47. 4 Powerful Questions to Help Perimenopausal Women Thrive in the New Year
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Hello and happy new year!
At the time of this recording, it’s the last week of December and I have to say, I had a really good month. I took time off, got together with family and friends, and I just enjoyed the holidays. Normally, I feel stressed, anxious and have to check off a long to-do list. But I chose not to feel that way, do what I can without overextending myself, and relax. I know, what a concept.
Something I always do during this time is reflect on the current year, as well as the year ahead.
There are questions I ask myself every year that I’m going to share with you. This past weekend, I happened to listen to Mel Robbins’ recent podcast episode, which I’ll link to in the show notes, where she shares similar questions.
So grab a pen and paper if you can and let’s dive into them. The first question I ask myself is:
1. What went well this year?
This is to celebrate the GOOD – in business and in my personal life. One thing I took away from Mel Robbins’ podcast episode was she suggested scrolling through the photos on your phone to jog your memory. You know the thousands of photos that you take and forget about? Yeah, those. I love how on an iPhone you can review them by month, so I started off in January and I had totally forgotten about some of the different events I attended, family activities, milestones, and even vacations. It was such a great way to reflect on all the good. Something I suggest to clients is to practice gratitude. It is so easy to think about what’s wrong in our lives or what we don’t have and totally miss what’s right in front of us. Looking at those photos really helped me see all the joyful moments, accomplishments, and even small wins I forgot about.
2. What didn’t work this year?
This isn’t about dwelling on the negative—it’s about learning. I ask myself what frustrated me, caused me stress, or made me feel out of alignment. To share a few insights, I examined time spent on social media for my business and how I desire to spend less time on there, leaky boundaries that I had with some people in my life that caused stress, but more so, how I reacted to some situations. Another thing I reflected on was my perfectionism – that it not only stalls me, but causes stress in my body, and in turn, impacts my health. Lastly, I did a bit of a deep dive into some of my trauma, old stories, and fears have been affecting my relationship. My partner Mike and I have been together for over 15 years. We love each other, respect one another, and really are best friends. But we both brought childhood trauma, fears, and beliefs into our relationship, like many couples do. We were only in our 20s when we met and man, have we grown. We had some of the most difficult conversations that we’ve ever had last year. And even though they were scary, we’ve become even closer. Self reflection was a huge thing for me in 2024. It’s so easy to blame another person, versus looking inward. Nobody really wants to look at themselves like that. And diving deeper really helped me to see the things I needed to change, as well as how to communicate my needs more effectively.
3. What do I want to stop doing in the new year?
We all have those habits or patterns that no longer serve us. For me, it’s not letting perfectionism get in the way, like with this podcast. I decided not every episode will be on video and that we don’t have to edit them to be perfect. I’m sure I drive Kim, my assistant, crazy with removing every ‘um’ and loud car in the background. So as I work on this, you may notice episodes are a bit more raw. Another thing I want to stop is overthinking and procrastinating on making decisions. And know that nothing is permanent and my time and energy is better spent on other things. I also want to be more mindful of my time and finding more efficient ways to get things done, especially with the business. I want to lessen control in my personal life. Letting go is not a weakness, it’s powerful and shockingly, it calms your nervous system. Since slowing down and practicing letting go more, I feel so much more at peace. I really do.
4. What do I want to implement in the new year?
What new habits or routines do I want to embrace? What’s already working that I want to build on? Notice I haven’t used the term goals – the reason for that is sometimes when we set goals, if we don’t meet them, we end up beating ourselves up, feeling like a failure, and I don’t want to do that to myself and I don’t want that for you.
So I want to continue to be around family and spend time with my mom, take more time off, do things that bring me joy (i.e. being creative in the kitchen, tending to my plants, time with friends). I want to continue to grow the podcast with more guests and more variety in topics I share, and I want to serve more women with my programs. For you, this might look like prioritizing more down time, improving your sleep, or just learning to say “yes” to yourself, instead of putting everyone else first like usual.
So to recap, the 4 questions are:
- What worked well for you this past year?
- What didn’t work well for you?
- What do you want to stop doing?
- What do you want to implement in the new year?
If prioritizing your health is on your mind, and you want to do a deep dive into your blood work, your nutrients, your hormones, so you can have energy, feel good every day, minimize anxious and overwhelm, sleep well, and feel like yourself again, but even better, consider working with us in The Perimenopause Method, formerly known as The Hormone Rescue, but with some updates for 2025.
I’m really excited about this four month program, which includes advanced testing, bloodwork review, with options to add other testing, depending on your budget and needs. And it starts off with a 28-day reset so you can slowly ease into healthier habits – without overwhelm – before you dive into personalized protocols we create. Click and learn more HERE and get started today.
I hope this episode was helpful to you and I’ll talk to you next week.
Want to learn more about what I do, the testing we use, and all that you get in the program? Come to my free interactive class January 16th. Grab a spot HERE.
Links mentioned:
Claudia Petrilli is a Functional Health Coach, Integrative Nutrition Coach, Women’s Health Educator, and creator of The Hormone Rescue program. Having experienced debilitating periods, digestive issues, a sluggish thyroid, a pituitary tumor, and perimenopause symptoms in her late 30s, she knows exactly what it’s like to get dismissed by doctors and spend years searching for answers.
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