This ended up being a hot topic at two separate courses that I ran this week. The first course was a Supporting Employees through Menopause and the second a general Mental Health Awareness course.
One participant, who is currently in perimenopause, was describing how she has a much shorter fuse at the moment and on a number of occasions has ended up snapping at people at work.
A young man, in his 20’s, described how he has a lot going on in his personal life and hasn’t got much patience at the moment, resulting in falling out with colleagues.
I certainly remember when I was in perimenopause I would get angry really easily. I remember standing in the office and feeling like I could explode, throw something, shout or scream at people. Thankfully I didn’t, all my colleagues would have noticed was that I was being more irritable than usual. If only they knew how I was feeling inside.
One day I had this thought.
“I feel like I’m going mad”
I knew I was overreacting but couldn’t help it. Then I had a realisation. I remembered that this was how I used to feel as a teenager and at times a few days before my period. There was a physical reason for the anger.
How did I manage that phase of my menopausal journey.
Once I realised these intensely angry feelings were hormonal, that helped. I also did a lot of walking away, breathing deeply, reframing my thoughts, noticing feelings, and apologising if I was noticeably snappy with someone.
Thankfully it passed.
Now when a colleague or customer is acting in a way that seems disproportionate to what is happening, I try to remember that things may not be as they seem. They may be wrestling with overwhelming emotions on the inside. We never really know what is going on for that person.
Menopause Champions
On our Menopause Champions course you can gain insight into your own menopause journey and also how to support others. Our next course is on 27th November in central Manchester. For further details for this link
Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash
