This is a huge one! My mom's life imploded due to her inability to handle peri and menopause. Thank goodness for the internet on this one, though it would be so much more helpful to hear from other women in person.

This one!! We need to talk about menopause, hormones, and everything involved more. So many folks look at menopause as a time when women become “broken” so it’s not discussed and makes us feel shameful. It’s not shameful!! It’s natural!! You’re normal!!

I’m very lucky that my friend group has 3 women at different stages of our lives. My one friend in her 50s is going through the hot flashes and hormonal cycles right now, she always talks about it with us. I’m in my 40s and going through the perimenopause phase; the wild hormone fluctuations with accompanying mood swings, and the sleep deprivation, the sleep one is new and I HATE it. My other friend is in her late 30s and listens to us so she knows what she’s going to experience and will be able to identify when symptoms start.

There's plenty of info given to girls as they approach puberty (we were given booklets, free sanitary products and the lilets woman came to give us a talk)

But as older women we're reliant on older sisters, aunties and friends if we're lucky (or the internet)

Its quite a hidden rite of passage compared to how it all started