Urgency

By: Red Hot Mamas

Published: October 9, 2015

Contributed by Liz Allen-  Red Hot Mamas Financial Expert

I’m not referring to the level of urgency we feel after drinking lots of water and no restroom in sight. Nor am I discussing the heightened need to eat when your blood sugar gets too low. My discourse at the moment has to do with how menopause pushes us to a whole new level of impatience.

Certainly there is something to be said for being women “of a certain age” and with the passage of time, we all acknowledge how much faster it blazes by. Birthdays appear to be arriving at warp speed. As do the grey hairs…and chin hairs. Blaming it all on the hormones or labeling our behavior as “mood swings” no longer cuts it.

It’s urgency.

A relentless determination to get back to how we once felt, or move forward out of this Twilight Zone to become the woman we will be after the meno-ride is over. It’s an urgency to get un-stuck. I won’t say it feels like quicksand; it’s not a slow frightening pull downward with the inevitable unhappy ending. It’s more like treading in a Universe of jell-o. Everything around me is familiar, but I don’t feel like myself. I’m uncomfortable but despite my impatience, I cannot move any faster. The world around me isn’t awful, it’s just not what I prefer.

So what do we do?

We adhere to the advice of our doctors, friends, fellow meno-mates, books and in moments of horrifically poor judgement, the internet. But it feels like the proverbial one step forward three steps back. The need to feel like we’re making progress is almost as great as actually making it. Our choices are limited but at least, were no longer alone. We’re all treading in the jell-o together and we can talk about it, write about it and support each other in a way that didn’t exist fifty years ago.

Try to focus those moments of urgent impatience into something positive-dare I say-healthy. Get fresh air by taking a walk. If it’s too hot, go to the mall and window shop while you get your blood circulating. Call a friend who doesn’t mind if you commiserate. Find an old friend you’ve been meaning to seek out on Facebook.

Find closure.

Settle a score.

Smile in spite of yourself and know that one day we’ll look back on these feelings and the vat of jell-o and think what was my hurry?

Elizabeth currently I lives in Orlando, Florida with her husband of 23 years, her 19-year-old daughter, and Shayna – the Catahoula Leopard dog. Check out her work at www.elizabeth-allen.com and www.ameripriseadvisors.com