Well, I must tell you something very important that you might not know. And those who didn't know that side of me probably think that I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. I used to be an awfully mean, easy to anger person. That was for many reasons; one being the result of emotional abuse, a condition I only heard of close to middle-age.
A lot of you ladies, and the hardy men who are still reading, probably can guess the other reasons...
hormones
Even before my hormones began to depart I started to try to correct/change my behavior. At least, as per the Jewish Laws of Teshuva, Repentance, stage one was to recognize that I had a problem, a very serious one. My angry, hysterical reactions to all sorts of things over most of my life did a lot of damage to me and others.
I hadn't realized how much I had changed until the other night. I was dressed in nice, new for me clothes, attending a social event, when a neighbor splattered a ton of reddish salad dressing all over my light-colored wool jacket and pale beige cotton skirt. I looked at the damage and felt nothing. No uncontrollable wave of anger surged through my system. I told her that it was OK, only clothes. She was so grateful. I tried to explain that "the new me" had been reacting. The "old me" would have killed her.
I told her that I have been working on changing myself for a very long time.
Another neighbor "tasted" the dressing, gave me laundering instructions and sent me home to change and wash it immediately. I was so mellow, that I would have just sat there all dirty. After putting the skirt in the washing machine and spot-cleaning the jacket, I returned to the party in different clothes.
Ladies, being post-menopause is something to look forward to! I like the "new me."
6 comments:
Yay! All you have to do is survive long enough and it gets better???
Gray is something to look forward to!
I'm with you on all of this. Hang in there young 'uns, there is light at the end of the tunnel!
Thank G-d, we're in the same boat and it's a fun cruise!
That's upbeat! As long as it makes less likely to snap at my daughter...
"Hang in there young 'uns, there is light at the end of the tunnel!" - thanks, Risa!
Leora, yes, that's it. With reduction of hormones many of us are more mellow and pleasant. There's much less of that uncontrollable "anger." I'm a different person. Plus-- a big plus, I've been consciously working on myself to make myself nicer.
Do men undergo a similar mellowing process as their testosterone levels decline?
Julie, that's a good question. I don't know if all women feel the difference. For those of us who had been "bossed around" by PMS, life without is a blessing.
Some men may find it depressing or a cause for anger when they no longer have the power they felt from testosterone. I also can't imagine a man blogging how great it is to be without all those hormones.
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