Defining Menopause

The medical community generally defines menopause as the cessation of menstrual cycles. That definition, in my opinion, is about as accurate as one describing a hurricane as a rainstorm. There is a lot more to the process of menopause than simply the cessation of menstrual cycles.


Menopause is puberty in reverse. Do you remember when you were a young teenager? You were emotional, to say the very least. You could be happy and carefree one minute, and in the depths of depression the next over a broken fingernail.

Your body was doing weird things and sending out signals that were new and confusing — not to mention flooding your body with hormones that caused your face to break out, always at the worst possible moment. First, you needed a bra. Hair started to grow in places other than your head.

All in all, puberty wasn’t just a whole heck of a lot of fun. Menopause isn’t any fun, either, but it doesn’t have to be the end of the world. You survived puberty. You’ve probably survived childbirth. You will survive menopause, and frankly, on the other side of the process, there is a lot of freedom that you haven’t even gotten around to considering yet.

Freedom, you ask? How do you get freedom out of menopause? Well, for one thing, those monthly cramps are a thing of the past once menopause is complete. You will be able to thumb your nose at the “feminine products” aisle at the grocery store. You aren’t likely to ever have another zit. You won’t have to worry any longer about birth control or the possibility of getting pregnant.

Yes, menopause is the cessation of the menstrual cycle. On the other side of the process of called menopause, you are going to find a lot of freedom that you never even dreamed of.

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