The most effective way to do it is to do it – Amelia Earhart.

What an amazing woman, so courageous and a go-getter!

I could have done with this quote when I was sobbing into my cornflakes one morning, a few years ago. I had already been ‘let go’ (tell it like it is Tess – fired!) from my second contract job and was reflecting on my choices and decisions, after raising some issues for the people who were permanently employed. Having just finished a permanent role where employees were also being pushed out due to age, it really hit home that someone had to say something and raise their plight further up the management chain.

At this particular workplace, their boss was ignoring their plight – get this, one woman was purposely seated under a central air conditioning vent which was turned up high. This was the middle of winter, and when I first walked into that office she looked like she was working in the South Pole!

Long story short, I escalated the issue past my immediate site boss and got some action. That. along with helping out a site supervisor and a field worker saw me packing up my things and arriving home to Bob, who jokingly asked me if I’d been fired, with my fan sitting on top of the typical box of work stuff.

It’s not the first time I’ve stuck my neck out, literally (this was the same job where the company vehicle I was a passenger in was rear-ended and I ended up with whiplash). All in all it was a rather stressful assignment/contract and I was pleased to see the back of it.

My next contract ended up on the same note – again, employees in the office being pushed out after 25-30 years service. Fair enough, if you want to move us older gals on, but do it right, don’t just push women (and older men) around and make it so uncomfortable that they are forced to leave without their entitlements. That’s just not right. We’re the generation who have built your business and provided the top level of customer service, internally and externally.

The last contract pretty much made up my mind that I wouldn’t take anymore assignments where I would be placed in such a stressful and heart wrenching position.

So, that morning, a few years ago now, I was sitting having breakfast and thinking…It’s all well and good helping out and seeing results for others, but it’s still not the best feeling being fired!

I did feel sorry for myself and couldn’t stop thinking about the last words of the neurologist and the stroke ward nurses and the physiotherapist.

Am I really destined for the rest of my life to be ill? Talk about a downer! Wouldn’t you think that people in the medical industry would be focused on getting us well? That’s what I believed but I didn’t believe that I couldn’t get well. I just didn’t know how!

I love God – he has never let me down, even though at times my prayers aren’t answered the way I thought they would be.

And that morning was no exception. I had experienced yet another oops moment, the awful flushes were minutes apart and the nausea and headache, as well as paralysis, was more than I could bear. Of course, crying didn’t help with any of it, just made me more hot and flustered and lonely. 

If you’re going through menopause at this level, then one of the best things you can do is to reduce your stress level because that is vital to managing the other symptoms. Even look at taking a week off work to assess your health and just breathe some fresh air and sunshine for a bit. It will make the world of difference to your circumstances and, one thing I learnt the hard way, is the more you do the more you can do. And, when you put yourself first in your care life, you will strengthen every area of your personal and professional relationships.

Menopause is the time in your life where you really need to put you first.

That was what I was discovering that fateful day years ago.

I went outside to get some fresh air, and found myself pulling out some weeds in the garden. As I pulled out those weeds I began to name them – this weed (which was really deep and stuck fast in the ground) was for the time I got embarrassed in front of the whole gathering at Ranger Guides when I leant over a dining table to pick up a small savoury and farted! Have you ever tried to cover up a fart with a cough?! I could hear the whole room snickering and I didn’t realise that memory was playing on my mind. So I called that weed that memory and dug that little sod out!

Something happened as I began to let my mind filter up the memories and I named and dug out and threw away each and every one of them! I also took a deep breath and blew out all those embarrassing, scary, and unwanted memories – which are quite closely tied to the level of symptoms we experience in menopause.

I felt better in myself, I felt like I could stand up and take a decent breath again. As those memories were being dealt with (this is a brilliant way to remove old baggage out of your life) I felt freed up to pray in my heart for a solution and these prayers added to the mountain I had prayed as I had been fasting off and on for days.

It really wasn’t hard to fast as I felt ill anyway and was trying to rid myself of the many kilos I had piled on. 

Boy did I cry a mountain of tears and then I took all those weeds and threw them in the rubbish bin, feeling lighter than I had done for years. 

As I made my way back towards the house, I heard an amazing sentence – we’ve all heard the saying – you are what you eat!

And…then I heard my amazing turnaround – healthy cells build a healthy body.

 I heard that as clear as a bell as I was stepping back through the door.

Then I had an aha moment…I research projects, I investigate insurance claims, I know how to find information.

It dawned on me – I could research how to grow a healthy cell! If healthy cells make a healthy body, then all I need to do is learn what makes a healthy cell!

So – as Amelia Earhart said – the most effective way to do it is to do it!

And I did. I got on my computer and typed in ‘What makes a healthy cell?’ And I found how to build a healthy cell.

Today, I’m kilos lighter, fit and healthy. Just a little vestige left of the paralysis (a weakness on my left side) but totally healthy.

All because I did it!

How about you? Are you stuck right now, yet deep down you know you can do it?

Then just do it! Take the first step towards achieving your goal and then tomorrow take the next step.

It’s never going to be easy but it is so worth making the effort!

Big hug!