What Comes After Menopause?

A year of becoming

Lately, I’ve been feeling like I might be standing at the very edge of menopause. Like maybe the hard yards are behind me, and it’s time to take stock and decide what comes next.

Menopause can take such a toll on us. The physical changes, the emotional upheaval, the constant wondering of Who am I now? There are many amongst us who have learned to embrace this season as an awakening; not a single flash of divine insight, but a slow and sacred revelation, as the scales fall from our eyes and we come home to ourselves.

But what comes after menopause? What happens once we arrive on the other shore?

For the first time in years, I find myself asking a different question. Not who am I now? But what do I want to do with the woman I’ve become?

When my husband and I decided to move to Tasmania, we called it a “gap year.” We didn’t want to burden ourselves with expectations. We simply wanted to see if this quieter, slower life suited us. To test it. To live it.

Twelve months later, we both know the answer.

This life suits us.

That doesn’t mean the year has been easy. We’ve weathered enormous change, built a new home from scratch, and found our footing in unfamiliar soil. But we’re settled now, and lately I’ve been feeling a stirring inside me. A sense that it’s time to sweep out the complacency that’s gathered in the corners of life and ask myself a new question:

If these are the years when I finally get to live as myself, how do I want to live them?

I know this much: I want to live with my heart on fire. I understand that this life is something I will never get the chance to revisit, and I have no intention of slipping quietly into the night.

So perhaps it’s the Sagittarius Full Moon. Perhaps it’s my own restless spirit. But I’m ready to give my post-menopausal life what the young ones would call a “glow up.”

Not in the sense of chasing youth or perfection.

I’m talking about tending to the neglected corners of life. Strengthening what has become weak. Repairing what has fallen into disarray. Creating a life that reflects the woman I am now, rather than the woman I was ten years ago.

Over the next twelve months, I’m going to choose one area of my life each month and give it my full attention. My health. My home. My finances. My creativity. My wardrobe. My relationships. My habits. My sense of adventure. Whatever is calling for renewal.

And because so many of us are walking this road together, I thought I might share the journey here.

Think of it as a Post-Menopause Glow Up.

Or perhaps more accurately, a Year of Becoming.

Menopause taught me who I am; this next year is dedicated to becoming her.

I’ll be sharing glimpses of this journey with all of my readers, but the heart of the project will live inside my paid membership. That’s where I’ll document the month-by-month unfolding: what’s changing, what’s challenging me, what I’m learning, and how I’m slowly creating a post-menopausal life that feels rich with meaning, beauty, vitality and adventure.

Let’s see what happens together.