There is also a new lightness. A new economical lightness which gives the same sense of satisfaction as travelling with a very light backpack.
Maybe it is because my body no longer becomes bloated and heavy, my breasts are light and soft instead of full and fleshy. Maybe it is because I feel so much more freedom to be whatever I want to be in the moment instead of having to maintain a certain sort of image. In a way, it is like regaining the freedom of childhood while retaining the wisdom of a life’s experience. Whatever it is, I love this lightness.
Sometimes, I have the fantasy that as I become an old woman, I shall get lighter and lighter, like a leaf. When it is time to die, I shall be so light that I can easily be lifted like a child onto my dying place and my spirit will float effortlessly away from this body, like the smoke on the breeze.
MARIAN VAN EYK McCAIN
Transformation through Menopause (Bergin and Garvey)
Next step: A new kind of doing