Pleasure in Midlife: Perimenopause & Menopause

As I approach 40, I have started noticing changes in my body. I realised I have entered perimenopause. Instead of seeing midlife as something negative, I asked myself: How can I make this Pleasurelit?

Over the past few months, I began noticing small changes that didn’t feel like my “usual” self.

I started forgetting things I would normally remember with ease. I found myself writing shopping lists that I didnpt need to before. My sleep changed. My joints feel different. My menstrual cycle becomes noticeably shorter, arriving every 21 to 23 days instead of my previous 28/29 day rhythm.

The biggest surprise was how quickly my mood and emotions could shift throughout a single day. And after looking more closely, I realised I have entered perimenopause. I turn 40 next year, and although I knew this stage of life would eventually come, I didn’t expect it to arrive quite yet.

When we hear conversations about perimenopause and menopause, they are often about what changes in a woman’s body in negative way, such as lower libido, brain fog, weight gain, poor sleep, mood swings, and hot flushes. And those experiences are true for many women. And at the same time, I want to approach this differently.

I am not available to focus on the negative sides, I asked myself:

How can I bring pleasure in perimenopause?

How can I experience pleasure in midlife?

Because pleasure had no age limit. We all deserve pleasure in every stage of our life. So, how can I work with my body, not against it.

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I’m Pleasurelit Patricia

I believe the more we expand our capacity for pleasure, the more alive we feel.

Curious and open minded by nature, I have always been a pleasure explorer. Things changed when I adapted to be the "good girl", achieving, and performing. After surviving a DV marriage I learnt to reconnect with my body through exploration. I followed what lit me up, explored over 400 pleasure tools, countless somatic pleasure practices, and completed more than 20 certifications, including trauma-informed somatics, sex, fitness, health, tantra, yoga and breathwork.

I am an award-winning Somatic Pleasure Educator. My work guides you to awaken, deepen and widen your capacity for pleasure, so you can feel deliciously turned on by yourself and life itself.

I am the founder of Pleasurelit®, bestselling author of The Pleasurelit Way, and host of the top 5% podcast Pleasurelit with Patricia. Pleasurelit is your pleasure lit from within.

I claim my pleasure

This chapter is an opportunity to bring pleasure in all areas of life.

That includes nourishing nutrition, weight lifting and movement, restorative sleep, nervous system regulation, emotional wellbeing, sexuality and intimacy, female health, somatic practices, stress management, mindfulness, relationships, pleasure and play. They all influence how we experience our bodies during midlife, perimenopause and menopause. Health, lifestyle and pleasure are connected.

PleasureLit Midlife

Everything I have built within Pleasurelit has come from lived experience, from what has been alive for me, sharing how I moved through it and sharing what I have learnt, studied and explored to help you too.

Now that I’m entering this new season myself, it feels natural to expand that work. So, I’m creating Pleasurelit Midlife, a growing library dedicated to helping women explore midlife through the lens of pleasure, in all areas of their life.

I will be expanding my knowledge, researching, studying and experimenting. I don’t want to treat perimenopause and midlife like a phase that I need to survive or “manage”, and instead make it pleasurable. Meaning rather than creating another program focused only on symptom management, I want to build a resource space that supports us in living pleasurelit in midlife.

Pleasure can be deeply regulating for the nervous system. It can reconnect us with our bodies, remind us of what feels good, and help us create a life that supports our changing needs. Pleasure is life force energy.

If you are moving through perimenopause, menopause or simply entering midlife, take a moment to slow down and ask yourself:

What does my body need right now?

What do I desire in this season of life?

I would love to hear your story, your questions and what you would like me to explore next. Together, let’s create a conversation about midlife that includes not only health, but pleasure. Because pleasure is part of health too.

With love & pleasure,
Patricia

Award Winning Somatic Pleasure Educator

*Disclaimer: Please listen to your body and honour your own needs while engaging with these practices and conversations. Not every practice is suitable for every person, every body or every season of life. This content is shared for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical, psychological or therapeutic advice.

Pleasurelit®

pleasurelitmail@gmail.com

Award Winning Somatic Pleasure Educator

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