MamaManagement

Dear Diary, I was really tired last week. Like, really tired. Like in my bones. Throughout my body. In my brain. Just, tired. My first inclination is to react to this by powering through. I can do it. I'll get up and get going and it'll be fine. I ignore what my body is telling me with fatigue, and aches and pains, and brain fog, and I plow on through. And then, on the, like, third day of exhaustion, despite reasonable nights of sleep, it occurs to me that maybe I should listen to my body. Maybe it's okay to take it easy. Maybe the ridiculously heavy period I'm having is somehow related to how I'm feeling. Maybe my body needs me to slow down...just for a bit. Fun Fact: Did you know that back in biblical times, women went to a special place together during menstruation? The Red Tent. (The book of the same name, by Anita Diamant, is wonderful, by the way.) There were lots of reasons for this back then (some, not so great) that we don't need to get into ...

Okay, so this is a strangely taboo topic that I think we all need to get over our shyness and, well, weirdness about: Periods. Periods are this totally natural and actually wonderful body process that I think we look upon in entirely the wrong way. (With shame and disgust and disdain and annoyance.) And, honestly, I think it's mainly because it doesn't happen to men. I'm serious. Because we live in a patriarchal society, men's bodies and way of being in the world dominates our culture in every way. And because they don't menstruate (or have babies or lactate) these things have become at best, secretive, behind the scenes, and often misunderstood, and, at worst, shamed and regulated. I remember being mortified to buy a box of tampons or pads when I was younger...like, actually, ashamed in the drug store! I might complain to my friends about having cramps, but the details and intricacies of going through menstruation was never really talked about. Having you...