Understanding Women: Their Bodies LITERALLY Go Through Seasons
Tarah Avery
Sisters, this may come a little out of left field here, but have you ever wondered why God made our bodies to experience monthly cycles?
Some days it seems just downright awful and mean, doesn’t it?
But as I have begun researching and learning for myself about a woman’s body, I have found myself fascinated and just in awe of how miraculous it truly is!
Women’s bodies follow the same seasons as nature. Every year we have a spring, summer, fall, and winter. These seasons stick with us until the end of our time. There are four seasons, but they overlap into one another just as winter makes an appearance right in the middle of a beautiful spring week (Especially here in Colorado). Or just like spring will surprise you with a downpour right in the middle of summer (Ever been to the Pacific Northwest?) It’s not the same in every state, but you get the idea.
In the same way, there are 4 seasons in a woman’s life, there are also 4 seasons to her monthly cycle (which can be just as irregular as winter in springtime, haha). You see! We are so complex, and beautifully made (Psalm 139:14)!
And because of that complexity, let’s start with an overview of the four seasons of a woman’s life*:
Season #1: Pre-adolescence –
When our child body develops quickly and sometimes awkwardly. These years set the foundation of how we perceive ourselves. From infants to toddlers to little girls we are morphing into more of ourselves and developing into the women we are today.
Season #2: Adolescence –
This is the season where we are now able to bear children. It involves massive hormonal changes, which can be difficult, and often includes weight gain, breakouts, and huge inner struggles.
This is where we begin asking questions like, “Who am I? What makes me valuable? Where do I fit in?” This season makes up the longest season of a woman’s life. Oy.
Season #3: Pre-menopause –
During this season a woman’s body can change almost as dramatically as when we first entered into puberty (Season 2). This season can be fraught with trouble sleeping, hot flashes, irregular bleeding, strong emotions, etc.
According to Staci Eldredge, author of “Becoming Myself,” says research shows hot flashes can last up to 10 years! Ohh, man.
In this season many women begin to remember what they wanted to learn and become when they were young and not sidetracked by taking care of others. This is the time to get back to your own.
Season #4: Menopause –
You no longer have a menstrual cycle. The childbearing days are over. Interestingly I have heard that this is a really wonderful season for a woman.
Her creativity soars, her desires she laid aside to raise a family come back into focus, and her self-doubt and self-criticism may no longer hold the power they held when she was younger.
In correlation to the 4 seasons of a woman’s life, there are 4 weeks to a woman’s cycle, 28 days:
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Week 1 – Estrogen is released and our ovaries begin to do their work with the egg cell. In this “season” we are happier and have high energy. This is the week we can take on the world!
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Week 2 – Estrogen levels off and then declines. We still have some energy and we still feel like taking on the world; just maybe with a little less enthusiasm. This is where ovulation occurs. Estrogen rises a bit, and progesterone increases. Our egg travels down the fallopian tube in hopes of increasing in size. We are more peaceful inside and possibly more sexually assertive. But then our energy lessens and our emotions might become a bit conflicted.
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Week 3 – If no egg was fertilized, our brain signals estrogen and progesterone to vacate the building. Our emotions slide, we aren’t feeling our confident selves as readily. During this time women may be feeling empty as the empty space inside of them increases from departing hormones. This is not the best time to host a party in your home.
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Week 4 – Hormones are leaving as well as the endometrial lining that formed in our uterus to prepare a cozy place for an egg to grow. Our period starts. These are the days to allow ourselves to slow down, take a nap or a bubble bath, have a glass of wine, watch some Netflix. Let your body relax.
Until spring comes again, hope rises, and the cycle starts all over.
Learning about my cycles has been so fascinating to me! It’s OK to have mood swings during these times; they are normal. Every woman tends to feel this way during these seasons; our bodies are doing crazy amounts of work inside of us!
And just how much they correlate with a woman’s seasons throughout her whole life is unbelievable! What we experience throughout our whole life is illustrated during each month between adolescence and menopause.
I want to encourage you to start charting your cycles if you haven’t done so already. It has been SO helpful and so freeing for me to understand myself better in just gaining insight into what is happening inside of my body. It can give you and your spouse knowledge about what is going on inside and how that is affecting you outwardly.
Make notes on your calendar each month so you know where you are in the seasons. You’re not lost, you are in your third week, that’s all.
What happens when we try to ignore these seasons in our body is that we are living disconnected with ourselves. I am my body, just as much as I am my spirit, soul, emotions, dreams, desires, and personality. Because of what I’ve learned here, I know now that this does not mean I am: depressed, lost, confused, overwhelmed, nutty, moody, lazy, or unfit. It may just mean that my hormone levels are low.
Be kind to yourself and others. Allow yourself to be tired and low (something that I have a hard time with). We must honor ourselves and take the time to discover what is going on in our bodies and when. Hormones affect us physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
If you want to learn more, connect with a naturopath, gynecologist, or hormone specialist. But let’s start here, let’s stop cursing our bodies saying things like, “I hate my period, I hate my body, I hate hormones,” but instead bless your body.
The power of words is huge when speaking life over ourselves. Be kind to yourself. Your body is doing a lot of work and it might need some encouragement.
Thank you God for making me a woman, to be a woman is a glorious thing.
Which season do you find to be the most difficult to embrace?
Your Sister,
* “Becoming Myself,” By: Stasi Eldredge
