Headspace Studios.

Hey friends, it's Rosie.

Welcome back to Radio Headspace.

Let me take you into a moment I wasn't prepared for. I was standing in front

of the mirror one morning and I didn't recognize myself. Not in the wow, I'm having a bad hair

day kind of way. Not even in the, uh, I need more sleep kind of way. It was deeper. Terrifying,

actually. My face, my body, of way. It was deeper, terrifying actually.

My face, my body, my energy.

It all felt unfamiliar, almost like I was looking at a stranger.

And that's when I realized I had stepped into perimenopause.

No one had prepared me for how disorienting it could feel,

not just physically, but mentally.

I didn't know at the time that my brain literally could not process

all the hormone shifts that were happening.

What I saw in the mirror wasn't reality.

It was distortion.

But at that moment, all I felt was self-loathing.

And this in Buddhist philosophy is known as the super secret enemy, that deep hidden voice that turns inward and attacks convincing us that we're unworthy,

that we're broken, that we're somehow not enough.

It's the most dangerous kind of enemy because it lives inside us.

It doesn't just make us suffer.

It convinces us that we deserve to.

...