Well, I am writing this to you from my bed, breakfast tray beside me, pot of camomile tea brewing, hot water bottle upon my womb, wearing my menstruation dress and laying upon a towel so that I can free bleed.

Romancing the winter (bleeding) phase of my cycle is an art I’ve been refining for some years now.

Gone are the days of ‘skipping’ my period on the pill (being on the pill means you have an artificial bleed meaning you can never actually skip it).

Gone are the days of shoving a tampon up there and popping some painkillers to ‘deal’ with it.

Now I relish in the pause my bleed brings. The time for going inward, for slowing down.

I am learning to clear my calendar around this time, to say no to invitations, to lay languidly in bed on a work day shrugging off the pressure of productivity.

It took me a long time to get to this place, it was like swimming upstream against endless doctrines, beliefs and apparent evidence that I,

like so many people around me,

should despise this dreadful and insufferable thing called a period.

Yet, instead, I decided to listen to the whispers of a different truth, that perhaps, being born with a body that blooms and sheds,

Is a gift we have not yet opened, nor understood the glory of what's inside.

I began to romance my blood.

To paint with it.

Adorn myself with it.

Touch it, smell it…dare I say it…taste it.

I showed my blood that I loved it, respected it, honoured it.

And eventually, one cycle, as my bleeding was due to arrive, I found myself excited.

I had romanced myself into loving my bleed.

This feels concrete for me. No one will ever convince me of anything other than the sacredness of my blood.
With this truth in place, the whisper has started up again, telling me to go deeper, to open my eyes and love it ALL.

I may have fallen in love with my winter phase, but there are three phases of the menstrual cycle for me to fall in love with.

For if your period is winter.
Pre ovulation is spring.
Ovulation is summer.
And premenstrual is autumn.

How do you romance the phases of your cycle?

Which phase would you like me to write about for part two?