Ladies it's time to talk. We all know it too well, time of the month, Aunt Flo, leak week, whatever you call it, periods suck. We are taught from our first flow to not talk about what's going on down there. "It's un-ladylike" they say. Excuse me I didn't know that my body was un-ladylike but thank you for letting me know. For centuries women have had to suffer in silence during that time of the month. Before periods were well understood women would be exiled from the community and would have to "bleed it out" in basically a small pox quarantine house. Menstruation is completely natural and to make women feel as if it is something that she should be hiding would almost be saying that you're uneducated about how the birds and the bees work. Let me try to "normalize" periods for you uncomfortable souls.
The First Wave....Cramps
Now I cannot speak for everyone but usually the first indication that leak week is coming is the onset of cramps. No, not your typical muscle cramp that can be cured with Icy-Hot, these cramps are something that cannot be compared to anything else. There are some brave women out there that choose to battle their cramps drug free and to those women I salute you. Most of us are best friends with Advil, Midol, Aleve, whatever is your drug of choice. Speaking from my personal experience this is the worst part about Aunt Flo, especially since society forces women to pretend like we're perfectly fine and have to go about our days pretending like we're not dying on the inside.
The Second Wave....Niagara Falls
Brutal subtitle, I know, but it does this topic justice. One moment everything is fine, you're just a gal going about her day, the next moment a dark cloud rolls overhead and you have yourself ready for the storm, or hopefully you do. Sometimes mother nature likes to play hide and seek and just when you think you've got your cycle on track, psych, you don't. All of sudden you're in an awkward position where you need a tampon and have to go find the nearest girl and hope that she is more prepared than you.
The Third Wave....PMS
We all go through the PMS phase in our own ways. Some of us crave chocolates while others crave salty foods. If you live on this planet you've probably come across a girl who just needs french fries or a donut during leak week. Let her eat in nonjudgmental silence. She deserves an extra topping on her pizza, I mean she's bleeding out of her vagina for crying out loud.
It's normal
We could sit around all day making jokes about our periods, and it's okay to laugh. But at the end of the day it is important to realize that it is completely normal. We as women need to be there for other women during this fragile time of the month. For people who do not have their periods please let us suffer the way we know how to, with pizza and endless hours of Netflix.
