day 21: is this real life?

I'm about to get personal with you right now so--be warned.

There's something I'm so excited about that I need to shout it from the proverbial rooftops (i.e. the internet). I don't care if it's taboo or whatever, or that most of you are going to be, "Ewww, TMI." This is something that is so earth-shatteringly awesome, it can't go unshared.

Oh my gosh, I'm so psyched that I don't even know how to begin!

You guys, I started my period yesterday and I had absolutely no PMS symptoms. And what's more--yesterday and today (the first two days of my cycle, and usually the most difficult) were not that bad. Bearable. More than bearable. Pleasant, even.

Did I mention this was earth-shattering?

Typical happenings leading up to lady times for me include the usual awesomeness (read: sarcasm) like bloating, constipation, headaches, moodiness (including being so volatile emotionally that almost anything could make me to start crying at the drop of a hat), soreness, exhaustion, general malaise, and of course the intense, insatiable desire to eat all the things.

And the actual fun hasn't even begun yet. Once the main event is officially underway, it's all about the cramps. Cramps so persistent that if I don't have a constant stream of NSAIDs going into my body, I'm knocked on my ass. And it has to be ibuprofen, too, which I've always thought was weird. Acetaminophen simply doesn't work. It's always a super big hassle because you're suppose to take it every four hours. But around about hour three, it would stop working and the cramps would come back. So then not only did I have to wait to take more, but then I had to wait for it to kick in again. Then invariably a couple hours later, they would be back. My liver probably wasn't too thrilled with me on those days.

But no more!

Last night when I started to feel a tiny little twinge of cramping (the first physical evidence that anything was actually happening, other than the obvious bleeding, of course), I immediately went to my first feel-better stand-by: a walk. Then I super-setted that with a lavendar Epsom salt bubble bath, cup of tea, bedtime reading and I was like, "What cramps?" There were times this morning that I feared the cramps were going to escalate into a problem but I stayed hydrated, focused on moving, and before I knew it, the mild cramps were a fleeting memory.

The other huge difference (and I mean HUGE) is that my mood has been virtually unaffected. In the past, I have no doubts that I contributed to the cliched crazed, emotional, bitchy stereotype of a woman on her period (This comes to mind.). And it was downright miserable. For me and for those around me (my boyfriend can attest).

I can see now that hormonal and blood sugar imbalances, as well as a seriously dysfunctional attitude towards food, were significantly perpetuating that misery.

This time around I have been an objective participator in the physiological and anatomical wonder that is menstruation. Seriously. This is the most chill period I have ever had.

It's something quite amazing and wonderful to experience when you can recognize it for what it is rather than having it wreak havoc on all aspects of your life from anywhere between four days and two weeks at a time. I mean, today I was a little more tired than usually, I felt weaker, and was somewhat less motivated in general--all of which I can easily attribute to a physiological process or the lack of a specific nutrient. I knew this all before, but was usually so overwhelmed by wallowing in my own self-loathing that I couldn't see it for what it really was--just the shedding of my uterine lining, no big deal.

They say the Whole30 will change your life. For me, this improvement alone is enough to keep me living the Whole30 lifestyle the rest of my days (yeah, it was that bad before). And I have every reason to believe that it's going to get even better with every subsequent cycle.

You probably won't ever hear me say that I'm looking forward to my period (because it's still a messy, stinky, gross thing, let's face it). But hey! At least I can rest assured know that I'm not going to be thrown off my rails on the regular anymore. Consequently, I will no longer be able to use it as an excuse for being lame.

Oh no, what ever shall I do now?

(I'll give you hint: the answer is to "Be awesome".)