Lesley Tait is a Menopause Coach, Life Coach and Emotional Wellbeing Coach.Through her program ‘7 Steps to Happy Hormones’ which incorporates a gentle, yet very powerful model of emotional wellbeing coaching, she aims to give women a foundation of energy, resilience, confidence, and courage to re-align their lives with their natural flow of energy and vitality.
At the age of 46, I was planning my wedding, after having recently moved in with my fiancé, starting a new job and becoming a stepmother to two small children. It was a lot to take on but I’m a strong woman and not really phased me, or so I thought. Something just didn’t feel right and it’s difficult to put into words that feeling of not being comfortable in your own body – being out of alignment is the best way I can describe it. There were other subtle signs too. I became moody and snappy; my sleep was erratic and my cycle was all over the place but I didn’t join the dots. Instead, I just pushed on because that’s what I’ve always done – pushed on through the tough times. I thought that I’d had a lot on my plate and I was going through a period of adjustment to some life changes.
Fast forward 18 months and my life was toxic. I wasn’t sleeping well at all so I was exhausted and my mood swings were out of control. I couldn’t function at work and I didn’t recognize this in myself because I’d always been so strong and capable. As I was worried about what people thought about me, I worked longer and harder to keep up. By this time the hot flushes and night sweats were a regular thing and did I say that my moods were intolerable?
Then the penny finally dropped. At first, I was in denial. “This cannot be happening” I thought, “I’m too young, I’ve just got married, I’m not a little old lady with grey hair”! But I took action as I always do and I went to see a GP. I felt silly suggesting that I might be in menopause but I plucked up the courage to say the dreaded words and as the male doctor sat in front of me, he laughed loudly and said ‘don’t be ridiculous, you’re far too young’. I wanted to crawl right back out the door in embarrassment. He waved a prescription for sleeping tablets at me and off I went. I slept for a week (not literally), and the bonus of sleep took the edge off my fatigue but I was still struggling. I went back to the GP for a second opinion and to my surprise the moment I walked into her consulting room I completely broke down and had a full-on anxiety attack. Everything came flooding out and I sobbed like my world had imploded. With the help of my GP and HRT I slowly began to notice an improvement and although I still had menopausal symptoms they weren’t as severe.
I knew I had to do more to help myself and I knew that if I wanted to continue working and stay married, that something had to change, so I started to look at my lifestyle. I looked at every aspect of my life and made changes to my nutrition, sleep hygiene, exercise regime, habits and relationships – everything got a once over. I hired a fitness coach and I had talking therapy, and I took a very deep look into myself to really uncover who I was and what makes me happy.
No, it was on my journey of self-discovery, I became aware of just how much compassion I had for other people. I began to see people in a completely different light and I genuinely cared about the wellbeing of others. It was then that I realized I wanted to do something different with my career so I enrolled for a Diploma in Personal Performance Coaching. This was the beginning of a completely new chapter. I loved coaching so much that just before my 50th birthday I left my job of 17 years to study full time so I could set up my own coaching practice.
I smashed the target I set myself and I marked my 50th birthday celebrations with a fitness photo shoot. I hope women will see these pictures and be inspired to have dreams, set goals and go for them!
I have a burning desire to help other women struggling with menopause to see that this can be the start of a new and exciting chapter. It can be the best time of our lives, we have so much to offer and it doesn’t need to be a time when we slow down, wear enormous pants and retreat into the background. Menopause can derail our lives but it doesn’t need to and I don’t want any woman to go through what I went through. I don’t want any woman to feel like she needs to take time out or give up her career because she’s struggling, or to feel like she just wants to run away and hide. I don’t want any woman to hide her brilliance. I want women to shine and glow and show up wherever they want to, however they want to and be proud of who they are.
