Female Brains

The photos in this post have nothing to do with the text, but are a sample of metal work in Merida, Mexico.

I just finished reading The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine on the recommendation of Steve Jeffrey (thanks Steve). I’m 53 and may have hit menopause; I have to wait another 6 months before I can be sure.

What drives me nuts about this kind of book and the information therein is that it explains scientifically the emotional roller coaster I’ve experienced in the past few years and turns my life from an individual experience into a female human experience of the most common sort.

According to Brizendine, I’m right on schedule and completely normal.

I might as well come home and go back to work.

There is nothing to figure out; no new path to find and the best is yet to come. My body’s chemicals about to become steady for the first time since I was 11 and life will become less an emotional imperative and more focused on what truly interests me.

Done and done as they say.

But wait… she had a quote in there from Oprah Winfrey. Oh yes! Oprah! who said, “We have to keep transforming ourselves to become who we ought to be.”

When I read that, I remembered that there is no final place to be; no final way to be or final goal to reach. I suspect most people die in the midst of something; even if that something is deciding whether or not to call a nurse to roll them one more time.

Have you ever noticed that no matter what you want, no matter how big the dream or long term the goal, when you get there it’s great for about 5 minutes and then it’s… NEXT!

So when I read Oprah’s words last night in Brizendine’s book, the image that came up for me was this.

Imagine you are walking along a path in a mountain forest.  The path goes up, down, around rocks and under trees.

 

Every now and then, it crosses a stream. At these crossings, you have to really pay attention to where you put your feet. You have to choose your steps one rock at a time. You have to shift your weight carefully in case the rock wobbles.

Sometimes, you have to plan a few steps in advance because you need to take a little leap to reach the next rocks. So, you need to be able to move fast in case one or more rocks are those wobbly ones.

You have to be willing to risk. You have to know when the risk is too great and you have to know when not taking a risk is more dangerous.

I’m out here on a limb taking a minor risk at a time when to not risk would have spelled disaster for me. To do the normal, expected thing would have tormented my mind for years to come.

Based on ‘a thing’ that happened during my first week here, I know I’m still experiencing a hormone fluctuation cycle. I know that my body chemistry fluctuates a lot and that I will be free of those mood swings in the near future; which is better news than you can imagine if you haven’t been there.

Meanwhile, I’ll be thinking about what I love to do and how I’m going to make a living during the years I have left to skip and leap rocks.

This is the house where we're staying right now. The extensive use of metal over windows means that you can open windows for a cross breeze and still have a secure home. I'm guessing about this.

Thanks to Nancy Parsloe and Gary Pokol for comfy accommodations.