Strength is Overrated
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Much of my self-identity has been wrapped up in being strong. I was always jumping into situations that weren’t mine to solve. Fighting fights that weren’t mine to fight. The “strong Black woman” archetype will drive your health into the ground. It took until I was in my fifties to fully accept that I didn’t need to carry the world on my back and, more importantly, that I didn’t want to do it anymore. As we age our bodies produce increasing levels of cortisol in response to stress. High levels of cortisol, a steroid produced by our adrenal glands, when combined with the hormonal changes of menopause, will lead to chronic tiredness, inflammation, and weight gain. One of the ways we can protect ourselves from this is by learning that we don’t need to respond to every crisis that comes our way. As a friend of mine likes to say, “Not my monkeys, not my circus.”
