We Gen X women are raw-dogging menopause—a generation of guinea pigs.
I hated the thought of turning 50. Now I’m 50 f*cking 2. Despite the crazy number—which I equated with old ladies as a kid—I’ve honestly never felt more like myself.
Not to mention sexier than ever.
There’s definitely a second act in midlife.
It’s not a crisis but a reckoning. And it’s glorious.
Many of us Gen-Xers have ended marriages that held us back and turned us into someone we didn’t even like (the divorce still killed me), stared down our childhood trauma, stopped overgiving to every MF, and happily aged out of f*cks.
It’s liberating.
Of course, there are downsides: the collagen refuses ot spring back like it used to, the looming empty nest is heartbreaking and terrifying, and your mortality starts doing laps around your head.
That aside, I feel alive, reinvigorated, ready for the next chapter—whatever the hell that looks like.
But here’s the thing about us women—and I’m not a whiner—we get a raw deal. If bleeding every month for the best part of 30 to 40 years (apart from a break during pregnancy’s hormonal rollercoaster) doesn’t suck enough, just when your period peaces out and we start to recalibrate and level up, the next loop in our long hormonal journey rears its ugly head.
The dreaded “M” word.
Menopause is starting to have a moment, but the conversation is still half-assed—especially in the medical world. I had NFI whether I was even in menopause. No peel-off-your-skin hot flashes. I sleep like the dead. I wasn’t hurling plates at my husband (thankfully, we separated before it came to that).
So imagine my horror, on a recent trip home to Australia, when I asked my long-term GP Karen to “check my menopause”—really just an excuse to see her, since she’s been my doctor since I was pregnant with my first son, Tiago, now 21.
She referred me to Dr. Salina Jamani of Menopause GP.
And then this happened.
The good news is that getting a diagnosis—even an unsexy old-lady-vibes one—is a major wake-up call. I immediately went on HRT, and have started to feel like my new/old self, take a daily vitamin D/calcium supplement, overhauled my diet (protein, protein, and more protein) with a nutritionist, and got my 50+ year old ass to the gym.
And I HATE the gym.
Ladies: Consider this a CTA to insist that your doctor order bloodwork to check your hormone levels and send you for a DEXA scan—especially since the recommended ages are 65 in the U.S. and 70 in Aus.
WTAF.