Stop Trying to Nine to Five Your Menstrual Cycle

First and foremost, if your job is genuinely from 9 to 5 then wow, you fit into my title’s stereotype perfectly. I am however, well aware, that many of you reading this will work much, much longer hours than that.

And I want you to stop. Hear me out…

For far too long womb-beings* have been slotted into a system that doesn’t work for their bodies.

A womb-being is a cyclic being. Every 21-35 days (and varying) a womb-being sheds the inner lining of their uterus.

The day this blood arrives dripping or gushing out of their pussy is the first day of menstruation.

A quick overview of a cycle:

Note: This image depicts a womb-being with a 28 day cycle, this is a misleading average and it is completely normal to have a cycle that extends between 21-35 days. Mine is currently 35.

This information alone may be new to you, or it may not, something I wish to share is what runs parallel to your follicular (pre ovulation) and luteal (post ovulation) phases; the inner seasons.

Parallel to bleeding cyclically we womb-beings are aligned with seasons.

Menstruation = Winter

Thickening womb lining = Spring

Ovulation = Summer

Body detects pregnancy has not occured = Autumn

YES we are literally magical cyclic witches whose wombs go through seasons. And what do seasons have to do with working nine to five? Everything.

Let’s think of a tree;

When a tree enters Spring it is pumping out a lot of energy; it’s sprouting buds, flowers, it’s hyped with activity and soaking up the sun which is increasing each day.

Come Summer the tree is going off, it’s able to do a million things at once, be in full beautiful bloom, host various insects, birds, and adventurous climbing children.

Then Autumn rolls around, there are less visitors to the tree, its falling leaves give the impression that it is closing off a chapter, some energy remains in the process of letting the leaves fall but it certainly isn’t starting anything new.

Winter, by all accounts the tree is dead, but we know better. The tree is in a deep sleep, a sleep that is essential to its capacity to recharge and ready its-tree-self for the coming season.

Womb-beings are like this tree. We are capable of SO damn much, unbelievable amounts really. And we literally are not meant to do it all cycle long.We are not built for the patriarchal structure of 9-5, five days a week, 52 weeks a year. We’re just not!

Many womb-beings are taking a plethora of painkillers, suffering intense PMS, in agony from cramps, developing endometriosis, skipping Winter altogether with the contraceptive pill, and slowly but surely switching off and disconnecting from their bodies entirely.

AND I GET IT! I did it too. I numbed myself to make it through. To keep up. To meet the deadlines. To prove I was just as good as a man.

But I am not a man.

I am a womb-being and that is a fucking blessing.

When we stop fighting our seasons and start to flow with them everything changes. We learn how to do a month’s worth of work in two seasons (Spring, Summer) and to recuperate it all in the other (Autumn, Winter).

When we start to lovingly flow with our inner seasons our body speaks to us in kind; PMS and cramps can reduce, endometriosis and other such menstrual challenges can fade away.**

But what good is this information if you are in a profession that requires you nine to five?

You can begin to listen to your body within your work.

Buy yourself a daily diary and begin to record your cycle, see if you can work out which season you are in.

Record your emotions and begin to track which are recurring in each season.

From my own experience of doing this I know that during Autumn right before I bleed I always feel lonely.

According to your own tracking, begin to make the subtle adjustments that you can control.

For example, don’t allow challenging, potentially triggering meetings be booked on your heaviest bleeding day. Take that accrued leave during your Autumn phase and book yourself a massage. Schedule your overnight shifts during your Spring phase when you can conquer all. If you have flexibility, do your work from home for your full menstruation.

There is only one person in charge of your body and that is you. So stop and listen to it, make adjustments for it. Honour yourself as the magical cyclic witch you are. Screw the nine to five and live your one beautiful life your way.

*Womb-being is a new term I dreamt into creation for women who identify as women AND for beings who do not identify with the word woman but have a womb AND for womxn – who like me, have realised they don’t really feel like having the word ‘man’ inside their title.

**I am in no way claiming that following inner seasons will fix all cases of endometriosis, however it has been recorded to help many womb-beings to which I refer.

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Image by @la_morse