This article examines the Menopause Myth of Ovarian Failure.
Until recently, medical texts referred to menopause as "reproductive failure" or "ovarian failure." (Is this like your car breaking down? Of course not. Not a very good analogy is it? You are not a machine, you are a perfect human being who is entering the next stage in your life process. Failure has nothing to do with it!)
The common medical teaching was that our ovaries just dried up and withered away. (Sort of like a withering apple? Nope, not at all like that. Women over 50 can be just as vital, beautiful and well-functioning as their younger sisters. Maybe even better, because we don't have to worry about becoming pregnant any more and in most cases we have more freedom from child care so we can explore our potential and enjoy!)
But our ovaries don't just "dry up." The fact is, our ovaries still function after menopause, they just downshift and make lower levels of hormones. Because higher levels aren't needed any more. Our bodies are wondrous systems that have been set to proceed through all the natural phases of life. That includes menopause. As long as we don't get in the way and try to "fix" things that don't need fixing. As long as we don't get talked into thinking there's something wrong with us when there's not. Nothing fails, menopause is just a genetically programmed and normal part of a woman's life cycle.
Even though that is the case, the mythical idea of "failure" was quickly transferred to women once they became postmenopausal. Women were viewed and talked about as being shriveled up, dried up and useless. (Just common sense tells us that having children is not the only attribute that makes us valuable. We're valuable because we're the feeling, caring, and yes, the more stable, gender, remember? Just watch men on TV or in social situations ranting and raving and getting into arguments and physical fights and even wars with each other. How could anyone possibly think they have their emotions under control half as well as the most "emotional" woman?)
Just remember how valuable you are on this planet. Without you, there would be a whole lot less feeling, caring and loving.
Remember...Menopause is part of living and growing. It is not a disease or a deficiency.
Enjoy the good and the bad. (It's the bad that makes us realize just how good the good is.)
The other side of menopause could be the promised land---if we let it be.
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