Story of Menopause Secrets.com & Monika

Hi I am Monika Lejman. Creator of Menopause-Secrets and "Live Your Life of Purpose 90 Days Program"

It all started a few years ago when I began to notice that my body was changing very rapidly. I didn't recognize myself and felt completely lost and devastated. Everything that used to work for me as a dance teacher, personal trainer, and yoga teacher was no longer helping. I was tired, had no energy, had problems sleeping (either too little or too much), and was losing my creativity, which is a crucial part of my work process.

The mood swings were getting worse, my periods were becoming a nightmare with non-stop bleeding for six to ten days, and the pain was unbearable. My PMS was worse than ever, and my recovery time after each period was about one week long, leaving me with only one good week every month. This was frustrating because my work is physical, and I help people reconnect with their bodies. My body is my vessel, whether it's for dancing or any type of movement, and I felt disconnected from it.

I did what everyone else told me to do—I went to the doctor. At 41 years old, I told my doctor (who was a female) about my symptoms and that I thought I was in perimenopause. She looked at me with big question marks in her eyes and said, "No, you're way too young for that." She ordered some blood tests, which showed very low iron and B12 levels. I asked for hormonal tests, but she refused. She did send me to a gynecologist, though.

At the gynecologist, they suggested putting a hormone spiral inside me. I said no because I've always believed in a holistic approach. I couldn't believe that the answer to my issues was a contraceptive spiral to prevent pregnancy and periods. I wanted to experience everything natural to me, including my period and cycle. So, I kindly refused, feeling frustrated and misunderstood.

After being in victim mode for a long time, I finally had enough. I started doing my own research, took a few more certifications, and realized that to become the best version of myself at 41, I needed to stop acting like I was 20. I needed to stop putting my body through the habits of a 20-year-old, which was very hard because it's all I knew.

High-intensity cardio, high-intensity interval training, and loads of high cardio dancing were my norm. Yes, I did a lot of strength training, but I did it like a man, going against my cycle and what my body needed. I was a pro at skipping recovery and putting my body through crazy intermittent fasting—not like a woman, but like a man. This was because men had inspired me to work out, eat, and live the way I did. We live in a man's world, let's be honest. We are conditioned to believe that women are mini versions of men.

Because we've been conditioned to act like mini versions of men, our bodies punish us as we enter our 40s, creating these crazy symptoms because we've been going against what is natural to us—our own natural path and cycles. Whether it's aging cycles, menstrual cycles, or seasonal cycles, we have been conditioned to go against our natural rhythms and act like men.

Let's start with one key difference: women have a 28-day cycle, while men have a 24-hour cycle. During these 28 days, we experience four phases in our menstrual cycle, meaning that we women can become four different versions of ourselves.

When we go against what is natural to us, our bodies will start to tell us enough is enough. If you're not going to listen to me, I'm going to give you symptoms. My symptoms included constant fatigue, low energy, hair loss, weight gain around my tummy, crazy periods, and hard PMS, just to name a few.

On top of that, I had just come out of a 20-year relationship and went through a divorce. I realized that those 20 years and the divorce had put me through a traumatic experience that my body was holding onto. When you keep trauma in your body, it reacts with symptoms.

It's all connected—not just our physical daily habits, but also our emotional well-being and the way we think about ourselves. We women often put everyone else's needs before our own, and this becomes very apparent when we hit our 40s and start experiencing perimenopause or menopause. Many women ask themselves, "Why have I been putting everyone else's needs first? Who am I now?" This can happen at any time after 40.

I was working as a Rapid Transformational Therapist, helping women unblock old limiting beliefs and heal from trauma in a program I called "Live Your Life of Purpose." Most of these women were in perimenopause or menopause, and it hit me that these stages of life were a significant reason for their struggles.

This realization led me to recreate my program. The method is still about body, mind, and heart alignment and connecting to our natural path, but now it also focuses on hormonal balance.

It was always about the natural path, when we were going through puberty we didn't go to the doctor, so why do we do now? Why do we treat menopause or perimenopause as a disease?

Symptoms are there to show you that something is off... let's stop putting the band-aid on our body and finally fix the core issue. Let's live life to the fullest during menopause and get back our energy!