The week I nearly cried over a lunchbox
It's the last week of August. The uniforms are washed and hanging on the line. The pencil cases are filled. And somewhere between packing lunches and pretending I have my life together, I realised something.
This week doesn't just feel like a change of season for the kids. It feels like one for me too.
If you're in perimenopause, you'll know exactly what I mean. The seasons turning, the routine shifting, even something as small as a new school year starting, it all lands differently now. Things that used to roll off me sit heavier. My sleep gets patchy before I've even noticed why. And if I'm honest, I nearly cried over a lunchbox this week. A lunchbox.
Why did I cry over a lunchbox?
Because the containers I'd bought wouldn't fit in it. 😂
I know. It sounds ridiculous.
And if you'd told me beforehand that this was what would finally tip me over the edge, I probably would have laughed.
But sometimes it's not really about the lunchbox, is it?
Sometimes it's the tiny, completely insignificant thing that happens when you're already juggling too much.
And it got me thinking about how we move through the seasons of our lives, as well as the seasons outside our window...
I hear the same thing from women all the time, perimenopause support in Ireland is something so many of us are quietly figuring out on our own, usually at 2am with a laptop and a cup of tea gone cold.
Why this time of year hits different
There's a reason for that, and it's not just me being dramatic (though I have my moments).
Our hormones do a lot of quiet work in the background, buffering us from daily stress in ways we don't notice until that buffer starts to thin out, which is exactly what happens in perimenopause. Add in the seasons turning, the light changing, the whole rhythm of the year shifting under our feet, and it's no wonder late August can feel like a lot.
I go into the why properly, the hormones, the stress response, what's actually going on in the body, in my Change of Season Wellness ebook. It's the kind of thing I wish someone had explained to me plainly a few years ago, instead of me piecing it together myself at 2am.
What actually helps
I'm not going to tell you to just relax, because if that worked, none of us would need help!. But there are things that genuinely support the body through this kind of transition, real, practical, kitchen-table stuff, not just supplements and willpower.
The ebook walks through it properly: the gut health piece, the vitamin D question before we lose the light, and the herbs I actually reach for every year around now, with the recipes to make them yourself.
I've also put together an Elderberry Syrup Kit with everything you need to make your own immune-supporting elderberry syrup at home. Just add water and your local honey.
Where this is all going
If you want to sit with a cup of tea and work through it in your own time, that's what the ebook is for.
Get the Change of Season Wellness Guide
And if you'd rather do it together, get stuck in, tea in hand, talking it through with other women who get it, I've a retreat coming up built around the same theme.
Change of Season Wellness Retreat, 20th September
A day away from lunchboxes and to-do lists. Foraging, tea, a bit of craft, and time with other women who get exactly what this season of life feels like, no explaining required. It's the natural next step once you've got the ebook in hand.
Be gentle with yourself this week. The uniforms are clean and that's enough for today.
