Periods: Beautiful, Magical, Wild & True

Why do women shut off such an integral part of their being?

Why do we call something that is so beautiful, so magical, so wild and true, stupid and annoying?

Periods. You know the ones. At least you do if you’re part of the fifty per cent of the population blessed with a womb.

They come with blood and pain and tears.

But they also come with an innate knowing. They overwhelming us with feelings and cover us in sensitivities. Sensitivities of the emotional kind. Sensitivities of the physical kind.

We feel everything when we bleed.

Feel. It. All.

So why then, are we, as a female population so quick to run away from the feelings that come with our menstrual cycle? Why are we so quick to step away from our innate knowing?

At the age of 12, you’re curious about the female body and want to know more. They give you a quick run down of periods, show you tampons expanding in a glass full of water and say, this is what happens inside of you.

Cue fear.

At age 16, you have your first boyfriend and you want to know more about sex. They put you on the pill and tell you, it’s for the best. It’ll stop you getting pregnant and you’ll be in control of when you bleed, not nature, so you blindly trust.

Cue numbness.

At age 21, you realise that something is not right in your body. You feel like you’ve been poisoned, and now you’re ready to take control. They say, are you sure this is what you want to do? You say, of course, this is my body and my body knows best.

Cue empowerment.

At age 22, you battle daily with acne. You have spent years suppressing your hormones and now your body is revolting. They say, take these hard-core anti-acne drugs or go back on the pill. This is the only way you will truly put an end to those spots on your face. You say, no thanks, I will self-consciously battle through my acne because I see the clear-skinned light at the end of the tunnel.

Cue hopefulness.

At age 25, you finally have clear skin. You’ve finally regulated your hormones. You’re finally managing your depression. They don’t say a lot, because you don’t ask for their opinion anymore.

Cue contentment.

At age 26, you have an miscarriage as the result of an unpleasant sexual experience. They say, you really should be on the pill, it is the best form of contraception. You say, I wasn’t pregnant because I was careless, I was pregnant because someone broke my trust. Their unsolicited advice is jarring.

Cue heartache.

Our periods tell us so much about ourselves. They can empower us if only we let them speak.

We are so afraid of our own body’s because men are afraid of our bodies. The patriarchal society that we exist in has left us feeling disenchanted with the way our female form operates and fearful of our natural rhythms and cycles.

We are oppressed. We are unsure. We simply ignore.

We ignore nature. We ignore who we are and what we feel so that men can be more comfortable.

They call them mood swings, so we call them mood swings.

They call us bitches, so we call ourselves bitches.

They call period blood gross, so we call our period blood gross.

Instead, we should be saying that these changes in my mood are just me feeling it all. I am not a bitch, my body is grieving the absence of a pregnancy, so let me grieve. There is nothing dirty about this blood, it is as pure as any cascading waterfall and it is mine to marvel.

When we suppress women and their periods, we are suppressing an innate and ancient wisdom.

Suppressing our menstrual cycle is swapping true knowing for senseless unconsciousness.

When we become unconscious to ourselves, humanity loses hope.

When we ignore the ebbs and flows of our bodies and try to ride a hormone high all of the goddamn time, someday, eventually, we will crash so fast and so hard that it will be impossible to get back up again.

Step into your knowing. Step into your being. Step into the cycle of your period.

Embrace it all. Feel it all. Trust it all.

For you are a WOMBEN. You deserve nothing but true trust in who you are and what your body can do. Step into the messy, step into the wild, step into the true.

Bleed for you.