Today I wanna talk about the seasons that we

don't talk about enough.

I feel nervous about this because this isn't totally

businessy, but oh my goodness, the women that I work with

are struggling with this.

We are gonna talk about perimenopause, menopause,

and showing up anyway.

I wanna start this episode with a story.

My mom at 37 got diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

She had hot flushes.

Hot sweats.

She didn't sleep much.

Her weight was all over the place.

She thought she was going mad.

She had brain fog.

She got diagnosed with bipolar.

I'm not sure it was bipolar.

I think it was menopause that sent her on a whole

trajectory, which you've heard about in this podcast before.

I got married late.

I'm the second wife of my current husband.

He happens to be my first and only husband, and we

had, we tried really hard to get Evie and we had

multiple miscarriages before Evie and a couple after.

And I remember after the final miscarriage, I was

37, I went to the doctor and would run some blood

tests and she said, yep.

And very doctor mannerisms, as you can imagine.

Yep.

You're not gonna get pregnant.

You've headed into perimenopause and

I'm like, what?

Excuse me at 37, are you sure?

I'm 37.

It's, I'm very young and I have, my body was

able to get pregnant.

She's like, you'll never hold.

You'll never hold enough to have another baby.

Now, when you are desperate to give a sibling to.

One of your children and I already had two bonus kids,

so I am so incredibly lucky and grateful for that total of

three children, but I really wanted a sibling for Evie.

When you get told point blank, it's not gonna happen.

Even if you go on IVF, you have a 5% chance and you're

heading into perimenopause, it's like bang, bang, bang.

And I'm just like, what?

Now I've just turned 48.

That is 11 years in perimenopause.

And over the time I have thought I was going mad.

I've had the hot sweats, I've had the brain fog, I've had

the frozen shoulder, I've had the slurring of words.

You name it, I have had it.

So I am not coming to you.

With zero lived experience, I'm coming to you with 11

years of the ups and downs of not being able to have

another baby, of having multiple miscarriages that

my body just would not hold and of sitting in

perimenopause for a long time.

I don't feel like enough business conversations happen

with this season that we're about to talk about.

We've talked about the hormones, the brain fog,

the hot flushes, the sleepless nights, the tears

that come out of nowhere.

The partners who gently ask, are you all right?

And then they back away slowly.

because this season is so real, 10 years I've been

living in this season, and if you're in it, you will

know exactly what I mean.

And here's the thing, life still goes on.

Business still needs you.

Your kids still need you.

Nothing stops, and you can still show up even

when your body is throwing those curve balls at you.

This affects so many women in business, but often it

just sits quietly in the backgrounds of our lives.

Families call their moms crazy.

Moms are hanging out to just escape their own skin,

and this season of hormones shifting and changing

can make you feel like a stranger in your own body.

One minute, you're fine.

The next minute you're standing in front of the

freezer just trying to get some cool air, and then you

have to step into a coaching call or run a workshop

or lead a team meeting.

And I wanna acknowledge this season with complete honesty,

compassion, and a little bit of humor, because we can talk

about strategy all day long.

But some days the biggest challenge is simply getting

a good night's sleep.

The hormones that hijack us start there, shall we?

Perimenopause is not gentle.

One day you fe feel completely normal.

And the next, your emotions have decided to take you

on a rollercoaster that you did not buy a ticket for.

The brain fog is real.

I have walked into rooms with complete confidence, stopped

mid-sentence and thought.

I have absolutely no idea what I was about to say.

And this comes from someone who speaks for a living.

So there's that.

Then there's the hot flushes.

You're in a meeting nodding along professionally, and

your body suddenly decides to recreate the core

temperature of the sun.

Night sweats.

Let's talk night sweats.

Let's talk disturbed sleep.

Let's talk.

Waking up at 3:00 AM for absolutely no reason.

And then let's try talking about being

a fully functioning adult businesswoman

the very next day.

If you are experiencing any of this, Please know

you're not imagining it.

You are not weak.

You are not being dramatic.

Your body is literally recalibrating.

I like to talk about the partners who love us through

this, even though most of the time they have NFI.

What is going on?

My husband is amazing.

There is a guy on Instagram, I must find him for you.

His name is Mitch J Academy or something like that,

and he talks about, he's a personal trainer and his wife

is thick into perimenopause, and he talks about how she

breathes fire and that she's an angry dragon, That men as

husbands or we as partners need to be considerate of it

and basically shut up from time to time and just support

those, people in our lives who are going through that.

So I wanna shout out a moment for the husbands,

for the partners, for the significant others,

because they're learning just as we are, right?

The ones who wake up at the sound of us throwing off

the duna for the 10th time.

The one who gently asks if we're all right while we

cry because our favorite mug was in the dishwasher.

The ones who sit beside us with a cup of tea and

pretend not to notice when we are fanning ourselves

with the nearest notebook, we appreciate them.

We love them.

Sometimes we forget to say that.

We have to show up anyway, this is just part of the job.

This season is hard.

It's freaking hard, and yet business does

not pause for it.

Blokes don't have to deal with it.

By the way, if you're a bloke listening to this, go

give your partner a cuddle.

She probably needs it.

Clients still show up, meetings still happen.

Revenue still needs to be generated.

Oh my goodness, the list goes on.

But here's what I want you to hear.

Showing up does not mean

pushing through

like nothing is happening.

Showing up means adjusting in a way that honors your body,

your energy, and your needs.

Some days you'll need to reschedule.

Personally, don't love the reschedule.

Some days you'll need to do that.

Some days you'll need to have a nap before you

can tackle your inbox.

Totally fine too.

And some days you'll need to lower the bar

so you can keep moving.

That's a hard one for me.

I have very high expectations of myself.

Right.

But it is all right.

It is not failure.

It is wisdom.

We are women of a certain age.

We have lived enough life to know that seasons ebb and

flow, and this one will too.

By golly, I wish it would hurry up for me just quietly.

11 years is a long time.

And what I want you to know is that we can

acknowledge the season without letting it own us.

I wanna be clear that this is a season.

It's not a sentence you might feel off.

You might feel so unlike yourself.

You might feel a bit wobbly, but life does not

stop because your hormones are having a rave party.

I wish it did.

You still have dreams, you still have goals.

You still have a business that needs your leadership

and needs your brilliance.

You can honor your body and still keep moving forward.

You can rest and still build momentum.

You can have brain fog and still have genius ideas.

You can have hot flushes and still be the most

powerful woman in the room.

You're not broken.

You're just evolving.

So what I wanna say is this, my lovelies, oh my goodness.

If you are in this season of perimenopause or menopause,

I want you to know this.

You are not on your own, you are not behind.

You are not failing.

You're going through a transition that

millions of women have traveled before you.

Take care of your health.

Ask for what you need.

Slow down where you can, and keep showing up for

yourself and your business.

Because even in this season, even in this

season, you are capable of extraordinary things.

If you're listening to this and thinking, Emma, this is

exactly the season I'm in.

Firstly, sorry.

But secondly, if you're thinking I could really

use some support right now, someone who gets it,

someone who understands it, then I wanna gently

invite you to consider working with me one-on-one.

This stage of life can feel wobbly, confusing.

And a bit lonely.

Your body is doing one thing, your brain is doing another,

and you're still trying to hold a business together.

You do not need to navigate that on your own.

And in my one-on-one coaching, we look at the whole picture,

your energy, your priorities, your business model, your

rhythms, and we shape a plan that works with this

season, not against it.

And if you want clarity, structure, and accountability,

and a place to talk honestly about both business

and life, then working together might be exactly

what you need right now.

You can reach out through my website, send me a message.

I would love to support you.

Until next week, please take care of yourself.

Honor what your body is asking for, and remember that you can

build beautiful business even in the middle of this season.