“Life doesn’t end with menopause, it’s the beginning of a new adventure. Strap in and enjoy the ride” Helen Mirren.
This sounds impossible when the symptoms of the Menopause take hold and have a negative impact on us daily in so many different ways and will often leave us wondering if it’s just me and how do others manage. But as the quote above suggests, you are not the only one on this journey.
All woman of a “certain age” will go through menopause and no two people will have the same experience, some will hardly notice it, whilst others will feel like they are going crazy, often wondering what is wrong with them. Whatever your symptoms, your feelings, coping mechanisms, it’s important to learn about the support and treatments which will help.
World Menopause Day is held every year on 18 October. The purpose of the day is to raise awareness of the menopause and the support options available for improving health and well being and provides an opportunity to encourage us all to take time to talk about the range of symptoms and have the confidence to share our stories. The theme this year is Menopause Hormone Therapy (HRT as its usually known) with focused resources on understanding hormone therapy and how it can help with the symptoms.
At Randall & Payne the senior team signed the Menopause Workplace Pledge, as supporting the team’s wellbeing is a priority and giving the opportunity to talk and share how menopause is affecting us is a positive step to ensuring we feel understood and supported. When our hormones are imbalanced knowing our manager, and colleagues understand and have our back is amazing and can help release some of the pressure we put on ourselves to hide how we are feeling.
This World Menopause Day we offered the chance for our staff to chat over tea and biscuits, sharing experiences and signposting the resources about the treatments and support available, including the articles and videos on our wellness app which we have as part of our Employee Assistance Programme with MetLife. We are also using a suggestion box with some #Let’sTalkMenopause suggestion slips to encourage staff to put forward ideas for ways we can provide support in the workplace.
By taking the time to talk, we can help others understand and share coping mechanisms. What is discussed will resonate with so many, as I can guarantee that others will have similar symptoms and the more information we share the more we can support each other now and those who will inevitably experience similar in the future.
