By Lisa S. Tarno

Have you ever heard the saying, “But for the grace of God, there go I…”? Fun Fact, believe it or not it is not found in the Bible. It’s actually attributed to a man named John Bradford in 1553 who apparently said it after seeing criminals on their way to being executed. Well my saying is my saying and you can quote me on that. We are all just one hormone away from… (you name it)! It’s the same basic idea but just brought into this century more for women than men in mind.

My husband asks why I don’t carry my weapon that I have been trained to use. I have my conceal carry permit but where I live now, it’s an open carry state. I half joked to my husband that I don’t carry because… you got it…I am just one hormone away from… I don’t need to be packing heat especially when I am feeling heat.

I said it one time around some girlfriends referring to how necessary it was to extend grace to each other. It got a good laugh. Never did I think I would be talking about hormones when I was younger but it becomes very apparent front page news for most all women at a certain age. It can be a gnarly time for women if not mitigated by HRT’s (hormone replacement therapy). Some choose to brave it without that kind of help or they can’t  participate because of some medical issue. 

Why is it that we become so hot? I find this especially at night. I’ve got the ceiling fan on full blast and the air conditioner on low as I struggle with my foot being hot and then my shoulder gets cold. It’s a constant dance with my sheet being on then off then crisscrossed on my body. As an adult, I still find myself vulnerable to monsters in the dark with my exposed foot. 

Why is it that we can gain weight just by breathing? We can eat like birds and still the scale number goes up. We can exercise, lift weights, eat sensibly and the weight just sticks like glue. It’s the happy hormone time when everything shifts in way that is completely frustrating for most women.

Why do we have children when we are young and we can actually sleep versus when we are older and sleep eludes us? I have often thought that an infant and a menopausal woman have much in common in the disrupted sleep department. They are made for each other to keep each other company at all hours of the night.

It’s a precarious time for women. Emotions can be off kilter. Life is changing and some adapt better to it than others. I once joked that I can’t be friends with anyone in my stage of life who isn’t medicated or treating their hormone flux. Some women can be a little coo coo and too emotional. I do my part for humanity. I proudly take my hormone mitigation so I can behave mostly normal. (Wink wink)

Seriously though, we just don’t know what someone is going through behind closed doors. I believe that we need to live with more grace for each other and extend that loving perspective no matter what season of life we are in. If only kindness and grace were common in today’s world, what a better place it would be. There are hurting people out there and they sometimes don’t know how to deal with all their pain. It may show up in how they drive, how they act at work, how they answer a question abruptly, how they may just snap and become overly emotional or be the other extreme of being withdrawn or depressed.

It is helpful to remember that we all are just one hormone away from…