If you’ve always been the one who copes
If you’ve always been the capable one, the organiser, the one who copes, and lately you’re waking at 3am with your heart pounding or feeling flattened by a to-do list you used to do in your sleep, this one’s for you.
Grab a cuppa. This is a Coffee Break episode, a short one, because it’s Mental Health Week here in WA, and this year’s theme is “Taking control in the face of change”. If any stage of life is about change, it’s this one.
So I’m revisiting my conversation with clinical psychologist Kirstin Bouse, founder of All About Her – The Centre for Menopause in Perth.
If you heard the full episode, think of this as a refresher you might need right now. If you didn’t, the full conversation, including Kirstin’s own perimenopause story and much more on burnout and boundaries, is waiting in the feed. Listen to the full conversation on Spotify.
“You’re not broken. You’re not failing. And you’re definitely not imagining it.”
Kate Baxter
In this episode we talk about
- Why so many women are still told they’re “too young” for perimenopause
- What anxiety can look like when it shows up for the first time in midlife
- Why stress seems to hit harder at this stage
- What to take to your GP so you’re actually heard
- Why the goal isn’t to go back to who you used to be, and why Kirstin wants you to chase joy
Resources mentioned
If you need support
This episode is general information, not individual medical or psychological advice. Please don’t stop or change any medication without talking to a qualified health professional first.
If anything here brings something heavy up for you, you don’t have to sit with it alone.
- Lifeline: 13 11 14 (24 hours, 7 days)
- Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 (24 hours, 7 days)
- In an emergency, call 000