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Mistakes Made During My Period + MY *NEW* PODCAST (Copy)

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One of the lessons I’ve learned most as an editor (especially of my own writing/podcasting) is knee-jerk reactions and creating from a space of anger or extreme emotion is messy.

Not necessarily bad or good.

But messy.

If you’ve ever left a reactive comment on something posted on social media, and then deleted it afterward, you might be familiar with this.

So I made it an early rule for this blog (and most of my writing) not to publish anything while I had my period or PMSing because I was usually at my most reactive.

But I still love to create from that space and find some of my biggest surges of inspiration to come from such deep emotion.

I woke up one morning a few weeks ago in a particularly raw, expressive mood. I was on Day 5 of my period and feeling like absolute garbage after my Adenomyosis had once again beaten me up from the inside.

“Prior to the Hysterectomy, it was difficult to conceptualize transitioning from having to plan my life around this pain and discomfort that plagued me about 3/4ths of every month.

And even though I’m still in the beginning stages of recovery, I can already feel the amount of space — physically and mentally — this surgery has given me.”

And rather than try to push through, I made some tea and went outside and asked myself what it needed.

“OW! PAIN! IT HURTS! FEELS LIKE STABBING!” it answered.

Oh, right. My brain/body was so focused fully on the Adenomyosis pain so pretty much anything else was secondary until I figured out how to deal with the pressing issue at hand.

I realized I hadn’t been taking care of myself as well as I could have been.

I drank my tea, had some CBD/THC (the only thing that works for Adeno pain for me) and did some breathing to calm my nerves, then opened my daily journal pages and wrote this.

Fast-forward to tonight, as I’m celebrating Day 13 of my Hysterectomy Recovery and I found it kicking around, ready to be revisited and edited for publishing.

Prior to the Hysterectomy, it was difficult to conceptualize transitioning from having to plan my life around this pain and discomfort that plagued me about 3/4ths of every month.

And even though I’m still in the beginning stages of recovery, I can already feel the amount of space — physically and mentally — this surgery has given me.

So instead of giving it the title I was originally going to use, which was “Mistakes Made During My Period,” instead I’ll give it the more accurate title of …

Mistakes I’ll Never Ever Make Again During My Period — Because I Got a Hysterectomy! YAY!

Enjoy 🙂

  • Not getting outside in the mornings enough — when I finally did, I found myself in a better mood.

  • Forgetting to take my vitamins — especially iron, which I take supplements of during my period when I lose a lot of blood and the fatigue is real!

  • Saying "yes" to get people off my back — the phrase "let me think about it" is magical! It gives me some space to get myself in a better place mentally and check my availability and possible energy levels.

  • Coffee with milk/cream — This is me giving myself a little tough love right now, don't mind me: Emily, I know you feel like a pretentious prissy when you order oat or almond milk but get over it! We/I need nondairy substitutes with our coffee because otherwise, the gas is more painful than the cramps! Please stop thinking "Oh just this once, how bad could the Burger King iced coffee be?" (Actually, it was surprisingly not bad, but to paraphrase Ron Burgundy, the milk was a bad choice …)

  • Forgetting/Not believing I have PMS/PMDD. Meanwhile, I'm having a 20-minute cryfest in the shower over seeing "Arrival" for the first time because I didn't go to DoesTheDogDie.com first to prepare myself for the heartbreaking daughter storyline.

  • Not getting enough sleep and crashing after a long day, even though I put off working on a file I needed to. But I know if I trudged through when I was exhausted, it would have taken me two-to-three times longer to do it. I finished it the next day when my energy started coming back. But trying to get enough sleep is tough when the tiredness keeps me from getting my work done and then I have to make the decision to force myself to do my work (🧠: no, no, please, anything but that!) or to go to bed, which would be good for me (🧠: sounds kind of boring, is there anything else?). Do you see the problem when it comes to fighting with my ADHD brain during this time? It's extra exhausting.

  • Not planning or scheduling a REAL Recovery Day. Not a day of just "no work" but a day I filled my own cup and prioritized my needs and what I needed to come back again stronger for more life to be thrown my way 

What's Helping:

  • Getting out into nature, even little walks count!

  • Remembering I have a HappyLight, hopefully before things get too bad with my mental health.

  • Heating pads, CBD/THC, trying to get to sleep before midnight to get at least 8ish hours

  • Water and tea

The good news that I didn’t reaize at the time I was writing this was that this was to be my second-to-last period!

A week or so after, I got the OK to finally get that Hysterectomy I had been putting off!

>>> If you’re interested to hear all about that, I invite you to check out my newest podcast, “That’s Hysterical! Now, Get Out!” <<<

I know, I know. I buried the lede, as they say in journalism.

But, YES!

I have a new podcast that’s been 3 years in the making and my little passion project I’ve had the time and space to work on while recovering 🙂

And while it’s the first time many are hearing about it, it’s actually been in active production since a few days after the above list was initially written. Prior to surgery, I was recording episodes and squirreling them away for when I was feeling better, but focusing most of my energy on helping my clients get ahead for their podcasts.

You’ll hear all about that and more in the podcast!

If you’ve been following my Adenomyosis journey here on Emily: Out Loud, enjoy this audio addition, now available on most podcast players and apps, as well as ThatsHystericalPodcast.com.

WHAT TO READ NEXT …

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