How hypnotherapy can help us understand ourselves, recognise our capacity and make positive changes.

It dawned on me recently that in my head, I still think I’m in my 20’s. I’m not entirely sure why, but it’s how I see myself.at times. Yet when I look in the mirror, the person looking back at me is changing, and I wondering if my mind hasn’t quite caught up with what’s happening to my body.

We spend years developing our sense of who we are, our routines, habits, behaviours and expectations of ourselves. Then we reach a stage in life where our bodies begin changing, sometimes quite dramatically, yet mentally we can still feel like the same person we’ve always been. I actually a recall a conversation with my Nan who was approaching her 80’s at the time, and she told me, yes I still think like I did when I was much younger!

I’ve personally become much more curious about acceptance, particularly as I navigate the changes that come with perimenopause. How much of our frustration comes from trying to maintain the same expectations of ourselves, even when our physical and emotional capacity might be changing? And how much energy do we use resisting those changes rather than understanding what we actually need?

As a hypnotherapist, I’m also interested in how we can use our understanding of the mind to support us through these changes. We know our thoughts, expectations and responses can influence how we experience stress and certain physical symptoms, so it makes sense to me that there’s an opportunity to explore how we can use this knowledge during menopause.

Acceptance and understanding our capacity

We all have a certain capacity for managing the demands of everyday life, and this naturally fluctuates depending on what’s happening around us and within us. Poor sleep, hormonal fluctuations, stress and physical symptoms can all affect how much we feel able to manage, yet the expectations we place on ourselves often remain exactly the same.

Many of us have spent years juggling work, family, relationships and responsibilities. We’ve developed routines, habits and patterns of behaviour that have served us well, or at least allowed us to keep everything going.

Then perimenopause comes along, and things can start to feel different. Situations that wouldn’t previously have bothered us can become frustrating, our tolerance for noise, demands and other people’s behaviour might change, and we can find ourselves feeling overwhelmed by things we’ve dealt with for years.

For those of us who’ve spent years being independent, capable and accustomed to managing everything, accepting that we might need to make adjustments can be surprisingly difficult. We compare ourselves to how we used to be, become frustrated with our reactions and sometimes feel we’re somehow failing.

And I think this is where acceptance becomes interesting. We can acknowledge that our needs and capacity are changing while still recognising that we have choices about how we respond, what we prioritise and the expectations we place on ourselves.

Of course, some of those changes involve other people, and that’s where things can become a little more complicated.

Maybe this is where we have to put something down to accommodate these changes, but where do we begin? And what does that look like?

I’m interested to know how other women are experiencing this stage of their lives. Have you found yourself questioning things you’ve always accepted, or recognising that you need to make changes but aren’t quite sure where to start?

If any of this resonates with you and you’d like to explore how hypnotherapy could help, you’re always welcome to get in touch for an initial chat.