Here’s one thing to love about your premenstrual week

Home > best week to...  > Here’s one thing to love about your premenstrual week
My Hormonology

06 Aug Here’s one thing to love about your premenstrual week

Posted at 14:21h in best week to..., hormonology tip, Week 4 by
0 Likes

Your premenstrual week gets such a bum rap. From moodiness and irritability to aches and pains, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot to love about this plunging-estrogen week of your cycle.

Or is there?

Today I’d like to suggest that your premenstrual week could be a perfect time to face certain issues you’ve been putting off dealing with or you’ve been hoping would resolve on their own in more hopeful, higher estrogen weeks of your cycle.

That’s because the lack of patience and irritation you’re more prone to experiencing as estrogen declines in your premenstrual Week 4 can give you that final motivating push you need to fix a lingering problem–which will ultimately make you happier.

Let me explain:

During my most recent premenstrual week, I was getting irritated as I looked around my house and was gazing on all the accumulating dust and dirt and smudges that I haven’t been able to clean since I threw out my back many weeks ago (which you wouldn’t know about because I haven’t whined about that AT ALL in my recent Hormonology posts!).

Without the ability to bend, twist or lift, my poor husband, Douglas, has had to take over the lion’s share of the housework on top of his already tightly-packed work schedule.

Though I’m not proud of this, after fixating on the way the house as gotten so dirty, I kind of lost it. I just was fed up with waiting for my back to get better to start cleaning. And I was fed up with living in a messy house because I work so much better when things around me are clean and tidy.

So, I put my foot down and told Douglas I’m looking for a housecleaner to give us some help.

Now, we don’t really like having someone else clean our house for several reasons: We’ve tried housecleaners in the past, but they weren’t the best (one enjoyed laying out by the pool while we paid her by the hour and repeatedly used my laptop computer as her personal soda can coaster while another kept asking us how much all our stuff cost in a weird and kinda scary version of the Price is Right TV game). We also like our privacy and stories like this one of housecleaners snooping through cabinets, drawers and medicine bottles just make us uncomfortable. And, finally, I simply feel guilty about asking someone else to clean my dirt.

However, now in my premenstrual week, I was finally facing the aggravating fact that my back isn’t getting better anytime soon. And, even if it did, there’s now so much to clean, I wouldn’t be able to tackle it all while working full-time, writing my book and finishing the new Hormonology apps. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.

So, with premenstrual estrogen plunging, not only was I more focused on the problem that had been bugging me for weeks, but that I’d tried to, well, sweep under the rug, the same hormonal dip was now making me much more irritable about it.

And, it was this spike in irritation that pushed me to overcome all my reservations about hiring someone to help–and I ended up calling a few housecleaners and found one I liked. So, I hired her.

AND I’M SO GLAD I DID. She starts today–and I feel such a total sense of relief. She seems nice, capable and professional. And, frankly, I’m at the point where I’m willing to put up with a few quirks just to get some help. And, if for whatever reason it doesn’t work out, it’s okay. I’m now in my Week 1 and I know rising estrogen will boost my resilience, which will help me find someone else who may work out better. (I have a hunch this one will be just fine though.)

Anyway, what I’m trying to say in a very long-way-’round sort of way is that the frustration and irritation and anger you might dread about your premenstrual week can actually be channeled to push you to make a change you really need to move your life in a better direction.

For instance, it could be the reason you decide to take an online course to change your career, confront your roommate about not paying her share of the bills or take a dry cleaner to small claims court for losing your expensive suit.

My only warning here is that you should avoid using your premenstrual week to make a major change that’s not reversible, like suddenly quitting your job, breaking up with your partner, getting a face tattoo or giving away all your money and going off on a journey of self-exploration. Those kinds of big changes really require a long time of weighing the pros and cons–not making a rash decision.

If you find a way to you use your premenstrual week to make your life better like I just did, let me know!

Never miss a single Hormonology tip:
Click here to subscribe to the free Hormonology newsletter today!

[Photo: Dakotilla]

Follow me
Latest posts by Gabrielle Lichterman (see all)