Creating options for community during this time of isolation: Older Wiser Better is moving online to connect with you.
Dear supporters, friends, and clients of Lifecycle Women’s Health,
What a time we are living in right now. How are you all coping? I mean really, how are you? What have you found that is helping you stay healthy, keep up your spirits and fill your cup?
I have to admit it is very hard to be isolated. I am fortunate to have some of my family around me and I am blessed to have resources. But what I miss most is being able to practice and support the people who come to me for care. With uncertainty comes increased anxiety and struggles. I understand that many people are operating in pure sympathetic nervous system mode right now, persistent fright and flight. I want to be there to help and support you through this.
The silver lining in this crisis is seeing how people are showing up with kindness and support in order to foster community. My family, who lives all over the country and sometimes go for long periods without communication, are now in touch daily. My neighbors, many of whom I have never met in person, created a neighborhood Google group to help support each other and communicate our needs. The yoga classes and other groups that are moving to online formats. And, for what it is worth, I have been spending my free time making masks for hospital employees and trying to shop for some of my older neighbors.
Acts of kindness benefit the giver as much if not more than the recipient. I can certainly feel my body transition to parasympathetic nervous system dominate mode as I start sewing. I can actually start breathing.
While I do not want any ill will to fall on anybody, I have to look at this time as an opportunity to realize what is most important in our lives. It is also important to remember that this will not last forever, we will persevere.
I think/hope by now people are taking the public health department’s advice seriously. Despite what you may hear from a few notable politicians who have no education in public health and place their own profits before people’s well-being, we have to maintain physical distancing in order to decrease the spread of COVID-19 and to flatten the curve.
I want to remind you that you do not have to dispose of social connection when you physically distance yourself from others. Most people are fortunate to have computers and telephones. More and more people are using virtual meeting platforms to connect. Please use these, and check-in with people in your community who may not either have or know how to use this technology.
Physical distancing is the number one priority. I have also been asked by some of my clients how they can boost their immunity. Since so much is unknown about the Novel Coronavirus, recommendations for specific supplements cannot be made at this time. There is not a magic pill, so save your money. Instead, focus on getting good, quality, deep sleep every night, eat healthy food, hydrate, get some fresh air and distanced movement daily, and figure out what stress-relieving practice works best for you.
So now, I am going to get to one of the main reasons I am writing this letter. Several months ago I started running a midlife and menopause group for female-identified people and those recorded as being female at birth. It is a group that is loosely based on two models of care that are proven to work: the Menopause Cafés that are very popular in the UK and Centering Health were the power of the group leads to improving health outcomes.
The groups have run monthly in Brunswick, Maine. People come together over delicious desserts and snacks to share collective wisdom around menopause and midlife issues. I have temporarily placed the meetings on hold, but I realize I cannot do that any longer. I miss the connection, probably more than anyone who has attended the group. I am feeling that I need to run this meeting to help mitigate my own crazy sympathetic nervous system symptoms, and hopefully, you will benefit as well.
I am going to offer Older Wiser Better: a discussion group for people in midlife and menopause on a weekly basis starting next Tuesday, March 31 at 6 pm EST. The discussion group will be free and will be given through ZOOM. I am going to ask people to register in advance, and you can do that by clicking here. If you are interested in joining the discussion, please register BEFORE the meeting starts, because ZOOM does not allow late registrants :(.
This is a time when most of us are craving connection. We are social beings, and we have been pulled from our respective tribes. I hope this will give people an opportunity to be able to socially interact while physically staying safe, and give you all an opportunity to build a new tribe. Life can really get better as you get older, menopause does not have to be a dirty word. We just need to get out there and talk about it. So fill up your cup with whatever you want to drink, grab something yummy to eat and join this group.
So please reach out to me if you have any concerns at all. I hope to see as many of you as I can in the Tuesday discussion groups. If this is not the best time, or you have other comments you want to make, please share with me, I am all ears.
In the meantime, stay healthy and be well. My heart is with you all.
xo
Susan
Susan Kamin is a certified nurse midwife and a sexuality health counselor. After many years of helping people give birth and be born, she is now providing personalized integrative well women care at Lifecycle Women's Health in Readfield and Brunswick, Maine. She sees people across the lifespan with a focus on care during midlife/menopause and sexual health. She enjoys sharing her wisdom in the hopes of helping people find pleasure, knowledge, and empowerment in their bodies as they go through all of life's transitions.
