Do you know your needs?

Gemma Barry - 24 Aug 17

I think all of us know the need of hunger, anyone else get hangry? I know it can’t be just me. Mark and I went to Rome for the weekend a few years ago, standing by the Trevi Fountain taking in the sights, he was busy taking some photo’s and the growl in my tummy was getting louder. I go quiet – it’s the first sign – “You ok?” asked Mark “We have about 20mins before I lose my shit” was my reply. “Bugger ok let’s go get eats now then!”

I’m vile when I get hungry or tired combine the two and it’s not pretty in the slightest. Meeting those needs though before they go into the red zone, that is something I know well about myself and ALWAYS CARRY SNACKS!

So if we know about hunger, and we act upon it to make us feel better why is it we walk around blatantly ignoring all the other needs we desperately need to address?

Women tend to show this trait more so than men, putting everyone else’s need before their own. This isn’t to say men are selfish in anyway, they just meet their needs better or maybe have less who knows!

If I have heard it once I have heard it a thousand times but I have to do this for the kids, husband, wife, partner, mother, father, friends, grandparents, colleagues, dog, cat, neighbors, person who I don’t know all that well, complete stranger and then I might be able to fit me in.

Or it’s a matter of the ‘nobody understands me’. How many times have I been to the hairdresser and come out with a do I didn’t want? Too many to mention – when I had my hair done the last time I got exactly what I wanted because I told her exactly what I wanted. It’s simple isn’t it – so how is it that we can’t seem to put it into practice more often?

No one is responsible for your needs except you – you are the only one who knows what you need. So unless you start explaining that to the people around you, I’m afraid you are going to be feeling like no one understand – because they don’t.

It can be uncomfortable to start with, we might feel selfish or needy perhaps. But it’s much better to say what it is you need to make you feel tip top than martyr it up and bitch and moan about how rubbish everyone is being. I wouldn’t want to be around me when I’m hungry, low blood sugar and me aren’t a great combo. It’s always up to me to feed me, not someone else…you see?

So what might your needs be? Well, I always manage to bring things back to periods because well it’s what I do 🙂 Because when we have a period, however that looks for you, your body is doing A LOT and it NEEDS you to be kind to it. You know how pain is in the body to stop us over doing it? So if we sprain an ankle it will hurt like fuck so we can’t walk on it until it’s healed. Your uterus is doing the same thing, every month, without fail. If you have excruciating periods SOMETHING IS WRONG. Your body is asking you to stop, to listen, to check in and see what it is it needs. What it needs isn’t in the form of a pack of painkillers either, because that is just masking a symptom.

Your body needs you, it needs you to listen and go and seek help.

That help might look like dropping me an email and seeing how I can help you help yourself. I know periods, I know shit periods, and I know what it’s like to suffer. I’ve dealt with years of it. I have come out the other end having supported my body completely naturally, and I want to share that with you.

I don’t want to see any more women suffer from shit periods. But this can only happen when we believe that periods don’t have to be shit.

Email gemma@thewellwomanproject.com. Drop me a Facebook Message. Find my group Rebellious Endometriosis Sisters and lets take some action together x

Gemma Barry

I am a former nurse who saved her womb by understanding more about her own mind and body health. I am now a Well Woman Specialist teaching and inspiring women to lead happier connected lives.

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