Domestic Fashionista: Understanding My Hormones | Free Hormone Calendar Printable

After having my third child and I started hitting my late 30's, I noticed that my moods would swing in a blink. I found it challenging to be patient and to control my emotions so I decided to make some effort to understand and acknowledge my hormones and moods. I did some research, talked with friends, and read a book that all helped me to better understand my hormones at this stage of life.

My conclusion was that I had only about one really good week a month that my hormones weren't working against me! That is not very much time! It gave me the freedom to have a lot of grace for my ever changing moods. But I also learned how to manage them better so that I wasn't always losing my mind.

First, I read the book Becoming Myself where it touched on a hormone calendar and being aware of my cycle. It also was a bit of a life therapy session where I was able to reflect on some things that have happened throughout my life that would lead to my strongest insecurities and emotional challenges. Confronting and talking about these things lifted some issues off my chest that I didn't even realize were getting to me.

I also looked into essential oils and how they can help with hormones. I have found diffusing ylang ylang while I sleep has helped significantly. I use a few drops along with lavender and cedarwood (to help with sleep) and I can confidently say I can tell the difference when I add this in to my nightly routine. I usually use Young Living essential oils but have also found this brand of ylang ylang on Amazon to be effective as well.

From there I did some more research and began to better understand my cycle.

I also discovered the Stardust app which I found more educational on what is happening during each part of my cycle. Many of the period and ovulation trackers I found were geared towards getting pregnant. So it was nice to find this new app that I could use past our baby chapter.

Fast forward a few years (now forty and I have four kids) and I am here again - a year and a half postpartum and six months post breastfeeding and my hormones are still all over the place. I needed to take the time to look at my cycle and let it be a reminder to be kind with myself. My hormones are still regulating and I need to be patient.

A side note - my body is still producing milk. Not much but I can still squeeze some out even though we are six months out from weaning. I remember this happening with my other kids but I would then eventually get pregnant and it would be a thing of the past. But now that we are done having kids, I was surprised to find that I still have milk. I did a little bit of online research and came to the conclusion that the longer you breastfeed (for me it was 4+ years) the longer your body continues to make milk. It might takes years for it to eventually dry up which I thought was crazy! But at least finding out this information was helpful in understanding this whole hormone challenge.

So I went ahead and made a calendar that I could use as a guide to how my hormones might be affecting my mood. I find that it is pretty accurate but that life also is not predictable. Lack of sleep, stress, and unexpected life events also all affect my mood. But by having a visual guide to help remind me where I am at has really helped me to stop trying to do it all everyday.

While I don't love that I have to deal with this every month, it has also helped me to better slow down. To just sit on the floor with my kids. To be okay with indulging in a treat. To choose rest over productivity when it is so ingrained in me and our culture to never stop going.

I have learned so much through this ongoing process and hope that this can help other women approach their hormones in a more gentle yet confident way.

Here is a free printable of my hormone calendar. I used a couple of sources to fill in helpful information. I just wanted to know where my mood was at and energy levels.

I left the days of the week blank so that you can fill in what day of the week your cycle starts. To download, click on the image and save to either access on your phone or to print.