The Changing Tide

We talk about “hormone balance” so often that it is easy to imagine balance means stillness.

But hormones have never been still.

They rise and fall across the menstrual cycle. They respond to sleep, stress, nourishment, pregnancy, illness and age.

They move because the body moves through time.

During perimenopause, some hormones can fluctuate significantly before eventually settling into a different post-menopausal pattern.

That movement can be felt throughout the body.

Temperature. Sleep. Mood. Bones. Muscle. Sexuality. Metabolism. Energy.

For some women these changes are manageable. For others they are severe enough to need medical treatment and proper support.

But change itself is not evidence that the body has failed to remain “balanced”.

Perhaps balance is not a fixed point at all.

Perhaps it is responsiveness.

The habits that carried us through one season may not be the ones that sustain us in another.

The body may begin asking for more recovery. Different movement. More attention to nourishment. Less alcohol. Better sleep. Stronger boundaries around what repeatedly drains us.

And sometimes medication or other clinical care.

There is agency here, but not complete control.

We cannot order the tide not to turn.

What we can do is learn the waters we are entering.

Notice what has changed.

Seek help where we need it.

Stop expecting the body of one season to behave exactly like the body of another.

The tide turns.

And we learn to move with it.