If we strip menopause of all the “noise,” the fears, expectations, cultural narratives, medical terms, hormonal blame, and ideas of decline, what are we left with?
Just this:
The blood stops.
That’s it?
Yes. Our last blood. A final release.
And yet it carries the weight of a whole lifetime.
Think back: how did it begin, that first blood?
What did it mean to receive it? Was it shameful? Sacred? Silent? Celebrated?
That was the beginning. This is the completion.
And yet, we speak of this moment (moment; as the one day, after 12 consecutive months of not having menstruation) – menopause as if it were a loss, a failure, the start of getting old.
But what if we changed the language?
Not getting old, but aging.
Aging like wine. Like wood. Like mountains. Like a tortoise.
Not a decline but a deepening.
This is not the end. It’s a turning time. Pivot.
The inward turn that prepares us to rise in new ways.
To become stable (as we don’t have those monthly waves). Closer to ourselves.
Back in 1900, most women died at 49. There was no postmenopause.
“Till death do us part” meant something different back then…
But now? Now we live decades beyond our bleeding years. A third of our lives, in fact.
And not just exist, but we can live well. If we know how.
At the moment, many women do not live well in the last 15 years of life, but this can change.
So why do symptoms feel so harsh today?
I believe it’s not because of menopause itself.
It’s because of the world we live in.
The air. The water. The hormones in our food.
The chronic stress, overstimulation, and disconnection.
The isolation we were taught to value is called “individuation,” praising us for doing it all alone…
Too much weight on our shoulders. That’s what women describe (mainly in the far east), both literally and figuratively, when they reach menopause.
So maybe we are like snakes.
Shedding skin. Growing new layers.
Maybe we are like whales.
Living long after our childbearing years,
nurturing the young, holding, guiding, and contributing.
Maybe like a lizard or salamander growing new parts, replacing what is not working?
Maybe our bodies aren’t betraying us, they’re asking us to listen.
To rest.
To stop creating hormones that are no longer needed.
To reallocate energy.
To become fertile in a new way- in spirit, in presence, in community.
This is not the end. It’s a realignment.
Menopause is not the end of vitality.
It’s a shift in how vitality expresses itself.
Estrogen doesn’t just disappear. It changes.
Estradiol declines, yes, but estrone and estriol remain, created by fat tissue and adrenal glands.
This is not a medical failure.
It is a biological intelligence!
Aging, when embraced, can be a Becoming.
So, what is menopause really about?
It is about living longer in harmony with our true nature,
With more stability, closer to yourself.
It is about the power to turn inward, gather, and return outward as guide, elder, visionary.
Walk This Path With Me
If this speaks to you, you’re not alone and not meant to walk this path alone.
Menopause Retreat with Galit Hann
20- 23 November | A weekend of food, vitality, wisdom & body-based knowing
Online Menopause Meetup (in English)
September: Details soon
A future lecture date will be announced after two successful lectures at Equals Amsterdam.
On- on one- coaching with me, you menopause doula
Let’s reclaim this time as something to explore and honor.
Thank you for reading. Until next time.
Oda Meiberg