Do You Know Where Your Peeps Are?

Hi there!

You may have heard that I made a HUGE change to my life last Spring. I sold the house I had owned for 30 years and moved into an apartment. It was time. I had closed my massage practice and was no longer seeing clients in my home office. I didn’t need all the space, and I was tired of the maintenance and taxes.

I had been mulling the idea around in my head for a couple of years. Because I work virtually, I could live anywhere. Where to go? It was fun imagining myself moving back to Europe or living in an expat community in South America. At one point I became intrigued with living in an ecovillage in Ithaca. My friends and family were skeptical.

I took a weekend trip with a friend and visited the ecovillage. I’m really glad I did because it made me realize that there’s no place like home! Community was what sealed the deal. Out of all my many choices, I had to stay in Jersey City. This is where my peeps are. I love my community. It took a trip to Ithaca to make me I realized how important community is to me. So here I am, living 4 blocks from my old house and going to the same yoga studio and supermarket and bumping into the same people at my favorite coffee shop. I couldn’t be happier.

Community is always important, but it is especially important during the perimenopause and menopause years. Women need a social circle. This is biologically important. You need to support your hormonal system and keep your stress level low. Having high levels of stress most of the time affects your menopause symptoms and not in a good way! A community of women friends can make a big difference in how you feel. Do you have 2 or 3 friends you can count on? If you’ve lost touch, it’s time to reconnect.

Do something easy. Make a phone call or send an email and plan to meet for coffee or for a walk. If you have a regular activity like yoga or spinning, you can invite a friend to join you as your guest.

If you’re feeling more ambitious, have a small dinner party for just the girls. It doesn’t need to be fancy. You don’t even need to cook if you make it a potluck and ask everyone to bring something.

Make building your community a priority! Your wellbeing depends on it.

Be well,

Laura

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And more...

· I don’t think it should be hard to get together with a friend or two, but if you’re ready to invite more people into your circle you may find The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker helpful. But please, keep it simple. The idea is to lower your stress not to raise it!