What does your “Veil of PMS” tell you?
I want to tackle PMS head on today because it’s a huge issue for so many women. And I truly believe that the only way to resolve and relieve PMS symptoms is to take an integrative approach.
But there is another aspect about PMS that is far too often ignored.
Think of the days you experience PMS as if you are living with a “thinner veil” between what is happening internally for you and what is happening in your world. Whereas other weeks of the month, our natural hormonal cocktails give us just enough resiliency to mask the deeper feelings we have about situations or relationships in our life, the veil thins out during PMS.
Many times the intensity of our PMS week allows us to see and experience with sharper clarity (and sharper sting) what we really aren’t okay with.
For example, I may be able to brush off rude comments from someone most of the month, but if it happens the week before my period, I can get hugely offended and reactionary.
One way to see this is the default “blame it on the hormones”.
Another way is to pause and ask, “Could this be a sign that I shouldn’t be so accepting of rude comments most of the time?” “Am I actually allowing myself to react appropriately (albeit a little intensely) at being spoken to disrespectfully?”
What if we saw our PMS as a gift?
There are many nuances here, for sure. But if I’m properly caring for my body…if I’ve supported my hormonal cycles and am simply experiencing a natural stretch of time in my month where I am closer to the surface and less able to just “let things go.” Perhaps these alarm bells are a huge gift.
Not a gift to be tolerated, but one that gives you clear signs toward what needs attention in your life.
The thinner veil, allows you to see something (perhaps a little magnified) but there none-the-less and gives you the opportunity to honor yourself and bring it to light instead of stuffing it down and making excuses for it.
Wow, Lisa, thank you so much for the PMS guide! I can’t wait to really dive into it. I finally had a chance to finish listening to your Hormone call today, and I loved what you mentioned about respecting our cycles and the in-breath/out-breath rhythm of life. It’s such a beautiful concept.
I like to jokingly tell my husband that PMS just brings out the “normal” person in me, since I’m usually a pretty nice, go-with-the-flow person otherwise. I don’t like feeling irritable, but I love the idea of seeing it as a gift that prompts me to examine what’s truly bothering me.
Love your insight and feedback, Asta– and hearing that you enjoyed the call. Hoping you get some gems from the guide 🙂
This is fantastic Lisa.
I have definitely experienced this “thinner veil”, particularly when I’ve not been taking good enough care of myself. Even when I am doing a decent job of caring for myself, though, I tend to feel far more tired during this time and do well when I listen to my body and give myself the rest and quiet time I am craving. Thank you for the free guide.
Wow, I just started my cycle today, and although I’ve never thought about it that way before, I really think you are right. Two days ago, I felt hurt by the way my husband communicated with me on the phone, and lonely in a city that I have lived in for two years, but have yet to make deep connections in. I brushed those feelings off because I was feeling hormonal, but you are right – they were real reactions to real issues. Thank you for making me think of this in a new way.
Thanks for sharing this, Lisa. I love this perspective and can very much see how it can be the case for me. I have tended to “play nice” for a long time, and also keep a lot of my feelings under wraps, but at that time of the month there is no holding back for me. I realise that openness is something I need to embrace more, and I am looking forward to checking out your guide to help with some of the more painful symptoms.
[…] – I love this piece by Lisa Byrne asking, “What does your ‘veil of PMS’ tell you?” […]
I feel others’ disrespect much more keenly at that time of month. And then I tend to over-react!!! It’s probably just a sign that I need to deal with disrespect issue differently in general.