9 benefits of tracking your cycle (beyond fertility awareness!)

Like most women, I didn’t really think much about my menstrual cycle beyond how to minimize period cramps and PMS, until we started trying to get pregnant. 

When you are TTC (trying to conceive) all of a sudden you realize how little we are taught about our bodies, fertility, and hormones. And how miraculous it is to actually get pregnant! There’s a lot to learn and it can feel a little overwhelming.

But what I also learned was that our cycle isnt’ just our period. It’s the constantly fluctuating flow of hormones that governs our entire reproductive system from ovulation to menstruation and every day in between. 

And it turns out our cycle does more than making babies!

Our hormones cause sometimes major fluctuations in our energy, moods, emotions, mental capacity, awareness, how we relate to others, and how we relate to ourselves. 

By tuning into the ebb and flow of our body, we can gain a deeper understanding of who we are and what we need in order to take advantage of our cyclical nature and thrive.

There are so many benefits of regularly tracking your cycle, beyond fertility! Here are a few that I’ve personally experienced:

9 benefits of tracking your cycle, beyond fertility awareness

1. Schedule your life - predict your optimized times to be productive, have tough conversations, nurture relationships, get work done, launch a new offering, think creatively, etc.

2. Plan for rest - manage your energy and know when to push it versus when to unplug so you don’t hit the wall and can avoid burning out or feeling discouraged

3. Start trusting yourself - develop a deeper connection to your intuition and inner authority, which allows you to set healthy boundaries without guilt or people pleasing.

4. Get off the crazy train - understand your mood swings and how to navigate the rollercoaster instead of dreading your “shark week”

5. View your period as a strength, not a curse - experience less stressful and painful PMS or periods

6. Understand your superpowers - tap into your natural ability to manifest what you want and create a life in alignment with your true self.

7. Know when to ask for help or support - and allow yourself to receive the love and support of other people during your low energy phases instead of trying to do everything yourself and burning out.

8. Release self doubt - the more you know about the predictable patterns of your energy ebbs and mood swings, the more you can trust that you are resilient and can handle anything. Just maybe not this week, lol.

9. Develop a deeper intimacy with your partner - the more intimacy you have with your own body, the more you can open up to receiving intimacy with others. Whether that’s physical or simply communicating where you’re at and how they can support you instead of picking random arguments and simmering in resentment that they can’t read your mind.

   And if you ARE trying to make a baby, practicing cyclical self care and understanding what is happening to your body can make the whole process way less stressful and more pleasurable ;)

Learn how to track your hormone or moon cycle in this blog post!

xo Anna

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Want to learn more about cycle awareness?

Wild Synchronicity is my signature program for high achieving women that will teach you how to tap into your own body’s unique wisdom and how to “sync” or align your life, business, and self care practices with your cyclical energy for more productivity, alignment, and sustainable success.

Creating time for yourself when it feels impossible (a step by step PLAN to hack your schedule!)

The other week I shared an Instagram poll asking what you need to feel some semblance of life balance (or at least sanity) especially during the pandemic, and the overwhelmingly common response was ALONE TIME!

Just some space where your brain isn’t zinging around multitasking between all your work and home obligations (while also if you’re a mom, keeping the tiny humans alive and out of mortal harm).

All you want is some time for yourself… but when you do get a blessed 15 minutes you’re so overwhelmed by choosing what you should do from the 1429348934234 “should’s” on your mental list you end up standing in the kitchen scrolling Instagram until you’re late for your meeting or the baby wakes up. And then feeling guilty that you feel resentful, and frustrated that you squandered your precious me time! It is a lose lose!

Or does it have to be??

(This post isn’t even going to crack the surface of the GUILT that pops up when we *gasp* spend our attention and focus on ourselves instead of our kid/partner/coworkers/friend/dog.)

So let’s chat about taking back control of not just our time, but our brain space, so we can feel rejuvenated in the little random cracks and break out of the constant mental/emotional overwhelm and guilt trap.

First of all, this might blow your mind but you don’t actually have to fill every crack of your day with productivity.

We live in a capitalist society that brainwashes us into believing that our value and worth as a human depends on what we get done, but that simply isn’t true! It took me lots of practice to train my brain to relax and allow myself to simply chill, and especially with a toddler and two businesses I’m constantly three steps ahead to keep the balls in the air … but make sure to give yourself some structured white space in your schedule so you can let your nervous system settle down.

If you’re afraid that you’ll drop the ball on something vital and important, creating a visual of your main priorities can be very helpful in reducing anxiety and seeing that you DO have time to chill and take alone time.

Here’s an easy system to hack your schedule and get realistic about your time management and responsibilities:

1. Print this 24/7 weekly planner sheet. Fill in the hours on the left most column, starting with the time you wake up or whatever makes the most sense to you.

2. On the back or a separate sheet of paper, make 4 lists: 

   • My NON-NEGOTIABLES (the things where you or someone else will literally suffer harm if you don’t show up for it. Think - work, sleep, childcare, eating. These are the things you NEED to do, that no one else can do for you. Assess the NON-NEGOTIABLES and see if there’s anything you can delegate to someone else.

   • what I feel like I SHOULD do, in order to make life run smoothly (clean the bathrooms etc. Be ruthless in assessing what actually improves the quality of your life vs. what you can drop or ask someone else to do)

   • what I WANT to do (for others - like, activities or play dates etc.)

   • what I WANT to do (for myself - give yourself permission to really think about this!)

3. On the planner, grab some fun colored pencils or markers to label and color in the time blocks you spend on your NON-NEGOTIABLES. How much sleep do you actually need to feel your best? Schedule that in, too! Don’t forget to include travel/prep/transition time. Maybe double the transition time you think you need especially if tiny humans are involved, lol.

4. Look at the white space! This is your flex time. You get to spend it however you want. 

5. See how you can fit the WANTS into your white space and block them out.

6. If there is extra space, add the SHOULD’s. If there is no space, drop the ‘should’s’ or ask someone else to do it.

7. Finally, ask yourself: what support do you need in order to complete the WANTS? Communicate your schedule with your partner/support system and tag-team so you can all get your WANTS met, at least occasionally if not weekly or daily.

You can do this planning ritual at the start of every week, use the same weekly planner for a month or longer if your life is somewhat predictable, even do a separate planner for each phase of your cycle. Whatever makes sense!

I love this process because life is always changing on at least a weekly basis, so it gives you an opportunity to shift, pivot, and make sure you’re always making time for the things that are most important to you.

Finding (making) time for yourself

If you’re reading this and still thinking “ok that sounds great but I literally don’t have time for self care or all the things I want to do!!” … yes there are seasons of life where we have to sacrifice more of ourselves. 

But if there is truly no end in sight, consider your burnout a red flag to make some intentional changes in your life. Whether that’s quitting your job, cutting back on hours, getting a new job, or adding more work hours, enlisting in more support or childcare.

Get honest with yourself about how you are actually spending your time. 

Maybe you don’t want to sacrifice sleep to get in a 60 minute yoga class every morning. Can you do a 15 min of yoga 3 days a week?

Can you play around and experiment with your family rhythm and routines so you have space for yourself (can you ask your partner to step in?)

Letting the seasons of life ebb and flow

Sometimes, you just need to give yourself the gift of letting time pass. This is something I’ve learned with having a baby - it seems like they grow and develop through a new phase every other week.

Instead of letting the bad news send you into a doom spiral, or trying to fix your mindset blocks, or hack your baby’s sleep schedule.. Just lean into it and trust that it’s only a phase and won’t last forever.

This also helps me remember to be present and appreciate the good times even harder, because they are passing too.

We live in a culture of immediate gratification.

But it won’t all happen at once.

How can we stretch our comfort zones into letting go of our self imposed timelines and trusting the process?

Ultimately, that is the key.

Trust.

Trust in ourselves. Our kids. Our work. The timeline.

Give yourself patience and grace as it all unfolds.

You are doing it <3

Finding work-life balance as a new mom

Somehow Thomas is 19 months old and I’ve been reflecting that as much as I love little snuggly babies, I am SO much happier overall as the parent of a toddler.

So if you’re in the haze of that first year of motherhood - just know that it does get easier!

There’s not one thing that makes this phase easier for me. Some of the things: I’m getting full nights of sleep again, we’re only nursing once a day at bedtime, I feel strong in my body, and I love watching T gain more personality and independence as we introduce him to the world and share activities and adventures together.

To me, the first year of motherhood felt all consuming and more of a day to day survival mode, while now I feel like we’ve “launched” and it’s easier to figure out what we all need, even if we still have to navigate a lot.

Through this past winter we isolated at home a lot to stay healthy and spend precious time with family, which is ultimately my number one priority. But we were sacrificing literally months of childcare and support for just days of family time, and when it comes to work/life I was getting a little too much in the “life” bucket 😝.

This spring we upgraded to 3 full days/week of childcare at our co-working space so he can have full days in the classroom and I can get more time to work. And this small change has improved the quality of my life EXPONENTIALLY.

On the days we are home together I’m able to be fully present with him instead of feeling stressed and guilty from trying (and failing) to do everything at the same time. I get to fill my Anna cup by having uninterrupted time to focus on my business, which I love!

You don’t know what kind of mom you’ll want to be until you actually have kids, and then they grow so fast you’re constantly trying to keep up.

It turns out that right now, I want to be a 60-70%-time working mom, and I am so grateful I have the resources to make that lifestyle happen.

I am discovering that I thrive when I am working outside of parenting, and in this moment feel like I am on top of the delicate and precarious art of the work/life balance.

And that is something to freaking celebrate, especially as we mark the one year anniversary of the pandemic which has completely upended our lives and added many unexpected challenges.

So let’s talk about finding that elusive work-life balance.

What does balance even mean?

There are all the stories the world tells us about how we should be living our lives as women and mothers, and then there’s what actually fills your soul and meets you where you’re at in the current reality of your life.

You are the only person who can decide what work/life balance looks like to you.

There’s a myth that “balance” means 50/50 equal split. Or, let’s be honest -- giving 100% to everyone and everything. Hello, impossible!!

But really, what does it feel like to be balanced?

Work-life balance in motherhood is a constantly moving target, not a destination.

The good thing about shifting our view of balance from a fixed destination to a constantly moving target is that there’s no such thing as success or failure.

To me, it’s not an all-or-nothing thing, because it’s a constant state of flux depending on what phase my child is going through, the season of the year, the restrictions of the pandemic, and even where I’m at in my menstrual cycle. Balance is more of a feeling, like I am capable and competent and have the capacity to handle everything on my plate. Maybe a better word for balance is actually stability - feeling grounded, stable, and fulfilled instead of drained by my schedule and responsibilities.

When I am OFF balance, I feel overwhelmed, anxious, stressed, depressed, and resentful. Easily triggered by comparison or jealousy.

Maybe you get triggered by people pleasing etc or overeating, mom guilt, etc…

You just aren’t at your BEST.

I think we can all bring to mind a time where we feel out of balance. Use that as a guide to discover what you need to feel more stable.

Then, identify your non-negotiables, or a short list of easy things you can add into your typical day or week to feel happier and more stable.

You can also take note of the BIG things that would be nice, but not immediately possible (like vacations, going out with friends, getting a new job, etc.) Bringing awareness to these long term goals is important because even if they won’t happen overnight, you will plant the seed in the back of your consciousness and start to make small shifts that gradually lead in that direction.

Finally, look at your lists and put them into action. How can you adapt what you need to your current reality? Maybe you can take some time off work for a staycation to just unplug, or schedule a coffee chat over the phone with a friend every week.

Some examples of what I need to feel my best, depending on the season or phase we’re in:

• alone time in the morning to journal, read, exercise

• childcare a few days a week

• intentional family time (like on weekends)

• some 1:1 play or snuggle time with Thomas everyday

• going outdoors every day, even if it’s just a walk to or from the car

• heart to heart chats with good friends who are in a similar season of life

• an ongoing creative project to work on

More examples I crowd-sourced from friends:

• childcare

• coffee and wine

• more sleep

• knowing what’s important enough to be included in the equation

• me time “even if it’s only 15 minutes. It reminds me of who I am aside from motherhood”

• taking a bath

• solo time out of the house, treating myself to something I love

• working at a coffee shop (when possible and safe)

Two questions to guide yourself home when you’re feeling off-balance:

1. What do I need?

2. What can I do to make that happen?

Feeling like you need some support and accountability?

In my Inner Glow Up 1:1 coaching program, I support women in prioritizing their own wellbeing as they transition into motherhood and navigate the demands of work, family, wellness, mental health, relationships, and personal goals.

The first thing I have new coaching clients do is complete a “wheel of life” inventory, where we assess each area of your life (relationships, money, self care, etc) to see where you are thriving and which areas feel a bit in need of focus and attention.

Then we set intentional, inspiring, heart centered goals in the areas you want to prioritize during our time together.

We do this to acknowledge that as multi-faceted humans, we have LOTS of priorities and things that are important to us, and there are seasons of life where some take precedence over the others.

And that doesn’t mean we’re falling behind or dropping the ball on the ones that take the back burner.

It just means that as time passes, we intentionally shift and pivot to nurture those other sides as well.

Balance is not about spending an equal amount of time and energy on everything.

It’s a continuous, daily process of finding an equilibrium that allows us to feel the most fulfilled so we can thrive and function at our best.

xo Anna