Hold Your Hormones

*Blog title dedicated to Coach Fish--my high school physics teacher. Instead of "hold your horses," he'd always yell hormones instead. Very appropriate for high a school physics class in my opinion.

I have a few girly things to say. Men, beware.

While I was single, I feel like I had acquired a fairly decent handle on my hormones. Perhaps it was because I was drowning in estrogen in an apartment of six girls, but I feel like I understood my hormones and gave them more credibility in my life. As in, instead of feeling like my life was a smouldering heap of despair and doom, I would think instead--"Oh wow. Am I about due for a period? Yep. I guess life will look better in a day or two. No need to panic." Being a woman is lovely.

Unfortunately, I feel like I've lost my touch as a hormone-whisperer. Granted, I'm dealing with hormones that I've never had before (getting pregnant, getting unpregnant, then nursing for 9 months throws a wrench in the well-established hormonal routine), so I'm having to learn a new hormone language. I think I'd rather learn Mandarin Chinese. I also haven't had one of those period things since... Hmmm, May 2012. While that's more or less a perk, it does leave me without some sort of tangible indication of hormonal influx. And now I don't have anything to give meaning to my random acne eruptions. Darn.

This might sound like I'm complaining, but it's actually more of an endearing, satirical view of biological womanhood. ("Endearing, satirical view..." Does that even exist? Perhaps the best oxymoron I've come up with on this blog.) I love being a girl--periods, hormones, and all. And this new hormone business is in the name of having and feeding a baby, so I'm cool with that, too. I'm just still trying to regrasp the concept of hormones and how they affect my daily life. (And Blake's daily life, poor chap.)

Why am I giving you all of this "TMI" information? Because I've had a few of those "my life is smouldering heap of despair and doom" days recently. Life has some stressful things in it--there's no doubt about that--but life is good. Everything will work out and is working out--all is well. I'm sharing this as a reminder to all of you--especially you women and husbands of women and perhaps my pregnant friends--to consider the workings of hormones in your life. Do you feel like everything's falling apart? Relax. Chances are, they're probably not, and everything is going to look fine in a day or two. Give time a chance to work its magic and bless you with perspective. And when you're crying and thinking that all is lost for whatever reason, in the words of my friend, Claire:  "Understand that it probably really is the hormones."