Thinking of your menstrual cycle as a map might be helpful when trying to organise your schedule around your good and less good days. Even if you believe it or not, your “bad” days can be quite easily predicted and knowing when they are around the corner might help you organise your social events and any other activity that requires an important amount of energy, so you enjoy them at your best and you don’t annoy anyone because you don’t feel like “eating this” or “going there”, etc. You know what I mean.
In this article I am proposing you an easy map inspired by Maisie Hill’s book. She compares our menstrual cycle to the four seasons of the year. I find it very appealing and easy to be applied. It also helps my diary stay organised and I feel I can make the most out of my days. I can see how my stamina has improved since I am organising myself this way and how I blame myself less for the days when I am not “in the mood”. It taught me how to be kinder to myself and less judgmental. I became more aware of my real needs during my cycle. I strongly encourage you to try and apply the schema in your schedule and see how it goes. Do not forget that if you need more help with tracking your cycle, you can drop me a message in the contact page and I will be more than happy to help you.
See below the model from “Period power” by Maisie Hill.
This graph explains each period of the cycle as being a season.
- winter: the season when your period begins. All three hormones are low
- spring: follicular phase, the season after your period, oestrogen dominates the territory
- summer: ovulation starts
- autumn: luteal phase, progesterone dominates
For a better understanding of what each season means, continue to read the next articles on progesterone and oestrogen.