Say It Ten Times: My period, my period, my period, my period…

Say it until it’s comfortable. Because we’re going to be talking about it a lot. And we should! 

We should because our menstrual cycles are literally the key to life, but also the source of great pain, frustration and shame. We should because talking about it makes it less taboo, and making it less taboo makes problems more easy to solve. We should talk about our menstrual cycles because they’re ours and the better we understand them, the easier it is for us to achieve peace and balance in our bodies and our lives.

I’m Afia Odi, and I’ll be writing about sexual and reproductive wellness here at Rif Care. As a therapist and sex educator, my goal is always to help people feel more connected to and empowered by their bodies and the ways they function.

As the in house sexual wellness expert I will help navigate difficult topics as we explore all the wonderful functions of our cycles, like fertility, sex, relationships, wellness and women's health. We’ll also talk about the factors that may make your menstrual cycle more difficult or complicated, and the new, holistic treatments being developed to address them. 

We’ll talk about what it means to have a “regular” cycle when only 10 to 15% of us actually have 28-day cycles. We’ll explore topics like amenorrhea—the absence of a period—and how much blood others typically lose each cycle, what hormones play a part and when, and even how your cycle can affect your voice and your smell.

And we’ll talk about period poverty here and abroad. Because our amazing menstrual cycles should not be a source of shame. Let’s talk about it.

- With Love, Afia