As women, we exist in a world designed and tailored to men.
I’ve spent my whole life trying to combat that.
Pushing through when my body was saying NOOO.
Trying to work at the same rate, day in and day out.
Seeing my female physiology as something that is holding me back.
But enough of that.
My phrase for the year in 2022 was ‘Emily 2.0’. A coming home to myself and my body. Post 2 babies and post pandemic.
And I’ve continued that focus. To really understand myself. And how I can use every part of my female-ness, as a blessing.
I believe all of us have more power than we think in our careers. Whether you are employed or self employed. We assume we have to do things the way things are always done. But we are wrong.
We can make changes. Small consistent and sustained changes.
Changes that others may not even notice.
But that make a big difference to us.
Because you weren’t meant for a mediocre life. You were meant for so much more than that.
And understanding your body is a good first step.
1. Start tracking your cycles
You can do this via an app or via paper. I do a bit of both. I use Natural Cycles and track some information there, as well as in my daily journal. Track how you feel, both mentally and physically. What is your energy like? Do you feel productive? What is your body asking for? The more you can connect with yourself on a deeper level, the more connected you will become to your intuition and inner voice
2. Understand the season you are in at the moment in your cycle
Once you do this, you can understand what you need right now and how you can set yourself up for success.
Winter: The time of your bleed. This is a time to hibernate and draw yourself inwards. Focus on resting as much as you can and taking things at a slower pace. Can you finish work on time or even a little early? Is there anything you can reschedule for next week? Start thinking about your intentions for the month ahead – what do you want to achieve and how do you want to feel?
Spring: This is the time that you start getting more energy and can start planting the seeds for any projects you are working on. You can start ramping up your momentum with work activities here.
Summer: Most people are at their peak in Summer. You have lots of energy and are very sociable. This is a good time to network, present your ideas to a big group and focus on business development.
Autumn: This is the time to begin to slow things down. Manage your time effectively here so you can finish off any large items of work before taking the pressure off in your winter. This is a time for reflection and to review how things are going and whether any changes need to be made.
I highly recommend reading ‘Period Power’ by Maisie Hill and Wild Power by Alexandra Pope and Sjanie Hugo Wurlitzer and they go into a huge amount more detail. They also have supporting podcasts which I’d recommend!
3. Plan ahead
Once you have a good understanding of your cycles then you can start planning ahead and setting your future self up for success. Can you try and ensure the big presentation you have to deliver can be in your spring or summer? Can you organise any ideation meetings for your spring? Can you block some time in your winter for slower activities and less meetings?
It’s also useful here to think about when you are most productive on a given day. Are you an early bird? In which case make sure your time in the morning is blocked so you can work on projects, then have your afternoons for meetings and admin tasks.
Are you more productive in the afternoon? Then block some time here for working on projects and try and have your meetings in the morning to ease you into the day.
If you aren’t bleeding each month for a variety of reasons – breastfeeding, the pill, menopause etc, then you can use the lunar cycle as a guide to your cycle. This is what I did whilst breastfeeding and I still found it very useful to have a cycle to align to. Kirsty Gallagher has some great resources on Instagram regarding this.
I’d love to know what you thought of this blog and your view of your cycle?