You’re really not that crazy.
It’s a Monday, and you can’t help but want to yell at everything in your presence. Your eyes are rolling at everyone who talks to you, or anything that moves. You want to scream at all of the people who are smiling, because they have to be overcompensating for something. What’s there to smile about? The world is a dark place. You can only fend for yourself, after all. It’s survival of the fittest.
But this thinking is not from you.
This, my friend, is your period.
Your boyfriend and you are having a grand ole time on a date. But then he asks one little thing, like “How are you?” and you just despise him for it. Why would he ask when he should know what’s going on? It’s only obvious. Ugh. You start to cry because he will never understand you. No one will ever understand you. You are alone, forever and ever.
But this is not you.
This is your period.
You’re at the dinner table with your family. And your brother starts to talk about what he is working on over the summer. You decide that this is the perfect time to criticize him to pieces, telling him everything he needs to do differently. It makes sense that he would listen because you are saying it, and you are always right. He is lucky to have your input. When he gets upset, and the rest of the family starts asking what the heck is wrong with you, you are taken aback. How can they not see what you see? You feel a cramp coming in.
But this is not you.
This, my friend, is your period.
And lastly, you are with your friends. One of them says that they think some pictures look better when they are edited with low exposure. You look up and defend this high-exposure editing technique, because pictures always look better with more brightness. No question. You maybe raise your voice at an unnecessary level in defending a photo editing technique. But whatever, you are right. You start to feel a yucky feeling inside like maybe you shouldn’t have gotten so angry just there. You think you’re going to lose all your friends.
But this is not you.
This is your period.
I hope you know that almost all of these situations are from personal experience (okay, all of them. I’ll admit it.)
It comes to a time where I’m sobbing on my bed thinking that the world is ending, when this thought pops up in my head – when is that gosh darn time of the month? And I usually find it’s right around the corner, and I wipe the tears. I celebrate. I rejoice! Because all of those feelings were not me. How comforting is that?!
I can cross off all the times I was going to try to get my life together and have a self-intervention. This is a time of freedom.
After many more times of me losing my mind and then realizing that I’m not the problem, I’ve realized that we all gotta give ourselves a lil more grace when these moments come. Because they will, in the form of sass, and painful acne, and tears.
We are imperfect. And that’s okay. We are wonderful, lovely women – but there is a downside to that.
So love yourself, even though you are a cranky mess. You should also keep these four things in mind to survive this crappy time of the month.
1. Don’t make big decisions (ANY AT ALL)
If you are ever in a place where you need to make a decision, hold off. This is the worst time for you to have judgement, and I mean that in the most gracious way possible. Hold off on anything, because your vision is fuzzy, and it will be much clearer eventually.
2. Hold your tongue
This is probably the one week where you should maybe be a little quieter. And keep your thoughts to yourself. The thing is: you sound completely different to yourself than how you sound to others. Your message won’t come across great because it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. And that’s okay. This is not the time to burn bridges.
3. Get some sleep
C’mon girl, you gotta get your beauty rest. This is the time when you need to take care of yourself most.
4. Tell yourself truth. Don’t believe the lies
There is nothing wrong with you. Even though you might think the whole world is going to crash and burn, it’s not. Everything is going to be okay – I swear.
Also, you are not a loser, you are not alone, and you are not fat. Even if you are letting yourself believe all of these lies during this time. They are not true. You are fearfully and wonderfully made!
I hope you know that I am a crazy person during this time as well. I am not coming from a place of perfection – I am an absolute different person during this lovely point of the month.
If you are shaking your head at all of the above, know you’re not alone. We gotta cut ourselves a little more slack, probably give ourselves a face mask or two, and know that it’s okay when we fall. We are only human.
Let’s rejoice in the fact that we are not crazy, and that everything is going to be okay. After all, these feelings will be gone in a week – and that’s something to celebrate. Thankfully, our “period” is almost up.
