Menopause At 33: The Symptoms Nobody Warns You About With Adele Johnson

Brain fog. Broken sleep. A body that suddenly feels like it belongs to someone else.

And nobody warned you.

In this episode of Girls in Property I'm joined by Adele Johnson, the Menopause Coach, for a conversation we have never had on this podcast before and one that is long overdue.

Adele went through menopause at 33. She talks openly about being dismissed by doctors and the point where she realised she was going to have to advocate for herself because nobody else was going to do it for her.

We break down the stages properly. Perimenopause, menopause, post menopause. What each one means and what you might be feeling in your 30s, 40s and beyond. Adele shares the symptoms most women never connect to hormones. Brain fog. Hair loss. Night sweats. Painful sex. The things you quietly Google at midnight and never mention again.

We talk about blood tests, the myths that stop women getting answers, and what all of this means when you're running a business and pouring into everyone but yourself.

Adele reframes the whole chapter. Not as something that happens to you. But as permission to listen to your body and finally put yourself somewhere near the top of your own list.

Because you deserve to understand what is happening in your own body.

Whether you're 32 and wondering, 45 and struggling, or supporting a woman who is, this one is for you. Press play, then send it to a friend who needs it.

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Transcript

0:01

Good morning everyone and welcome to today's episode of the Girls in Property podcast. So I have a brilliantly fantastic topic for you guys today, which I'm super excited about. And do know, we haven't really ever spoken about this particular topic on the Girls in Property podcast, which actually fascinates me if I'm honest with you, because so many of you, and I saw you recently at the Girls in Property retreat, really actually spoke to me about this topic. And this topic came up quite a lot. We were talking about it and speaking about kind of the myths around it and the thoughts and feelings that actually exist around menopause and pre-menopause and uh all sorts of things. And do know, I actually met this person about a year ago where she was speaking at Rebecca Barr's CEO Wealthy Women event. And I heard her speak and just her story that you're going to hear today and the way in which she speaks about it and now helps women to really get in. and understand about menopause and perimenopause is amazing really. And I really think that all of you are gonna really take so much away from this session today and really start thinking to yourself about, know, even in my 30s, should I start be actually having these conversations? Even in my 20s, should I be start having these conversations? And as women really thinking about us and how we can therefore use this in business to go forward. So I'm gonna give the floor to her. I'm gonna be asking hopefully all the questions you wanna know. and we can really just learn today and really elevate ourselves. So without further ado, I'd love to introduce Adele Johnson to you all. Hey Adele. Hey, thank you so much. Oh, honestly, it's such a pleasure to be here. I love having these chats. Yeah, well, it's so important as well. And this was the thing, like, do you know what's so beautiful about You'll, you'll really appreciate this at the recent retreat that I basically hosted. loved the fact that there was so many different conversations that were happening at the event. It wasn't just about property and ROI and money, money, money. It was all about like, how are we as women showing up? How do we feel? How is it that on a day to day basis, we can be our best selves? And therefore a lot of women were saying, I'm going through menopause at the moment. And someone else was like, I'm going through perimenopause. And I thought, Hmm, that's really interesting because, you know, I'm not in that phase of my life at the moment to doubt, you know, touchwood, I'm, I'm, you know, I'm 34 years old, but you know, it's something that's so important to discuss because it's almost like a bit of a taboo, almost like a bit of an unknown conversation, I would say, particularly in the property industry, which is so male dominated. And I think a lot of women really appreciate today. So. I think the best way to do this is if you start off actually by telling your story, which is incredible, which would really set the scene for today and tell everyone a little bit about you, what is it that you do now, and maybe something about you that people also don't know, like from your community, if they're listening, maybe like a fun fact about you as well. Yeah, amazing. Okay. So yeah, I am Adele Johnston, known as the menopause coach. And I have probably when we say a story to tell everyone does everyone has a story. But for me, I actually went into very early menopause. So I was 33 when I started to recognize that things didn't feel so great. Not really putting my finger on what it was back then because menopause as it's talked about now wasn't talked about back then. I make myself sound so old. I'm 43 now coming up this year. But when I started navigating that around a decade ago, one of the things that became quite apparent for me was how much I had my own perceptions that menopause was an older lady thing to go through. So it never even crossed my mind at 33 that that's what I was actually starting to experience. I just knew my body. I knew things were changing and I knew things didn't feel good. Fast forward a couple of years at 35 and by that point, I'd already started doing a lot of research. I'd actually, as a women's health coach, had been working with a lady who had gone through medically induced menopause because of cancer treatment. And it wasn't until I started working with her that I really started to research more on menopause so I could help her. And that's when it started to drop for me. A lot of the things I was finding out when I was reviewing medical research because I'm trained in reading research was kind of that like, oh God moment of that's what I'm going through. This is what I'm experiencing. And then it kind of hit me and I was like, is this menopause? Surely not at 35. Now I then underwent 20 months of quite invasive tests. And if anyone's ever experienced a cancer pathway, I went through that for suspected cervical cancer, had multiple biopsies. had invasive checks. And when I say invasive, they were painful. They were quite traumatic if anyone's ever had any types of vaginal checks, tests, biopsies taken. It's not exactly pleasant to go through it. And I was left quite traumatized actually after a pre-cancer cell check came back as undecided. So they decided to actually go in there and have a look. So it was just all quite crazy. And at 37, I finally got that diagnosis or that confirmation. Yeah, try not to use diagnosis because menopause isn't an illness, but that confirmation that actually I was in very early menopause and my medical records. This is where it gets quite confusing as well. Some GPs that work with me have me down as being in POI, premature ovarian insufficiency. It used to be called premature ovarian failure, which just sounds dreadful, right? So premature ovarian insufficiency is one term that they'll use where what that means is your ovaries are basically stopping being efficient and working as effectively earlier. So it doesn't necessarily mean that you are menopausal. It means that the ovaries are actually starting to be a bit suboptimal, if probably we say it that way. Then other parts of my records will say very early menopause. And they're actually two different things. So when we talk about this, even the medical system cannot get it right. And that for me was a huge pivotal moment. So when I finally was sitting in the car park waiting to pick up my twins from school, my twin daughters from primary school, doctors flashed up on the dashboard of the car. And I was like, okay, now bearing in mind this had been nearly two years in the process of both NHS checks and paying to go private for gynaecology, for blood works. Every single professional telling me I was too young for it to be menopause, every single time even privately. So please don't be caught up thinking that if you go privately, you will get the care. It's not always the case. Yeah. So fast forward, that phone call came in, picked up the phone call. It was the doctors and she said, basically we agree with you. you are an early menopause. And unfortunately, I don't know anything about menopause. So I don't know how to help you. But I can maybe prescribe you some standard HRT. And that, in that moment made me realize, and I started to cry because it was quite an impact of yes, you are right, right? You're not going crazy. Yeah, you know your body right. But also, because I knew in that moment with what the GP had just told me, that I already held probably 99.9 % more knowledge than potentially any other 30 odd year old going through that situation. So what the hell was I to do with the GP saying, I don't know anything about this so I can't help you, other than me sitting back saying, well, I do, and I do know what I need and I do know what I want. And that was a massive moment for me. Now, when I came back from the school run, the first thing I did, this is pre-AI showing my age, I jumped onto Google and I Googled menopause coach because I didn't trust the medical space. I'd spent nearly two years in the side of it and got nowhere. And I thought surely someone's out there that has experienced this or has experience in it. And you know when you Google something and it comes up, no results found, right? And you get this white page and it just says like literally no results found. I was like, what? Like, where are all these coaches? Where are these people that help you with stuff? And that for me was another crucial moment in my purpose path where I literally sat there and went, okay, you're gonna have to be that first person. You're gonna have to be that person that when someone else Googles that you come up. And I just told myself, Adele, you only have to be one step ahead of the woman who's behind you to be able to help her take that step as well. So always be that one step ahead to show her the way to come. And that was the start of it for me. I became known as the menopause coach purely by being my own menopause coach. I made some really crazy errors along the way and actually was then able to start working with women and saying, don't do it that way. Okay, because this is what I found. I am not just a woman who stepped into this space. qualified in so many different things, including a master's in psychology. have a nutrition um certified status in nutrition and I'm positive psychology certified as well. So I've been through a lot of modalities to get to this point. What a story. I always love hearing you speak Adele because, do you know, I can talk to you about so many aspects of this. So let's just start with the first one. So the first one is, is again, you know, I made a comment earlier to say, I'm not in that stage of my life at the moment. I'm 34. You know, and there you are. How old were you when you, when you were 33, you were younger than me, younger than me. So again, we must never ever have this. this aspect of age attached to it. It can literally happen to anyone at any point and I've got no doubt that I'm going to be receiving lots of messages from people saying how young they got it. The second thing is, do you know, I know many women including myself and I think a lot of us have been through this, where we go to doctors and they try and tell us that... they know what's wrong with us or they try and tell us that there is nothing wrong with us but we know our own bodies and I've been in this situation before where a doctor's tried to tell me that there wasn't something wrong with me and I was just stressed or something and I said no no no I know that there is something physically wrong with me um and it's really interesting about how many times women actually don't listen to their intuition don't listen to their bodies it's frightening really where we listen to the professionals and the doctor's advice um And then the other thing that I just really took away from your story there was the fact that, you know, two years on, were they eventually told you that you were indeed right and you know, that relief that came over you. But her response to you was, well, I don't really know how to help you. So I'm just going to prescribe you this. Mm-hmm. than try and find out how to help you. And I find that really interesting. And then of course Adele, you would know, and so many of the listeners would know, is when you just said to me at the end there, your story about, you put it into Google because you wanted to try and find a menopause coach. You wanted to find something that was there for you. And all it came up with was blank. That's what happened to me for female property networks back in 2022 when I went searching for female property networks. and found zero. And so I went and built it myself as you have done. And it's in those moments of life, isn't it? It's those moments of life where you sort of go, I need to be the thing that I needed almost. And you're right. And you said it beautifully, Adele, absolutely beautifully. You said, you you've got to be the first person for the others to then follow behind. Mm. So um let's dive into this then. Actually, before we dive in Adele, I do want to just ask you first, because we must always do this on these podcasts, even though it's going to be a mini episode, one. I don't want to miss this out. Is I always ask my guests what it is that they're celebrating at this moment in time, because I always feel that as women, we, especially women who are very successful. Mm. just run through life and we work very quickly and we often don't take time to celebrate ourselves. So what is it that you're celebrating at this moment? Personally, professionally, anything you want. Quite a lot actually. I'm celebrating that there's so much going on right now that I'm super grateful for. Support and network, know, the amount of beautiful female energies that I've got around me at the minute. uh And, you know, being very open, vulnerable and honest, I'm probably going through one of the toughest times right now due to something that I shouldn't even be involved in. And that for me has been a huge like wow moment. where actually having a really beautiful network around me, I am grateful for all of those women. Because I don't think, and this is, you again, as a leader, you and I, leaders in the fields that we're in, we get to show up and say that we're celebrating, just actually getting through the day sometimes. And it can be quite tough when we're in business or not, if you're in a career, it's the same thing. But actually, celebrations don't always have to be a big thing. they can also be, you know, like a big achievement. They can also be, you know what, I'm going through a real rough ride right now. And I'm just grateful for those that are in my circle. Hmm, do you know beautifully said and I tell you what Adele I tell you one thing that I always struggle with with this and I really struggle with it is You're right as as leaders and as community leaders. One of the things I should really struggle with is I Try and I either try and do one of two things either try and protect the women in the community or I protect others around me or I don't want to bring negativity or negative aspects into the community or to talk about things that are going on that are negative because it's never been my style or it's never been the way that I like to do things. I like to think of myself as quite a classy woman as you are a classy woman, but I can 100% relate to what it is that you're saying because a lot of people don't know that I too am going through some things at the moment myself where I also have been brought into things that actually I shouldn't have been brought into. And I am also dealing with things that really I shouldn't be having to deal with that are extremely upsetting, extremely upsetting because they come from people, em women, I should say actually, who you thought really had your back and thought were really, and you had the best intentions with them. And, um, It's really sad in those moments when it happens and you're right actually, we don't talk about this enough and I think actually it's, not so much the negativity, but we should say that I think sometimes people feel like they're the only ones that go through things or the only ones that feel overwhelmed or have a lot on and it's like, yeah. you know, whether we're in this because it's a menopause journey or a business journey, I think it's the duality of life. And I say this a lot of the time, it's that inner test of resilience, but actually in the days of resilience, you know, I'm very open with my community, but like you, I think there's a grace to doing this. It's not about having our own therapy group that we kind of bombard them with, all this has gone shitty and I'm I'm really struggling. It's about actually how can you get through the mud part of it and come through some of it to be able to say, actually, this is what I learned through that. Here are some steps that I would love for you ladies to be aware of. So it's still acting as that leadership, that authority role, but being able to guide them because it's guaranteed. There's me just shared with you very openly and vulnerably that this is like a tough time for me at the moment. And you've then went, me too. Where is actually if I hadn't? you probably wouldn't have shared that. So it's the collective energies. The sister wound, the feminine wound is so huge right now. And I have really recognized this more so as we've stepped into 2026, there's a lot of wounded feminine energy. I don't mean females, but like that feminine energy. So this isn't something that's gonna go away. And like you, a lot of what's been brought to me to manage and deal with and kind of almost like some people have sloppy shouldered responsibilities on things that were never personally mine to hold. But you you and I are the types of people that will be like, right, okay, buckle up, right? This needs to be dealt with. There's a lot of strength in that. And there's a lot of strength in being open, having some vulnerability with your network and your community because other women will be guaranteed to be going through something that they just don't think that they can speak up about. And that's when our throat blocks and that's when we start to hold a lot of like the energetic bounce around inside the body becomes problematic. So yeah, I think that there's a beautiful way of doing this. It still is very leadership driven, where it doesn't become about you seeking therapy inside your community. you know you're absolutely right you said it beautifully it's to do with the lessons this is the lessons that you can then help others with so Thank you, I'm really gonna take that on board actually going forward because I think that's really important because I actually do have a lot of lessons from it and I actually do have a lot of uh Advice that I could give to others as well in a similar situation, so I will Yeah Yes an episode on that where it's it's like that if you are experiencing this, here are my top lessons from and you know, I'll be sure to do that. So I'll tag you in my episode. Yeah, thank you. appreciate that. Thank you. Okay, so, Daph, we're going to talk about... Well, you guide me in this one because your knowledge is better than I do, as it were. So I'm just going to tell you about the type of audience member that's likely listening to this, and then I would love you to help me to steer this conversation to best help them. So there's going to be somebody listening to this who's a woman, and we're going to have one of two types of people. We're going to have somebody who is, you know, in their thirties, who maybe is experiencing brain fog at the moment. You know, they're quite forgetful or, or they're experiencing certain things to do with their hormones. And they're not sure if they're in perimenopause. They're not sure what's happening to their body. They're not, they're, they're, they probably maybe, I don't know, like in terms of like me, for example, I've just come off the pill. And so it's just understanding cycles and understanding your body again and who you are. And then we're going to have some women who are older, for example, maybe in their 60s who are also listening to this going through menopause at the moment and hot flashes and looking for HRT and trying to just figure out what works for them. So why don't you steer me with those two types of listeners so we can give them loads of value today. Okay, amazing. Well, let's start with those that are pre to perimenopausal. So if we think of menopause as there's kind of four stages to it. We've got the pre menopause stage, where if we think about the women that are like my girls are nearly 16, they're pre menopausal, right? They're in, they just have a few years ago started their periods, their menstruation window. So they're having their regular cycles, no signs of perimenopause entering the room. Then we may start to find that changes, and this is quite, I say natural because it's what's normally meant to happen. We start to have some changes to our fertility window and the ovaries will start to release fewer eggs potentially. Yeah, it's normally meant to happen. It's part of the aging process for females as well. So as we start to enter perimenopause, we do have fluctuations and changes. to our female sex hormones. And the three key hormones that start to fluctuate are estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. And we need all three of those, yeah, to feel like we did when we were in our teens and our twenties. Yeah, alert, sharp, energized, confident, sleeping well, you know, literally didn't need much sleep at some points. You could get through your girls' holidays on little to no sleep. Yeah, that is not the case when we are in perimenopause. So what we might find is it's quite typical for women in their mid to late thirties to start to notice some changes. And it might be that you don't even necessarily have cycle changes. So your periods might still be super regular, nothing really affected. But you might notice that you've just got a little bit more anxiety or you've had your very first heart palpitation. I remember when that happened to me and I honestly, my Apple watch was going crazy. You know, the little em ECG type thing that was on it. And it started telling me that I needed to go to the hospital because of the amount of heart palpitations that I was having. And I just thought I'd had too much caffeine. So again, we naturally as women will look at I've just done rather than what is happening. We naturally will go to it's just because I, yeah, just because I'm tired. It's just because I've had heightened stress. It's just because I've had too much caffeine. So that's how I navigated that. We might find that things like hair thinning. starts happening. So we lose a bit more hair when we're showering each morning, clumps of hair rather than just a few strands, m gums receding, a bit of burning mouth syndrome. There's so many different symptoms, dry eyes, um nighttime vision changes. So your eyesight's perfect through the day, but as soon as the dusk starts to come in, you find yourself not really able to read road signs at night or the car license plate in front of your lights. become really dazzling, which is harder now because of the LED lights that are on all cars. These are all signs and symptoms of hormonal change. But what I will say is it's not necessarily always the hot flushes and the night sweats that show up first or the changes to your menstrual cycle that will show up first. One of my early indicators, because people ask me this, they're like, how did you know, was actually vaginal bleeding. So I would have bleeding during and after sex with my husband. But it wasn't a period, it wasn't a bleed, it was painful. I had really sore sexual activities with him. And I mean, it was horrendous sometimes it was mortifying, like so embarrassing that these things can happen. But it wasn't enjoyable for me because it was sore. Yeah, was just like sex was just like, I don't even want to because it's so painful and the blood happens. and then I bleed afterwards and it's just like, who the fuck wants that? Who wants that? Yeah, so it's like, no. So our relationship started to become challenged as well. So there was lots of things, but I think when we start to enter that, the main thing is always that if you are 45 and under, then please arrange with your GP or medical support team to get some hormonal blood works done. And also within that, they will know to check your thyroid function because the symptoms I'm experiencing here might not necessarily have been menopausal. They could have been related to something else. So we want to rule out, that's why we would do bloods first. We want to rule out anything other than, and then we would start to look at the symptom impacts. I actually have, and I can give you a link to this, but I actually have a free perimenopause symptom tracker where it's a tick box exercise. really simple where you can find out is this potentially menopause symptom related or not. The third stage within this is menopause. And actually when we talk about menopause, I want you to look at this as an umbrella term. It's actually the term that we use for all phases of perimenopause to postmenopause because menopause itself is just one day. Okay, so we have perimenopause. which can last two years to 10 years or more for some women. And that's where the hormones are really unstable and fluctuating. Then menopause is when you've not had a bleed, uh a menstrual bleed for 12 consecutive months. So a full year without any type of bleed or period. The next day is your menopause day after that 12 months. And then... your postmenopausal, which is the fourth phase for the remainder of your living days. All right, that is when your hormones have completely and utterly pretty much reduced down, bottomed out, progesterone, estrogen, lower levels of testosterone. So we don't lose all of our estrogen. I think that's what's important. We lose a form of estrogen called estradiol. So we still make the other forms of estrogens, but estradiol is the Queen Bee. I want you to see that as, you know, there's multiple estrogens, if we look at it as plural, but estradiol is your Queen Bee hormone that helps with your sleep alongside progesterone, that helps with energy stores, testosterone and estrogen together for confidence. There's lots in there that changes. So if you are recognising any signs or symptoms, think of this as head down. your feet and if you're unsure then Athena can have the link to that free symptom checker and you can just have a look at some of the symptoms on there to see if you have any. Yeah, what we'll do guys is we'll add that to the show notes. If you go to the show notes, you'll be able to see that at bottom of it. Adele, I've never heard it explained like that before. For me, that's the first time I've ever heard it explained. I didn't realise that menopause was one day, if you really think about it, and then you go into post-menopause. um And it's so interesting. you know, when people are thinking about the symptoms, the main ones for perimenopause that I hear are usually this notion of brain fog. You know, people talk to me a lot about brain fog, but... You just said there's something really interesting actually. So I was in the hairdresser like, I don't even know, like six months ago, seven months ago, and she was washing my hair. And she's been washing my hair. I've had the same hairdresser for about two years, two years. And she said to me, you stressed at the moment. And I looked at her and I said, I'm always stressed. You know I'm always stressed, why? And she said to me, you're losing hair. You're losing a lot of hair. And immediately I went, what? And she's like, yeah. She's like, there's more hair here than usual that that's fallen out. And she says, you need to be less stressed. And I said, Oh God. I thought, well, I've got this going on, this going on. then, and it's really interesting that, you know, and then she, and then she was recommending me this hair supplement stuff that I should go and take and things like that. And it's really interesting. Like you just mentioned there that a symptom of perimenopause is also losing hair. but yeah, you're sending. can be, yeah. But it's interesting as to, you know, she was suggesting to me, it could be stress. Well, it could be this and it could be this, but you're right actually to actually get some blood work done to do with hormones is actually a really good way to do it, to actually find out what is going on, particularly as a, you know, trouble alongside with like thyroid, for example, if you've got a bit of thyroid dysfunction, that can actually mirror or mimic whichever word you want to use a lot of perimenopause symptoms. So if we have an underperforming or dysfunctional thyroid system, then again, we might be displaying a lot of the signs and symptoms that are perimenopause related. So What we don't want to do with this is just start to say, oh yes, if you're experiencing those symptoms, it's definitely menopause because we don't know that. And what we need to be mindful of is then the route to support and the health route. That's so important. So that's why I would always recommend bloods if you're 45 or under. If you're above 45, typically the National Health Service in the UK will not typically test you unless you have reason. run those bloods because what they would then say is at 45 we would definitely be expecting you to be in perimenopause so a lot of the symptoms are probably that is ultimately what their guidelines will say. However I always vastly believe that when we run bloods, just being very clear on this, your hormones do not sit just in the bloodstream. Your hormones are in every part of you, every cell, yeah, as a human cell. They're in your bones, they're in your muscles, They're everywhere. So when we run blood works, we are extracting what is in that sample at that time. And it's so important that we know that they are not laminated, they're not gospel. They're a snapshot in time for us as practitioners, health advisors, to be able to at least get a little peek behind the door. But symptoms alone will always advise better. So when I work with any of the ladies that I support, whether they be my private one-to-one clients or whether they are students that I'm educating, I always advise that bloodworks can be supportive. Of course they can, especially when we're looking at things like vitamins, minerals, you you mentioned iron, I think previously it's like ferritin levels. We want to know where they are, but we can't look at that, that number on the results reading and be like, my gosh. It's kind of like, right, well, it's given us a bit of information and information is always helpful, but it's not gospel. I agree. So let's then just take this, so we now understand it. Now let's really think about how we can now use this knowledge um in business. And you know, in our day to day, whether we're a property investor, whether we're a business owner, you know, I really want to try and give some top tips. So how can we use this knowledge to take us forward? Yeah, the main thing I would say being a business woman myself in menopause is and this is like from a mentor positioning of this is what I know for me that works well, but also for others that I support is by all means do not ignore you and your body. It always your day, I would encourage you to start with a bit of a body scan. You if you morning shower, getting into the shower every morning and asking yourself from top to toe, how do I feel and what do I recognise in my body? your physical body, how do I feel? Right? It's like, don't just get in the shower thinking about your first meeting, getting into the shower and thinking about you. So what am I recognizing? What am I feeling? And when you are really connected to you, you will recognize when their changes are happening. If you recognize changes are happening, then brain fog, for example, you mentioned, that can actually be a sign of healthy fatty acid deficiencies. So omega-3s, for example. If we're not bringing enough omega-3 in, we can have brain fog. So sometimes it's not a hormone therapy that we need to bring in, it's a supplement or it's an adaptation to our nutritional and dietary lifestyle. Me, for one, I will not really cook a lot of oily fish in the house because it just smells, it really stinks it out. So if we're eating out, I try to have oily fish as much as possible. Yeah, make that my choice. Um, not always. And I will have an Omega-3 supplement and I do that with my girls as well. But from a business perspective, you are going to have days where you're not, you know, you may have a full diary, you wake up with really severe exhaustion, brain fog, anxiety. You are always in charge. And this is what I will say to everyone. The most difficult thing can sometimes be admitting. that you need to just switch everything off and care for you in that moment. Now, if people do not understand that, this is what I've, and I stand by this, it's a bit of a boundary for me. If individuals that I have booked in don't understand when I message them, I don't need to give a full reason, but when I message them to move a session, then they are not aligned. They are not my client. That is really important. So we are not designed. to have to be a slave to everyone else, right? It's about, I don't feel my best right now. Probably not gonna be my best for that client's needs in this moment. Are we okay to slide this meeting a couple of hours or are we okay to slide this meeting to tomorrow? Hmm. I wish that so many so many of us would do that. I don't do that enough Adele to be honest with you You know, I'm that girl that ignores myself all the time And I'm aware of that but to be honest with you, I think I am really trying hard to change that as well I am that girl that has always been 100 % a push-through girl, you know, you push through you push through you get it done and I tell you why I do it actually Because I'll you why and I'll explain this because the listeners might resonate with this because the rest of my week does not get any quieter. So if I was to say, well, I'll you what, I'll just push it to tomorrow. Tomorrow's full. Wednesday's full. Day after that's full. So I can't push it because it's just going to create more exhaustion for me for the rest of the week. Will it though? Well, this is the thing and this is thing that I'm working through because I'm doing subconscious work at the moment Adele and I'm really getting into it and I absolutely love it. And these are the stories that we tell ourselves. This is what I'm saying. So it's a story that is created in your mind and the more you say it, the more you believe that story. So you're absolutely right to ask that question. Will it? Absolutely. Yeah. And the question that's always asked to me is, can you be a hundred percent certain that that statement is true? 99 % of the time. No. So you are right. You are 100 % right and I hope that the listeners listen to this because we're all the same. We all just think let's just push through but you're right actually if you're not actually going to do your best work then actually you're not doing yourself justice in that. So to listen to our bodies more. I think that's a beautiful message actually on today's episode as women to listen to our bodies and I think that that's really beautiful. Adele, I'm just conscious of time because I know that you have your other meeting today. So I just wanted to ask you then, so if you were gonna give one piece of advice then for the listeners today in terms of their next step to even think about this as it were, let's say that somebody's tuned in today and wasn't even on their radar and now it's on their radar, what's the first step they should take? The first step I would say it's probably segue in nicely into what we were just discussing. You have no permission, not that you need it from me, but as your menopause coach here right now on this episode to put yourself first. And that's one thing that menopause will gift you. Okay. And you heard me right. Menopause will gift you some beautiful, amazing things in life. And one of the things is actually you will be forced if you do not put yourself first, you will be forced to do that at some point along your journey. Okay, whether that be through symptom implications and symptom management, or whether it be through the fact that you are actually choosing to just slow down a little bit more. And you know, Athena, where you've said, you know, I'm just always on the go, I'm always saying yes and doing things. My, I suppose invitation for you around that is to ask where that maybe stems from. Because naturally, When we look at that, your gift through menopause and through perimenopause may be that you have no choice but to go a bit slower. And I don't mean slower as in you're gonna detriment your results and your business. I mean, you are actually going to go faster by gifting yourself the permission to put yourself first. Bookend your day, okay? So the whole thing of morning scan in the shower is the start of your day. But actually towards the latter part of that day, blocking out your diary past a certain time. And I'm not going to give you that time, but as women, where are you not prepared to be sitting on phone calls at eight, nine, 10, a PM at night and be actually a, by this point, that's my last call. I shut the laptop and I go spend some time with those that I love, that love me. It's about putting ourselves first. And when you do that, you're going to recognise and be more present to see where the changes are coming in. Because a lot of women, I suppose they expect that menopause is going to hit them like a ton of bricks. And for some women that is true, but the majority of women, it actually starts happening years before you recognise it. But we just are not tuned in to the permission to actually recognise when things are feeling a little bit different. Because we will naturally turn round to say, it's just because I, and that's not always the case. Well said, Adele. Well said. I completely agree with you and you're 100 % right and I've definitely been that person to go. It's just because I, it's just because I definitely do that. And one thing I'd also say to the listeners, just because we're on this conversation at the moment, just from my perspective also for anyone listening to this who needs to hear this today, is, you know, I was in a relationship for five and a half years and so, you know, I never wanted to come off of the pill, just doing a bit of a detour of a conversation but similar here. And the reasons I didn't want to come off the pill was because the reasons I went on to the pill, which was when I was 18 years old, so I've been on the pill since I was 18 and I came off of it at 34, was because I took it to help with my acne that I had. So I had really bad acne as an 18 year old, so I took the pill as like kind of a... That was the reason I took it as opposed to sex and protection. And I thought if I come off of it, I'm going to bleed heavy. I thought I'm going to have loads of acne. I created this story in my head as to why I didn't want to come off the pill. Anyway, my five and a half year relationship ended at 34. And I said, you know, now is the perfect time to come off the pill. It's the perfect time just to let my body do its thing. Ladies, I will say this to you for anyone else who needs to hear this today. If you've been on the pill for a long period of time. take a break would be the best advice. Do what's best for you of course, always check your own body, always check what you need to do. But for me personally, it was one of the best things I did. I feel calmer in myself, I feel more assured of myself. The spots never came back. ah The periods are absolutely fine, they're normal. And um I put it this way, I would not go back onto another hormone induced product again. I'm thinking about the copper coil at the moment because it doesn't have hormones in but I've heard mixed things about it. So always do what's best for you. But also if you want to talk to me about that and the pill situation, I'm also here to have that conversation as we're talking about hormones today. Yeah. responsible for so much in our body, but this is such a beautiful opportunity. I would love to leave it with that. That actually, as women, this is your opportunity to put yourself first and your business will thrive. Yeah, your group of property, absolute badass queens in here. We may have some women that make decisions during a time of their cycle where confidence and motivation is really high. And I would encourage that. never really truly stepping in to make big deals and decisions when you're potentially in that kind of lull period within your cycle of needing to just cocoon a little bit. And we know what that feels like. In menopause, it can feel very uncertain. We don't have that 28 to 30 day cycle where we know where to expect that our motivation is higher and our I don't want to speak to another human as it shows up. you can literally have one part of your day where you're like, I feel amazing. And then the next time you're, walking along the street and you're having a heart palpitation and feeling anxious AF. So stepping inside this space and just knowing that this is actually part of a gift for you doesn't feel that way when it happens, but an opportunity for you to really truly step back into caring for yourself. We've maybe gone through decades of caring for others before ourselves. for those of your ladies that are, that are 50s plus, potentially no kids back in the house or they're getting ready to leave. It's such a beautiful opportunity to really see this as your time. Beautiful, well said. We're going to leave it at that. I love that. Adele, where can everyone find you in order to carry on this conversation and learn more from you? Yeah, if you want to, then I have my own podcast. I've got a weekly episode, The Menopause Coach. If you jump into Spotify or Apple or any of the podcast places, you will find it there. But more so, I'm really active across Instagram. You can come and find me there at the.menopausecoach. And what's pretty cool is if you actually go on and Google Adele Menopause Coach, everything will come up and all the platforms will be there for you to find. Amazing no longer with the no search is found now. It's like Now you're there. I love that. I love that for you. And as and as always guys I'm Athena Dobson underscore official on Instagram girls and property on Instagram as well um and tune into the podcast every Monday from 7 a.m. With fantastic guests like Adele and then as always do not forget. We also have the girls and property community We've got over 130 members now, picked up some more from the recent retreats, we're even more than that now actually. And we've got our summer parties, our winter parties, we do our cools. And actually Adele, one thing I wanted to ask you, mainly so that maybe you just can't say no as well, we'll ask you live, is would you be open for coming to do a talk within our community as well, all about menopause? Would you be open to it? to. I've got some really amazing ones that we could do for sure. I love that. Yeah. Okay, so join the community guys and then we can have conversations like this as well. So Adele, thank you so much for today. Really appreciate your time. And for everybody listening, hope you enjoyed this episode. Don't forget to subscribe, like, leave us a review. Let me know what types of conversations you want to have on this and I will bring them to you with the best guests that I can. So, saying your loads of love, have the most amazing week. and look after yourselves, us wherever you're tuning in from and don't forget to celebrate yourselves and as Adele says, listen to your body and let's all just take a moment and then move forward to be the best business owners and women we can be. Have a one guys, send you loads of love. Take care, bye.