How To Use Your PMS Emotions To Your Advantage AND FEEL GOOD
PC: @kendalljenner
Let me start this one by saying, it’s not always going to be easy.
But I think there is a certain beauty in feeling highly emotional. After all, the best art has always come from a deeply emotional space. So if you can learn to embrace it, sit in it, and move with it, there has to be a way to feel good about it.
That was at least what I thought, and so I put it to the test.
In the past, I realized I get incredibly unhappy (I mean like downright depressed) about doing anything I didn’t like during my PMS (which by the way, stands for premenstrual syndrome and can start anytime after your ovulation. Typically, however, people begin to experience it a week before their period starts). I would straight up throw a tantrum, cry, be unable to move, and cancel meetings on really bad months. It was during these days of me feeling paralyzed at the thought of work that I realized I seriously needed to change it. I’m kind of glad I was that dramatic about not wanting to work, because it pushed me to switch it up. Now I do something I absolutely adore for a living: writing.
Incredibly enough, since I switched from Project Manager to Writer, I’m unfazed when my PMS comes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still highly emotional. But that emotion isn’t anger.
Doing my creative work while I’m high on PMS emotions is, encroyable, if I do say so myself. Now it’s literally my job to read, write, and mind my own business. I sit in my beautiful bubble all by my holy self, listen to emotional music, and absolutely drench myself in the feels. It’s awesome.
People experience premenstrual syndrome in different ways, but typically it gives you wild mood swings (amongst a bunch of other shit -.- but let’s focus on the emotions part for now). Mood swings means it can go down AND up. If you do something you dislike during pms, you’re going to hate it 50x more. But if you do something you love… see where I’m going with this?
All of this is to say: do something creative while you’re pms-ing. I know not everyone can up and switch their entire jobs, but hear me when I say at least find some time to engage with your emotions. Let them have their sweet release and use them to your advantage. If you’re a painter, look forward to the particular art you create while pms-ing. Lock yourself into a room and don’t talk to anyone (if you live with people, give some excuse like you have a deadline you need to focus on, etc). Create something with those emotions. Don’t let them go to waste!
Please note that I do mean create, not consume. Yes, we all know watching a dramatic TV show during your pms/period just hits right sometimes. But this article is about taking advantage of your PMS, so I say create.
Give yourself a few hours a day to face those emotions and really engage with them. Listen to how they want to be released and follow suit. Once those feelings get acknowledged, it’s easier to do the things you don’t want to do as well.
