. Real strength. Real power. Real vitality.

And something snapped into place.

I realised I wasn’t ready to be done.

I didn’t want to feel old just because my hormones were changing. I didn’t want to shrink my life because my body was asking for a different kind of support.

So I stopped waiting.

I started studying things I’d always wanted to study. I learned to make natural cosmetics. I travelled. I went places on my own. I met new people. I said yes to opportunities I would have talked myself out of before.

I stopped being afraid and started living again.

Not because menopause magically became easy – it didn’t – but because I stopped seeing it as the end of something and started treating it as a time of reinvention that deserved understanding, support, and respect.

What I Wish I’d Had Then

I often think about how different that early part of my menopause journey could have been if I’d had support.

...If I’d had language for what was happening.
...If I’d known my symptoms weren’t random or personal failures.
...If I’d understood that this wasn’t decline – it was a transition.

Most women don’t struggle in menopause because they’re declining or unmotivated. They struggle because they’re navigating a complex biological transition in a world that offers noise instead of clarity and quick fixes instead of real support.

And they’re doing it while working, caregiving, leading, managing households, and holding everything together - much more than women just one or two generations ago had to deal with.

That’s a lot to ask of anyone – especially without a roadmap.

Why We Created the Mother of All Menopause Summits

James and I created The Mother of All Menopause Summits as the kind of resource I wish had existed when I was confused, frightened, and quietly doubting myself.

This isn’t about hacks, extremes, or pretending menopause is something to “power through.” It’s about honest conversations, credible information, and practical guidance for women with full lives and real responsibilities.

Inside the summit, we cover the things women are rarely taught but desperately need to understand:
sleep, stress, energy, cognition, confidence, routines that actually fit real life, and how to work with your changing body instead of fighting it.

Not because menopause needs to be medicalised or dramatised – but because it deserves to be understood.

A Different Way Forward

If you’re in this season now, or starting to suspect you might be, I want you to hear this clearly:

You’re not broken.
You’re not failing.
And you’re not imagining things.

You’re being invited into a new chapter – one that requires different support, different expectations, and a different kind of self-trust.

And you deserve guidance as you navigate it.

That’s what this summit is about.
And that’s why we created it.

If this resonates, I’d love you to join us.

You don’t have to figure this out alone.

Join for free (or consider our VIP upgrade for ongoing access) here: https://motherofallmenopausesummits.com/