We may not be snowflakes, but boy are we melting!

As a woman of a certain age, I'm resigning myself to certain things. For a start, girls today aren't made quite the same way now that we were 40 something years ago.

Now, don't get me wrong. That is not necessarily a bad thing in some aspects, but in others, so much is being lost.

Now, at 12 years old, young girls are contouring their makeup and dressing like grown women.

I don't know how to do that at 46! (And I am talking about both dressing and contouring there!)

They are careful about what they say because heaven forbid someone is offended by a different opinion. Honestly, my filter has all but gone and if it needs to be said, I am going to say it and I may not be diplomatic about it.

They base their self esteem on likes and the number of friends they have on snapchat, facebook, whatsapp, insta etc.

My need to hear I am fabulous to prove I am worth someone making an effort just isn't a thing.

For those of you wondering - I am bloody awesome, and guess what - I figured that out all on my own!

I may not be to everyone's taste, but I am so completely okay with that because I have learned to love who I am and thats what is important.

With age and a modicum of maturity comes a devil may care attitude, and after 20 years of growing up with the uncertainty that comes with being a young woman, I love that confidence.

Suddenly, I don't worry because what I lack in diplomacy, I make up for with honesty and integrity.

Don't get me wrong. I won't intentionally be awful, but I will be honest, and what I am discovering is that todays world struggles a little bit with that.

As I mentioned, us slightly older chicks are built slightly differently because we straddle two very different realities.

We sit in between the women who were starting to step away from the traditional mum at home, dinner on the table at six lifestyle, and the women who now work full time, have a career and bring up kids whilst studying for a qualification in a whole new walk of life!

We were the generation with the best of both in my opinion.

We had been brought up with those traditional family values but also with that desire for more than just motherhood and being a wife. We were being encouraged to find ourselves again in amongst all the responsibility that came with settling down.

The 70's and 80's really was the beginning of women being reminded that they could be anything and do anything. We just needed to work hard and apply ourselves, and that path was paved by the women who came before us and were brave enough to shout up for their rights to be recognised as more than just a homemaker.

It was an exciting time for young girls, but those young girls I grew up with, like myself, are now slightly older women with bambino's that are no longer little, lives that maybe didn't go quite the way they had initially anticipated, and we are suddenly finding ouselves trying to navigate the craziness of a world that seems to take great pride in being offended at everything without an ounce of understanding or appreciation for the fundamental diplomatic right everyone has to an opinion, educated or otherwise!

On top of that musers, and here is the real kicker, we have another huge thing thrown into the mix, and this particular thing doesn't disappear when we tell it to, or stop wingeing that it has no rights because the school took its mobile phone away. #firstworldproblems

This beast is epic - truly diabolical - the essence of pain and evil and all things monstrous.

It is the stuff of legend. The behemoth rising from the black sea. The leviathan straddling the darkness and tearing children from their slumber, ripping them limb from limb in a bloody mass of destruction and devastation.

What is this craziness I hear you ask? What could honestly be so bad that it would bring up images of such apocalyptic proportions?

One thing, and one thing only......

Menopause has entered the building and she is here for the long haul!

What a cruel mistress she is!

For those of you already putting her up in the spare room, you have my deepest sympathy.

For those for whom she is still a fair distance away, be afraid - be very afraid!

For those of you like myself who have just welcomed her with great trepidation into your home, there are no words of comfort that I can give you other than this - apparently you do come out on the other side! (insert weeping face here).

For those of you without the necessary flora and fauna to experience this wonder of human development, let me tell you, its definitely not the most fun I have ever had.

Mine began with night sweats that were so bad, there were times I would wake up and wonder if I had wet the bed! Without wanting to appear overly dramatic, I am beginning to wonder if peri-menopausal women may actually be the cause of global warming and subsequent melting of the polar ice caps.

I am not sure anymore that industry and pollution really has that much to do with it!

Alongside extreme heat, (maybe its just preparing me for the firey depths of hell), there is the brain fog. Having had two bambinos, myself and brain fog are already firm friends.

Pregnancy brain is a thing people, and it really does leave you a little 'doo lally tap!'

We have all experienced those slightly strange moments where we get up to do something and by the time we have left the room, we can't remember what it was, but imagine that as a constant, and about 100 times worse!

I can be mid-sentence and completely lose track of what I am trying to say. I struggle to remember certain words, (thank goodness for online dictionaries/thesauraus'), and even names can disappear whilst I am stood in front of the person about to say hello!

Apart from the embarassment factor, (I would be lying if I said I occasionally didn't wonder if there is a bit of early onset dementia kicking in), I work in an office with women of a certain age who are all going through the same thing so I know I am not going completely crazy!

In amongst those wonderful little gems that have invaded my body like a parasitic worm, there are around another 40 or so symptoms that the lady of a certain age may find herself faced with over the years that her body goes through this change.

It sounds awful, I know this, but if you have read me before, you know that its not all bad and when you flip it on its head, even menopause is a beautiful thing.

You see, I was more blessed than I could have ever expected being born a woman. I was lucky enough to be healthy and develop in the way that I needed towhich allowed me to carry two amazing, albeit slightly crazy kids.

My body fed, watered and protected them whilst they grew inside me over 9 months. I felt every little movement and experienced every incredible, emotional moment that brought them closer to this world, and it was my physical makeup that allowed me to be able to do it.

I got to play a starring role in the gift of life and nothing has or will ever come close to that.

I sometimes look at the girls who are growing up in todays world for whom life is so different to what it was for me, and I pity them. I know that every generation does that, but I think the world has changed so much in such a short space of time, and its not for the better.

The pressures are so much more, and unfortunately, a movement put in place to create fundamental rights for women has turned into something toxic and created a generation who are essentially a little lost and a little spoiled.

Our kids are being encouraged to be offended at every little thing that is put in front of them and rather than giving them a healthy understanding of the right to differing values, views and opinions, they are being encouraged to shut down anyone who disagrees with them.

The beauty of humanity lies in its diversity, and diversity by its very definition is those who are, who think and who feel differently.

This is something that we should be teaching our young people to embrace and emulate but instead, the world is teaching them to close off, discriminate and prevent the exchange of different ideas.

You couldn't pay me enough to be a young woman growing up in todays world.

I think our generation was the luckiest. I think that the 40 something woman is one of the most balanced because we straddled both worlds and grew up on both sides of the coin.

Yes, we are now hitting a time of life where our bodies are kicking our ass, but do you know what.... I wouldn't change any of it for the world!

We may not be snowflakes, but boy are we melting!

Until next time........