The Girl Playbook · Vol. 9 · Menopause & Hormones
Remember when you never had to think about changing your pajamas at 3am because night sweats had soaked them through and woken you up cold?
Vol. 9 · Printed book · by the Girl Playbook Research Team
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You picked them out of the drawer at 9:30pm, the soft gray pajamas with the faded stripe at the cuff, and they went on with no spare pair waiting on the chair in case a hot flash soaked the first.
The drawer slid shut with its little wooden bump, and that was the last decision the evening asked of you, with no thermostat to lower and no fan to aim at the bed.
There was a time when you turned off the lamp at 10pm, and the pajamas you put on were the same pajamas you woke up in.
The pillow stayed dry all night, and the sheet under you was only a sheet, with no folded towel anywhere on the mattress.
You pulled the duvet up to your chin and left it there until morning, and its weight felt like a hand resting on you.
At 7am the alarm went off, and you reached over without looking and found the button on the first try, already rested after a straight night with no 3am wake-up.
Remember when you sat down anywhere you liked, with no thought of a hot flash sneaking up on you or giving you away with a red face?
You took whichever stool was open at the diner counter, even the one under the heat lamp, and you never once looked around for the fan.
You took the middle chair at the long conference table in a room the afternoon sun had warmed, and through 40 slides your cheeks kept their ordinary color.
You wore the oatmeal sweater to the Monday meeting and kept it on, and when a colleague said “Cold in here,” you tugged your cuffs over your knuckles and agreed.
You never had to say “Give me a minute” and mean you needed to cool down in the middle of a sentence.
Back then, your purse held a lipstick, a phone, and your driver’s license, with no mini fan in the pocket and no spare top for the sweat.
You grabbed your jacket off the hook and your keys from the bowl, both on the first reach, and you never stood in the hall forgetting what you’d come for.
Remember when you could laugh off the small stuff with your family, with no mood swings making you snap at them or apologize by bedtime?
You used to say YES…
Yes - to a glass of wine at dinner, and a good night’s sleep after it…
Yes - to the black turtleneck and the fitted blazer on top…
Yes - to the late movie on a Wednesday, and quoting it in the kitchen at midnight…
Yes - to the front row of the group photo, without hiding your waistline behind anyone…
Yes - to the hotel duvet, thick and white and pulled up over your shoulder…
Yes - to dancing at the wedding until your feet hurt…
It used to be…
You could sleep through the night in one pair of pajamas.
You could feel completely spontaneous.
You could feel completely confident.
You could feel like YOU… rested… clear-headed… easy in your own skin.
You didn’t have to change your PJs in the middle of the night while the thermostat hadn’t moved.
You didn’t have to lie wide awake at 3am…
…and then have your sleep tracker congratulate you on an “excellent” night.
You never woke up shaky and anxious, as if something awful had happened, and lay there asking yourself, “What am I even worried about?”
You didn’t have to put on the smile and the cheerful “Great, how are you?” because explaining how you felt would take all morning.
Layers you could peel off weren’t the plan…
…you wore the outfit you wanted to wear.
Your cycle, your waistline, and a night’s sleep followed the old rules.
And the word you were reaching for showed up right when you reached for it.
You didn’t have to Google till you were blue in the face.
You didn’t have to wonder whether you’d ever feel like YOU again.
And these days all you ever hear is, “Sleep more, exercise more, cut carbs.”
The advice keeps coming while the night keeps breaking up.
And when you finally get the appointment, the minutes go fast…
By the time you explain the nights…
By the time you remember the dates… the changes… the things you’ve tried…
What do you have left of the appointment?
Inside My Body Changed. Now What? the Visit Brief gives those middle-of-the-night thoughts somewhere to land…
…so the thing you most wanted to ask doesn’t have to come back to you in the parking lot.
If you’ve ever walked out of an appointment with “I just don’t feel like myself” as the only thing you managed to say, then this new book is a MUST read before your next visit…
Before the next 3am wake-up has you scrolling for answers…
Before you snap at someone you love and spend the evening apologizing…
Before you pick another outfit for how fast it comes off…
Remember when a doctor’s appointment was just an errand…
It sat on the calendar between a haircut and a library book due back, and you drove there with the radio on.
You sat on the paper-covered table swinging one foot, said what was going on in a sentence, and the doctor wrote it down.
Back then nothing was holding you back…
…no fan in your purse…
…and you were in the group photo, front row, laughing, so you never felt left out of the best part of the night…
In those days you never had to scan the room for the seat by the door or the vent.
Never had to stand in a doorway at bedtime and say you were sorry for snapping earlier.
Never had to walk into the garage and wonder why you were there.
You could sit shoulder to shoulder with your partner on the couch with a heavy blanket across both your knees and feel at home in your body the way you felt at home in your own kitchen.
A printed educational guide, not personal medical advice. Use its explanations and worksheets to prepare informed questions for a qualified health professional.
My Body Changed. Now What?
Vol. 9 · Printed book · by the Girl Playbook Research Team
Price: $12.95
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It’s strange how a life can get smaller without anyone meaning for it to.
And perhaps the saddest part is how easily you can get used to it.
You make your adjustments.
You find your excuses.
You tell yourself it’s just the change.
But it does matter.
The sleep matters.
The laughter at the dinner table matters.
The afternoons you spend doing something just because it makes you happy matter.
And somewhere along the way, perhaps you’ve forgotten that you matter just as much.
When was the last time you rolled over at 3am and drifted right back off?
Your eyes opened, you found the cool side of the pillow, and you were asleep again before the thought finished forming.
Thunder rolled across the roof at 2am and rattled the glass in the window, and you slept right on through it.
A car passed outside and its headlights slid across the ceiling, and you were already too far down to follow them.
The covers stayed tucked where you left them, and the sheets stayed dry till morning.
Light lay in a thin gold line along the top of the curtains when you woke, and the sheets had barely moved.
Remember when a glass of wine at dinner was just a glass of wine?
Your cousin tapped a fork on a glass to start the toast, and you raised yours and clinked it with 5 others.
The coffee came in small white cups with a biscotti on each saucer, and you dunked yours and stayed for the second round of stories.
When the plates were cleared, your waistband was exactly where you’d left it.
You went home, slept all night, and woke up with nothing to pay for.
Think back to the jeans from 5 years ago hanging on the closet door.
They buttoned on the first try without a held breath.
The dresser drawer held jeans in exactly one size, your usual, and you never looked at the tag.
You carried your usual size into the fitting room at the store and nothing else.
You turned sideways in front of the mirror, saw your waist right where you left it, and went to pay.
The next spring you pulled the same pair from the stack and stepped in, same size, same ease.
My Body Changed. Now What?
Vol. 9 · Printed book · by the Girl Playbook Research Team
Price: $12.95
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Imagine being able to remember every name at the party again.
You’d met most of them once, years ago, at one barbecue or another, and the names rose up on cue.
“Marcus, good to see you again,” you said, and Marcus lit up as if you’d handed him a present.
You asked a woman by the fruit tray about her daughter’s soccer season and remembered the daughter’s name too.
The host squeezed your arm and whispered “how do you do that,” and you shrugged and took a cube of cheese.
The name tags sat unused in a bowl by the front door.
It used to be that a hug lasted as long as you wanted it to.
You came in from the driveway and your partner met you in the hallway with your coat still on.
You let your head rest against their shoulder until the kettle clicked off, and neither of you let go first.
Desire turned up on its own on an ordinary Tuesday, in the middle of washing a pan, and you smiled at the suds.
Afterward you lay there laughing about something small, and then you slept.
You used to be the calm one.
You came in from work, dropped your bag on the chair, and the noise in the kitchen sounded like home.
The milk went over at dinner, somebody made a joke about it, and you laughed the loudest.
Your teenager came down the stairs 20 minutes late with a long story, and you heard it out with your eyebrows up and then offered toast.
You could be mad about the dishes at 6pm and laughing about them by 7.
Later the porch light went on and everybody got 10 more minutes, just because.
My Body Changed. Now What?
Vol. 9 · Printed book · by the Girl Playbook Research Team
Price: $12.95
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Think of a hotel room and a suitcase half packed.
You booked the trip in March and didn’t think to ask about the thermostat, a fan in the room, or whether the window opened.
You tossed in a sundress, a pair of sandals, and the silk blouse for the last night’s dinner.
The hotel duvet was thick and white, and you pulled it over your shoulder and slept in.
At 9am a cart rattled by in the hall, and you stretched and let the day wait.
Back then, one cup of coffee at 7am carried you to dinner.
You walked past the couch at 2pm and didn’t so much as look at it.
The email you’d been dreading took 5 minutes and came out clean on the first draft.
By 10:30am you’d finished 2 reports and sent a funny GIF to the group chat.
You wrote a to-do list on Monday morning with 9 things on it, and by Friday at 3pm the last one was crossed off.
You said yes to dinner on a Wednesday and were still telling stories at 9pm.
Remember when you stood at the stove with every burner going?
You stood there in a wool sweater with 3 burners going and the oven door swinging open, and you never once fanned yourself.
The first pie went in at 9am and the second at noon, and the oven door got opened so many times that the timer gave up.
By the time everyone sat down, your hair was still down and your shirt still dry, and you reached for the lemonade.
You carried the dishes to the sink and rinsed them with the water running warm over your wrists.
My Body Changed. Now What?
Vol. 9 · Printed book · by the Girl Playbook Research Team
Price: $12.95
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- Please allow 7–10 business days for delivery.
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You used to dance at weddings until your feet hurt.
By 8pm your heels were under the table, and you were out on the floor in your bare feet.
Your partner twirled you out and back in, and the 2 of you laughed because you’d both lost count of the turns.
At 11pm the cake was gone and the lights were low, and you were the one still bright-eyed and calling out for one more song.
You rode home in the back seat with your shoes in your lap and the chorus still going in your head, and a long sleep waiting at the end of it.
Think back to a summer afternoon on the porch with a paperback.
You carried the book and a glass of iced tea out through the screen door into the July heat, and the porch swing creaked.
You read for an hour, turning pages at an even speed, and never once found yourself back at the top of the same paragraph.
The neighbor waved from behind her mower, and you waved back with the book still open.
When the streetlights came on you were surprised the afternoon had ended, and you went inside for a sweater, chilly as anyone.
Remember when you were the first one to say “let’s go” to the backyard?
You cleared the plates with the grandkids already pulling you by both hands toward the screen door.
The kite from last summer was hanging in the apple tree, and the kids declared it a rescue mission, and you joined it.
The sprinkler spray hit your shirt and your shorts and your hair, and you shrieked right along with them.
At 4pm you lay in the grass with a kid on each side and named clouds, and your legs had plenty left.
My Body Changed. Now What?
Vol. 9 · Printed book · by the Girl Playbook Research Team
Price: $12.95
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- Please allow 7–10 business days for delivery.
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Do you miss being the friend who always said “I’ll drive”?
You drove 4 girlfriends an hour to the concert with the radio up and a travel mug in the cup holder.
At 11pm you pulled up at the curb under the streetlight with the music still ringing in your ears, wide awake.
You dropped them off one by one, and at the last stop she leaned in the window and said you were the best, and you said you knew.
At midnight you set your keys in the bowl, and you were asleep before the hall light clicked off.
Wouldn’t it be nice to wear the thing you want to wear?
You held 2 tops up against yourself in the mirror and chose the one in the color you liked.
You paired it with your good jeans and the flat sandals that went with everything, and you never packed a spare.
The blouse was polyester and the cardigan was wool, and you kept them both on, buttoned, through a long Tuesday.
Your reflection looked back at you cool and pleased, and you winked at her on your way past.
Picture a Saturday morning with no plan.
You lay on your back wiggling your toes and caught yourself smiling at the ceiling for no reason you could name.
You tapped scoops of grounds into the filter and listened to the water start its slow climb.
The screen door was propped open by 9am, and the morning came right in.
You wandered a flea market in the sun with a friend, haggled over a teapot, ate tacos from a truck, and got lost on the way back to the car.
On Sunday evening you ran a hot bath and sank in up to your chin and stayed until your fingertips wrinkled.
My Body Changed. Now What?
Vol. 9 · Printed book · by the Girl Playbook Research Team
Price: $12.95
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- Please allow 7–10 business days for delivery.
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There was a time when you stood in the middle of the group at the cookout.
It was July and hot, and you held a paper plate while the conversation flowed around you, and you never edged toward the shade.
You leaned in close to your cousin to hear a story over the music, and you heard every word of it.
Somebody handed you a burger off the grill, and you ate it standing up and laughed with your mouth full.
At the end you hugged 3 people goodbye and stayed on the lawn another 10 minutes, and the talk went nowhere in particular.
Remember when you sat in a folding chair in the school gym on the warmest night of May?
There was no fan in your hand, and you clapped for every kid who crossed the stage.
You clapped a little louder for the kids who tripped on the stairs.
Your friend leaned over to whisper about the principal’s tie, and you caught every word, laughed, and leaned right back.
Afterward the families spilled out onto the grass, and somebody launched a folded program like a paper airplane.
It caught the breeze, a cheer went up, and yours was the loudest.
Think of a long weekend with your best friends and a full tank of gas.
You threw a bag in the trunk on Friday and picked up the 2 who lived across town.
They split a bag of pretzels in the back seat and argued about the playlist, and you let them argue.
At noon on Saturday you walked the dirt road to the lake with your hat in your hand and the sun on your face.
You jumped off the end of the dock, the water closed over you, and you came up laughing.
You lay on the dock afterward with your cheek on the warm wood and a dry towel for a pillow.
It used to be that the lamp clicked off at 10pm and that was bedtime.
You switched it off in the pajamas you’d wear till morning and slid one hand under the pillow.
You turned over once, said something sleepy into the pillow, and drifted back down to wherever you’d been.
At 6:30 you woke up refreshed, with your head on the dry pillow right where you’d left it.
Down the hall the coffee maker clicked itself on, and you lay there 1 more minute just because you could.
My Body Changed. Now What?
Vol. 9 · Printed book · by the Girl Playbook Research Team
Price: $12.95
- Free shipping
- Please allow 7–10 business days for delivery.
30-day, no-questions-asked money-back guarantee