What to Do When Your Body Changes and You Don’t Recognize It

(air whooshes) (mouse clicks) (uplifting music) Headspace Studio. (uplifting music continues) (calming music) Welcome to Radio Headspace and to Tuesday. So yesterday, we talked about the fear of aging, but today, I wanna talk about one of the things that can make that fear feel very real. The moment when you realize your body is changing in ways you didn't expect. For me, that moment came when I started perimenopause. I didn't see it coming. I mean, I knew it existed. I just didn't think it would be something I'd be dealing with yet. And then seemingly overnight, my body felt different. The workouts I'd always done didn't feel the same. My energy wasn't the same. My sleep? Forget it. I was waking up at random hours, like I had an internal alarm clock I never set. And then one day, I caught my reflection in a studio mirror after teaching a class, and I just didn't recognize myself. It wasn't bad, it wasn't dramatic. I just didn't look like me. My body was changing. And for a second, I panicked. I've spent so much of my life in my body, training it, pushing it, caring for it. But this? This was new and it hit me all at once. I do not have control over this, and that feeling, that's what scared me the most. Our bodies are always changing. That's what they're designed to do. The struggle comes when we expect them to stay the same. But instead of resisting change, what if we learned to listen to what our bodies are telling us? So last spring, I started shifting my mindset around this after talking to a friend who's a physical therapist. I was venting about feeling stiff and how I used to be able to move so easily. And he said, "Yeah, but are you caring for your body in the way it needs now? Or are you still treating it like your 20-year-old self?" Ugh, because he was right. I was so busy being frustrated about the changes that I wasn't adjusting to what my body actually needed in this season of its life. I was so stuck on, "But this used to work." Those extra miles, that second high intensity workout class, eating nutritious meals, but none of that was working. And if I'm being honest, it felt really unfair. I had spent years learning how to take care of myself, and suddenly it was like the rules had changed without warning. I remember one morning after yet another restless night, I dragged myself outta bed, determined to push through. I laced up my running shoes, went out for a run, and within 10 minutes, my legs felt like lead. My heart was racing, but not in the way it used to. I wasn't feeling energized or accomplished. I felt depleted, frustrated, and on the verge of tears. And that moment was a wake-up call. I couldn't keep doing this to myself. I found myself...