How to chart your menstrual cycle
If you’ve been feeling unbalanced lately and want to figure out what’s going on, you’re in the right place. If you feel like things are all over the place and you can’t find consistency, I’m here to tell you that you absolutely can! Right now, there’s a huge amount of interest in how to live a more balanced, sustainable and intentional life, but the key to all of this comes down to what’s happening in your womb.
Your ability to live your life to the fullest, reach your goals and feel fulfilled in relationships and at work are all affected by your cycle.
Wild, right? And far from being a flaw, it’s a huge superpower, once you know how to harness it. Imagine knowing which time of the month is the best for you to give presentations and collaborate with others, or when to up your self-care to quieten that deafening voice in your head who tells you you’re not thin/beautiful/smart/whatever else enough? If you’ve ever felt like four different people each month, that’s because you are! And I’m going to show you how to make friends with all of them so you can live a life that meets you, your energy levels and needs every single day - by charting your cycle.
First, the why
Women have a bit of a reputation for being whimsical, indecisive, moody, changeable and of course, hormonal. The truth is, we are all of those things, and more. Hormones govern your menstrual cycle, and they also massively affect how we feel mentally, emotionally and spiritually, as well as having a very real affect on our physical health and capabilities from the level of your appetite and how well you digest food, to muscular strength and endurance. The levels of your hormones shift and vary as you move through your cycle, which means that all of the things they affect fluctuate too.
image courtesy of Crystal Kennings
If you look at this from an A to B point of view, it can look a bit of a mess. But if you were to repeat this picture over and over again, it forms a pattern. And it’s this pattern that will unlock the doors you living a life where you feel empowered instead of a victim, where you can become more productive, experience more ease and a whole lot less stress.
The what
Every woman’s menstrual cycle is different and unique, and so the things to track will be too. Charting your cycle works best when you have some idea of areas of your life that need work to start with. If you feel like your energy levels are consistently low or maybe completely inconsistent, you can track that. If you’re having repetitive arguments about lack of sex or intimacy in your relationship, you can track your libido. Likewise, if you feel your diet is all over the place, you might want to track your cravings or appetite levels. It really is up to you. To give you some inspiration, here’s what I track on a month by month basis
sex (how many times I have it)
libido (how much I want it)
sensuality (not necessarily sexual, but also how connected am I to my senses? Smell, taste, touch etc)
productivity
motivation
focus
sociability/need to be with others or alone
physical energy
connection to my Self
creativity
how critical I am of myself and others
I’ve added and removed things as time has gone one, once I’ve noticed a particular pattern that sticks. Your list might look very different, and the more detailed you track, the more insight you’ll have. Some people are able to identify a specific day in their cycle where they’ll feel absolutely exhausted, and so know not to put anything in their diary, or a few days where they feel full of energy, motivation and focus, and can therefore plan to tackle meaty projects at that time. the beauty of charting in this way, is that it can be absolutely individualised and much more effective.
The how
People ask me this all the time and my first answer is: track in a way that suits your personality and will make it easy for you to do! There are many apps to choose from, but in my experience they’re quite limiting in terms of what you can chart, and they don’t always take into account the nuances that can make your cycle longer or shorter than the average - check out my last post on tracking apps for more info. Some people use the ‘notes’ app in their phone and simply write their cycle day and a few words to sum up how they feel, but my personal favourite is pen and paper! With pen and paper you can customise everything to make it even more unique. You can include the lunar phases to see if that affects your cyclical experience, and you can easily change the things you’re tracking as time goes on.
Once you’ve started tracking, you might find some interesting surprises in the results, and while some might become apparent within a couple of months, others might take a while longer. The point is, that as soon as you start to bring awareness to your cycle and your experience of it, it becomes something that happens for you and not to you. You can start to bring your life and cycle into alignment go from feeling out of control to knowing exactly what to do, when.
If your interest is piqued and you want to start charting, you can watch my FREE video tutorial where I take you through the exact same tracking system I use, and comes with a printable PDF tracker that you can keep and use time and again. Simply pop your info below to sign up to my newsletter.
If you’re curious about applying menstrual cycle awareness to your life, you can schedule a free 30min call with me or check out my coaching space.