Transitions, Transformations and a Little Photography
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Finding Peace
I must admit that writing about my mum’s battle with dementia was quite emotionally challenging, however the response that I received was very heart warming. I had people sharing similar experiences and how it affected their families, ideas and thoughts of how they’ve navigated the challenges of care giving or being long distance care givers. It was a post that really felt like it resonated for many and created some lovely connections which I really appreciated.
Since that blog post I have had all sorts of thoughts of things that I would have liked to have included, but I either didn’t think of them, or I was concerned about the length of the post. I’ve decided to do a follow up post and talk about some of those things and some of the new things that I’ve been looking into around dementia.
Post Menopausal Zest
I recently had a conversation with someone and they got all excited and started to go on about a phenomenon they’d come across called post menopausal zest (ironically it was a male friend). At first I thought he was pulling my leg, being sarcastic or talking about some new cocktail craze. However, he was being serious and yes it is a real term.
It was first coined by anthropologist Margaret Mead to describe the apparent increase in physical and psychological energy that can come after menopause. Mead started using this phrase in the 1950’s and we’re now talking some 75 years later and the term seems to have experienced a resurgence. Mead originally coined the term to indicate the time in a woman’s life when child bearing/rearing activities are finished and usually there is time and space for more self focused activities - opportunity to pursue self interests or learn and grow. It is also a time when hormone levels are usually levelling out again and becoming more stable.