The Second Becoming  by Myola Woods 

It’s 3 a.m.

You’re lying in bed again.

Blankets off. Blankets on. One leg out. One leg in.

You’re hot. Then cold. Sweaty. Itchy.

You need to go to the toilet… again.

Sleep won’t come.

The whole world seems to be asleep except you.

Morning arrives and you’re exhausted. Your mind feels foggy. Words disappear halfway through sentences. You wonder where the woman you used to be has gone.

You used to sleep.

You used to laugh more easily.

You didn’t carry a fan in your handbag on a winter’s day because you never knew when your body would suddenly feel like an internal furnace. You didn’t find yourself trapped in a warm jumper, silently hoping no one noticed the sweat gathering on your skin.

These are the conversations I have every week.

Perimenopause and menopause are often spoken about as something to survive.

I believe they are something to honour.

For me, and in the wisdom of many ancient traditions, menopause is not simply a hormonal transition. It is a threshold.

Just as puberty marked the journey from child to adolescence, menopause invites us into another becoming, from our active fertile years into a stage of deeper wisdom, embodiment, honesty and self-leadership.

Yet no one teaches us how to cross that threshold.

Many women have spent decades giving to children, partners, workplaces, ageing parents and everyone around them. For years, life has been organised around caring for others, meeting expectations and keeping everything running.

Then something shifts.

You wake one day and discover the life that once fitted no longer feels quite right.

You begin asking questions you never asked before.

Who am I now?

What do I want?

What brings me pleasure?

What have I ignored for years?

It can feel frightening, especially when you wonder if it means something is wrong with your relationship, your career or yourself.

Often it doesn’t.

It simply means the woman who carried you through the first half of life is no longer the woman who will lead you through the second.

That requires a different way of living.

Over nearly three decades of working with women, I’ve found that lasting change rarely comes from chasing symptoms alone.

The hot flashes, disrupted sleep, anxiety, loss of libido and emotional overwhelm matter, they deserve compassion and support, but they are often part of a much bigger invitation.

When we work with the nervous system, reconnect with the body, honour our changing physiology and begin listening to what our lives are asking of us, something remarkable happens.

The symptoms often soften.

But even more importantly, women begin to transform.

They stop simply surviving menopause and start creating a life that feels deeply aligned with who they are becoming.

I know this not only through my work, but through my own experience.

Menopause isn’t the end of something beautiful.

It is the beginning of a different kind of beauty.

One with less pretending.

Less performing.

Less abandoning yourself.

And far more truth.

What is this season of my life asking of me?

Perhaps menopause isn’t asking you to become less of yourself.

Perhaps it’s inviting you to become more of who you’ve always been.

The Second Becoming begins when we stop fighting the body and start listening to it.

If this speaks to you…

This September I’m opening the inaugural Founders Circle of The Second Becoming. Together we’ll explore this transition through a blend of online learning, practical nervous system support, and a deeply held weekend immersion. If you’re ready to meet this season of life with more understanding, embodiment and self-compassion, I’d love to welcome you.

Connect with Myola Violet Woods at: 

M: 0423 919 270

E: myolaviolet@gmail.com