Welcome back to the very first episode of Menopause Love Lounge—the conversation that started it all.

As we prepare Season 3, we're revisiting some of our favorite episodes for those who may have joined us later. And honestly...this conversation is just as relevant today as it was when we first recorded it.

We're talking about body image, aging, beauty standards, self-worth, cosmetic procedures, identity, and the pressure women feel to look a certain way as we move through menopause and midlife.

If you've ever looked in the mirror and wondered where the woman you used to be went...this episode is for you.

In this episode:

• Why so many women struggle with body image during menopause
• The emotional impact of aging and changing identity
• Botox, fillers and cosmetic procedures: empowerment or pressure?
• Our honest Hot Flash Confessions
• Learning to redefine beauty on your own terms
• Why self-acceptance is one of the hardest parts of midlife

🕰️ TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Welcome to Menopause Love Lounge

02:55 Aging, identity & changing body image

10:25 The pressure to look young

12:00 Childhood messages that shaped how we see ourselves

16:30 Botox, fillers & self-acceptance

20:20 Celebrity culture and menopause beauty standards

24:00 Hot Flash Confessions begin

33:30 Wanting a baby in your 40s

35:20 Final thoughts

Stay connected with the Menopause Love Lounge:

▶ YouTube: @MenopauseLoveLounge

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🌐 Website: www.menopauselovelounge.com

✉️ Email: [email protected]

Mentioned in this episode:

From Mrs to Ms Dating & Relationship Podcast

Embracing this journey to joy it's all part of the system.

Apologically for moose part there's nothing to hide.

Twins.

But we keep it ro sharing ups and downs and grab a seat with us, less loud Together we'll conquer what's on our mind.

Feels we feel.

You guys to the Menopause Love Lounge, where we are going to keep it real, raw, and unapologetic about being a woman in midlife. We are redefining intimacy, identity, and relationships. One juicy, unfiltered conversation at a time. You guys, welcome. Welcome to the menopause love lounge. Hi, everybody. Hi, ladies.

Yeah.

Love it. So I I gotta tell you guys how this all came about to start. How we have these fabulous women all here with us. So I have had the pleasure of having all of you on my show at some point or another. We've had incredible conversations, and I woke in the middle of the night one night thinking, wow, I have all of these fabulous connections. Why are we not bringing it together as a whole, as one podcast together? So I woke up, I messaged you guys like doo doo doo doo doo.

And you all said yes. I mean, what a pleasure that was. How crazy that's so that is fabulous. That's how this came about. We have been preparing and planning for this first show for you guys because we have a jam-packed episode. We want to talk about menopause in all its entirety. We're all struggling with body issues. We're struggling with intimacy. We are struggling with our minds, losing them, right? Losing

Easy.

Our memories, everything. And we thought we thought, why not bring it here? Why not bring it here? I can't remember why we're even here at this point, can we? So we are gonna go through. We're gonna have a great time, you guys, today. We have a really jam-packed episode. We're gonna talk about aging identity. We're gonna talk about how we honestly just cannot stand our bodies at some point, right? Sometimes we don't even recognize ourselves when we walk past a mirror. I've done that. I'm like, who is that?

Ha ha ha.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Who is and then you gotta stick around, you guys. We're gonna give you some hot flash confessions, which we are super excited about. You're gonna hear some little tidbits from each of us that you may or may not want to hear. That's up to you, but we're telling it. Okay, here we go. Let's dive in. Let's dive in. We're gonna start out, you guys. We're gonna start out with aging identity.

So, Dawn, talk to us. How do you feel about your body image? How do you feel?

Well I have hemorrhoids and massive boobies.

And and I was definitely not like mentally or emotionally prepared for what aging was gonna do to my identity or self esteem. I spent years restricting food intake to achieve some sort of you know

Yeah.

confidence, body confidence, but in the last couple of years I've done some work that's allowed me to eat all the food and enjoy it. I weigh a little more. I am owning for the first time in my life that I have an hourglass figure at 45. And so I've been doing weightlifting to give me an ass, because I've never had one before, read restricting, right?

Yeah.

Ha ha ha.

And so I'm like in this process of learning how to like wear red, have an hourglass figure, call attention to myself and l love it all. but you know, some days go better than others. Yeah.

No.

I so relate to that. I so I'm gonna hop right in and just and just say, my God, like like you wanting an ass and all I've had is an ass my whole life. and not and and not fitting into what the culture says is beautiful. I mean, I look at pictures of like when I was twelve years old and thought, my god, my thighs are too big. I've never had the classic, she's fit, she's thin.

So I've never been considered the beautiful person, even though I've exercised and I've been pretty conscious most of my life, but I was always the, she has extra weight on and she's not fit, always jiggly and soft. But what's great, I mean, I'm 61, and what's great is as the years go on, I have gotten to be so much more loving to myself and more comfortable in my body and loving all the softness and all the all the the

extra padding so to speak because I know I'm health I'm healthy, I'm f I'm fit and and I know that on the inside and I've really been breaking through those beliefs of something's wrong with me versus there's absolutely nothing wrong with me and I'm really grateful for that mindset.

But Juni, do people tell you you don't look your age a lot? Like quite often do people compliment?

So thank you, thank you. And there I think that's a double edged sword, actually. And I because I think when pe and I and I I think we need to be mindful, this is my opinion about when we go, my God, you look so good for your age. Like I think that buys into if I'm aging or I have extra wrinkles, does that mean I'm not looking good for my age? I think we need to be mindful of our

compliments or lack thereof. But yes, people say because of my energy and because I do have great skin and I do take care of myself, people do say I look younger. I don't know. All I know is I love myself and it's nice to have the compliments. But I do think when someone goes, my God, you look so great for your age, there's a there's an underlying Yeah, but you you know, aging is not okay. Right. I'm mindful of that. Yeah.

Yeah.

Maybe th if they left off the extra line. Right, like you

It also speaks to the expectation.

You great, you look amazing. Right, right, right, right. You look amazing. Right, exactly. I'll take that. And yeah.

No, I I was just gonna say it speaks to the expectation. Like like there is an expectation that people should look a certain way at whatever, sixty-one, fifty-five, you know. Right.

But look at us now.

And they were living up to expectations, you know.

Yeah, and for anybody watching us right now, I mean we are, just so y'all know, the age range of forty five to don't get me wrong here, Jeannie.

Sixty one.

I didn't want to undersell that because you do look fabulous. And I'm going to say for your age as well. For your age. For your age or not, you absolutely do. So I'll jump in and say that I've also struggled with body. You're welcome, sweetie. I've struggled with body image my entire life as well. I was very skinny growing up, very tall and lanky. I had nicknames. My maiden name was Trotter. They called me Horse Trotter, like I was this.

Yeah.

You know, all the time, which was very frustrating. I had I had kids at very early age. And so once that happened, that completely changed my body and it was very hard for me because I didn't look like all the other girls my age then. So now I had boobs, now I had hips. I'm also half Jamaican. My mom is a hundred percent Jamaican, so I've got junk in the trunk. I've got enough for all of you who are needing a little extra. So I don't really

No thank you. No more. Give it to someone else.

And that's

And it always led me to like hate my ass then because I always wanted like the smooth flat ass. You know, we always want what we don't have. We have straight hair, we want curly hair, right? So I'd see somebody with this little tiny flat ass at the beach, and I'm like, why can't mine be like that? And so it's really just self-discovery and finding what works. And I found, you know, I date a lot, which means I've had a lot of sex. I'm not gonna lie. And guys love my ass. So I don't know why I hate it so much.

Yeah, just do. Okay, what about you? Yes.

Well, you you guys actually don't know this about me, but I was trained as a dancer and I dance. I studied dance all through college. And you know, I think I think one of the things about that, I think when you're a dancer or an athlete even, you know, you you you develop a certain body awareness and a certain comfort in your body. which which I would say is has been the case for me. I've I've you know, I've always been active, I've always been fit and

And then of course later on I was certified as a health coach. So in some ways, I feel like I have cracked the code on my body. I know how to eat and move and and you know live so that I look and feel good in my body. Now, granted, it's not the body of my twenties or thirties or even forties. But now at 56, I'm I'm I'm generally pretty happy with the way that I look and feel in my body.

Now that was I'm talking about neck down. Let's talk about neck up because I have not cracked the code on that. And that is really my area of struggle because, you know, I see all the stuff, the lines, the the sagging, the loss of volume. And you know, as entrepreneurs, like you guys know, we we are always looking at ourselves.

We're always looking at ourself on Zoom, you know, on social media, in videos. And so I continue to coach myself on comparisonitis, as I call it, because that's very real. And I think it's it's intensified since I started doing this work and since I started, you know, being sort of in the public eye and on video. So that's that's kind of my area of struggle. More than my body, it's it's

My face, my skin, my you know, neck up.

I so relate to that. So relate to that. Yeah. So

Dancer, did you ever experience like pressure to stay a particular size or shape? Do you really t

To that at

You know what, I know, but I definitely remember like as I can remember this so clearly. My father made a comment to me, like as I was dancing, I was becoming very muscular. You know, you're it's it's you need a lot of strength. And I remember my father saying, like, but you don't want that.

Strong.

Like I think I think he had an idea about like the perfect feminine body being very lean and and you know not very muscular. and that was, you know, maybe one of my earliest moments of feeling like an external pressure about my body.

If it made you question it then, do I want that? Is that what I really is that what I really want? Or do I yeah.

Yeah, and like boy it's okay for boys to be muscular, but girls shouldn't. You know, it was interesting. And that was of course back in, you know, the eighties.

Want to hop in here for a second because you bring me back a memory of when my dad was literally on his deathbed. I was 14, and he said to me, Don't gain weight because men won't like you. And so at such a young age, I got that message of if I have extra weight on me, that I won't be.

desired, I won't be wanted, I'm not beautiful. And he didn't mean it from a mean spirited way. He was trying to protect me. But that's what's here is if I don't look a certain way, then something's wrong with me. And that's what we're bumping up against.

Yeah.

I'm usually the biggest hi hippie in the room, but I like my Botox and filler. Am I the am I alone? Am I alone?

And I

Used to love Botox and Filler. I truly, truly did. And then I think the more I started questioning, or like we were having conversations about certain crises going on in the world, or where we were spending our time, energy, or effort. And the more I explore the law of attraction, what it means to be high vibe, is really h self-accepting and love, love-oriented, heart-centered. And then I really was

struggling with is the Botox in the filler for me. Is it in alignment with self-acceptance? Or is it me arguing with reality and trying to bridge some gap that is unnatural? And and then I just couldn't do it anymore. Also it's a neurotoxin and I spend so much money trying to keep my body detox.

I was I was actually just gonna chime in about that because I also I also used to I also used to to do Botox and and fillers and and also struggled with same thing Don, you know, just as a is am I going against my values of loving myself fully and completely or what am I trying to change? What am I trying right what is the what am I trying to achieve? And I also came to I is a neurotoxin and for me I have a lot of inflammation in my body. So I have you know, as

you know, as I get older and as as I age and get wiser, I I've learn lot more about my body. I learn more about my my health. And I I realize that actually it is gonna it does disrupt my my body's way of of just really being optimal or or or healthy. and so I personally chose, but I have nothing against I think I think you know, if this is something you don't struggle with and this is something that that does make you smile. And I remember loving it. I loved how it looked

I I also remember when I was younger not liking my my lips, right? Speaking of neck up, right? Like for me was it was my thank you, thank you. I can't tell you how many times the universe stepped in and said, Stop filling your lips 'cause I I would get injections and I would go through the pain and and covering up all the bruises and everything just to get the lips that in my mind I thought were beautiful or accepted.

Your lips, Aussie.

And then I realized, by the way, my body would absorb all of it and it would last maybe two weeks and I would spend so much money on lips. And then I would go back and do it again and do it again. Then I re finally came to, you know what? As again, as I turned 50, I came to really realizing what this work is, which is awakening to myself and my body and my awareness. Because I think as, you know, Karen and and Juni so beautifully mentioned that, you know.

we get imprinted with other people's perception of what beauty is at a very young age. And so for me also I I heard a lot of noise around me and then obviously we're impressionable, right? So we go to s we go to school and and our peers start to talk and we start to see what boys are attracted to and we whether it's in magazines or even just in our peer group. And I always was aware that I was not the the typical beauty when I was younger.

And so I would hide parts of myself. And I noticed that I was still doing it, even up to fifty, that I there's still parts of me that I I haven't quite accepted. And so I also recognize that the universe puts me in many different up and down type of situations with my body where I'm heavier or lighter. and no matter what, one thing I do know for sure, every time I look back, maybe a year or two years, I always say, I wish I was that again.

Yeah,

Yeah. So true.

could just be here now, right? And accept. And then when you think about the drug companies that are lining their jets with I don't know, wallpaper made of hundred dollar bills based on our insecurities and comparisonitis. Like is I'd rather line my own walls with hundred dollar bills than line your jet with hundred dollar bills on my self loathing. Like what? I don't know.

I love it. Lori, do you want to touch a little bit on your body image issue?

We wanna hear it.

Just wanna say I have this gauge of toxicity and joy. And I think there's a lot of worlds. And we are all in that interplay between toxicity and enjoyment. And I will still say, I mean, you guys could convert me. I was staunchly against Botox and filler for years. I was I was an absolutely no to it all. Again, usually the biggest hippie in the room. But the thrill I got was so joyful. And then then all the time

the I did the veins on my thighs, y'all, and I'm telling you, no one sees my thighs. Nobody but me. Not even my husband sees my thighs. I wanna see nobody sees my thighs but me and it made me so happy to make those veins go away. Amazing. I wouldn't I just would never rob myself of such a cheap grill. Similarly, I have quit sugar in my past because I was addicted and my primary relationship with was was with food and sugar.

Your size.

And I don't think that's healthy. I don't believe in that, but I do believe in moderation of things that bring you great joy. Yeah, exactly. If you don't have an addiction that you're dealing with, I think moderation is beautiful. I wanna say to you, Andrea, are you sure it's not internalized racism that is making you not like because we're all just talking about

Yeah.

Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Well

I didn't think of that.

Sounds like it to me, but I'll j I'll just leave that out there. and you can respond.

I'm gonna have to ponder that one a little bit, Lori.

Yeah.

Yeah.

A small ass is a white thing. I it's just not it's not true. Like a small ass is a no and it's certainly not what most men like, as you have read. Right. A big ass means fertile, can produce babies, something to hang on to, curves are what difference from it from a land. So I just first of all I just hate any of you, any of us hating any part of our bodies, but

Thanks.

Yes.

That's since you mentioned your Jamaican heritage, it just it it sounds worth worth thinking about. But for myself, yeah. For myself, I have been very unhappy with my body over the years, but I am at the most happy and satisfied and the most accepting of what it takes to look and feel the way I want to feel.

Absolutely.

I am willing to dedicate so much time, energy, and money to look and feel the way I want to feel. And it it takes some things. You know, it really takes some things. But I I'm not offended anymore. I'm not offended that I can't eat whatever the heck I want. I'm not offended that I can't eat things I'm allergic to. I'm not offended that I have to pay money to have someone check my face. I'm not offended that good lighting makes a difference. I'm I'm just not offended anymore. I just believe it's

Yeah.

all choices, right? And it's up to me to decide what I wanna need a joy balance. Yes. And everything I've been absolutely my health and well being has coincidence. I think not.

Just

Equal beauty.

Yeah.

That I think is like an under an underrated statement right there, right? That everything we do to promote our own self-acceptance and joy, it automatically translates to beauty. Yeah. The more relaxed it, the more relaxed it gets, right? The more beautiful it looks. And that's yeah, that's about wellness.

Relax my face.

Yeah.

Also also how we feel on the inside, right, determines how we look on the outside. And so it it it does bring that joy and that that happiness or or whatever feeling you're feeling will show on the outside.

Yeah. Yeah. I just want to move on a little bit and shift gears, right? We want to get to our cultural watch segment and then we're going to touch base a little bit more on this on our Hot Flash Confession so we can come back to a little bit of the body image. I think a lot of that has to do with that. But we have talked about all these experiences with our own body image, but we want to take a look at what's happening out in the celebrity world and the pop culture world. What are the big names doing today and are they embracing those changes?

Are they helping the conversation? I'm not sure. Everybody is trying to either look older or they're trying to still look 25. I don't know where we fit into all of that. So let's talk a couple stats because we're gonna kind of dive in and see what the world out there is doing celebrity-wise, Karen. What do you have for us with that?

Yeah, so so I looked into a couple things, some of which were what you would expect to hear, and some of which surprised me. So I'm curious to hear what you guys think about it. First of all, ninety one percent of women are dissatisfied with the way that they look. Calling themselves ninety one percent. That

Yeah.

Waste of energy, man.

And the biggest complaints that they cite are all of the changes that are a natural part of the menopause transition. So, you know, wrinkles, sagging skin. I myself just talked about that. weight redistribution, you know, weight redistributes around the middle of the body. So belly fat, those are like the top concerns. And a lot of women are saying that, and and it sounds a lot like what we're saying, that sometimes when they look in the mirror.

There is a disconnect between how they feel on the inside and what they're seeing on the outside. And that's what creates so much body dissatisfaction. And plastic surgeons have actually coined this term menopause makeover. Because so many women in this stage are looking for cosmetic procedures so that they can sort of, you know, reverse the visible signs of aging.

So think, you know, tummy tucks, liposuction, facelifts, facial fillers, you know, all all of those procedures go way up when women hit the menopause transition. And specifically, and I thought this was interesting, specifically plastic surgeons claim that women are looking to do these procedures after they've experienced a big life change, like a divorce or an emptiness.

Rebranding.

Exactly. They're they're

Starting over. Starting over. Yeah.

Their identity. But here's where things get really interesting. And I want to hear what you guys think about this. But but here's where it gets really interesting, because I also looked into economics and Dawn, you touched on this a little while ago. So get this women 50 to 70 represent the largest, most economically influential segment of the female population. So we are driving

Mm-hmm.

Nearly thirty percent of all consumer spending in this country. Think about like I found that really shocking. Thirty percent. That's huge.

Yeah, but they're y you're they're weaponizing our own self loathing, right, to c yeah, capitalize. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean I mean if you think about it, we're shaping the culture.

I love that. Speaking of hot, we've got some hot flash confessions, do we not, ladies?

We have some stuff that we are ready to share. All right. So we're

So

I love it. So we're just going to give you a a little deep dive into each of us and something maybe that was a little taboo for us, something that we want to share with just the world and the world. All of you. And we are so excited to give you a little insight into each of us. So, Lori, why don't you get us started? Tell us one of your hottest flash confessions.

So I have been in the public eye for over twenty years. And it is only, you know, doing coaching, love and dating coaching and all kinds of coaching and appearing on TV and and in live events and all this. And it is only as of two weeks ago that I started recording anything without makeup and without sucking my tummy in and without wearing a girdle and being styled and doing my hair with two weeks ago.

And let me say, I feel liberated. I'm enjoying it. Weirdly, social media likes it.

Ha.

Yeah.

That's the thing. Yes, yes, is it's relatable.

If someone says I look great, I always credit the Botox, the filler, the lighting, the makeup coaching I've received, the genetics, the water that I drink tons of all day, the sleep that I prioritize, the exercise, the meditation, the homeopathy, the supplements, the the healthy food. It is so not simple to look and feel great. Yeah. And it's a privilege to be able to focus on those things. So privilege.

Yep.

Yeah, because it's not just genetics. Genetics love the genetics, but that it's just a much bigger picture.

So far, yes. Thank you for confessing, Lori. Karen, what do you got for us? You got one?

So this is not what I thought I was gonna going to confess, but not too long ago. It's it's just so damn funny. We all leave. I was online and I see this woman. Now one of my main complaints is my lower face. Like I feel like I'm getting gels. I'm always criticizing my own face, my chin. So I see this woman online and she's got this thing, it's like a sling. It it like holds you up, you velcro it at the top, you you go to bed with this thing that like literally so I buy it.

Yeah we

And and I put it on one night. Now you have to picture this. The sling around my face, the frownies on my forehead, sleep mask, and the mouth tape. Holy fuck. It's you wanna You wanna talk about a libido killer? Who could be sexy in this

Frownies.

It's not natural.

It's talk about it.

So that was the moment I was just like, you know what? I'm gonna take it too far. I'm gonna take my chin and my face and my gels and whatever, just the way it is, because as vain as I am, I am not going to bed looking like that every night.

Lapido.

Right.

Yeah. I'm gonna piggy p I'm gonna I'm gonna piggyback on that 'cause it's something similar. My neck, no doubt. You know, I I've been working with women for over thirty years, empowering them to love themselves, to accept themselves. So this is

kind of like ouched to even share this, but this is this is what we're doing. Confession. I will find myself walking by the mirror and I will see exactly that, Karen. It's like like like you guys I'll I'll do it. I'll do it for you guys who are watching. Like it's like this is luring and this is like, you know, and then I have this like friggin' turkey thing and you know, thanks grandpa and mom, you know. And it and so similarly to you Karen, my God, I just I bought something a couple of weeks ago and it was like this tape. And you take the tape and you pull it back

And it was like, look, look at this, look how beautiful that is, right? So I take this tape, but then it was choking me. And I was just like, I'm like, I can't function like this. It like feels like something's around my neck. And and so there's this part of me when I when I catch myself, there is this part of me that feels really heavy in my my heart because I'm like, man, I'm I'm judging myself and feeling old and and not liking how I look and what can I do about it?

Okay, okay.

But thankfully I catch those thoughts because it's just a thought that's been in you know, I've taken on that this is wrong or this is bad. And and I'm just like, okay, just take a breath and I just look at myself and I I look at all the things I love about myself and I feel my skin and I'm so grateful to be alive because I've lost so many friends. And so it's like it's like, yes, I catch myself, and then I give such deep love and compassion to myself and remember I'm beautiful, even even if my body is changing.

How grateful can I be that I am beautiful and I have some sagging, you know?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys remember, I don't know if any of you saw the Big Fat Greek Wedding, the second one, and when the women all went to take a picture, they kind of put their arms around each other and they snatched each other's neck. So you can go behind and ask they were like one, two, three, you know, and they all kind of pulled each other.

my god.

That's hysterical.

We make a deal. We're making a deal. If we ever take a picture, the six of us, I want you guys snatching my neck, okay? We snatch each other's neck.

I got you.

Yes. So I'll jump on that bandwagon. Speaking of snatch, you know, sometimes you know, as I'm getting older, I'm a little more nervous about my snatch being a little out of character, right? Yes. It's I mean it's

I love your statement too.

Interesting.

Do you eat

See it?

you know, I have made a habit of trying to look at it and kind of understand it. There's so many layers and flaps and everything going on. And and I I really implore everyone to take a look at it some point, even if you don't want to, but everyone should see what it looks like down there. It's honestly fascinating to me that men find it so beautiful, right? They love it. They're like, it's so beautiful, and you're like, wait, I'm up here.

They really do.

Yeah. Yeah, look up here. Look up here. What are you looking at? But beyond that, I also have an issue again with my ass. We've talked about this. I walk out of a room backwards, you guys. I could probably count on one hand how many men have actually seen my ass. And so I think for me it's just again that

That feeling of like, it's so big and it's got cellulite or dense or whatever it might be. And I kind of walk myself out backwards all slowly or immediately turn the lights out. And so for me, I just feel like lately I've been really trying to embrace it. I've been like, you know, if I'm with somebody, I stand there brushing my teeth and I push my booty out and be like, okay, I'm just letting them see it. Here it is. Yeah. And so that's been the hardest thing for me is as it's getting older.

all of the stuff down there in that little southern region. So neck of the woods. Yep. Yeah. A little scary.

Your southern region. Wow. Okay. So for me, for for me, it's in pictures. So just full disclosure, my hot flesh confessional is is every time I see myself in pictures, I'm I literally pause and just kind of go, Ooh, I hope nobody sees it. For example, I just did I facilitated a workshop this this past Sunday and I the pictures came in and I was like, No, I like I was doing a a process with everyone and I'm literally all I'm focusing on is not

the joy and the magic that was created. But the my arms and my stomach and my thighs and I'm and I in and I anyway, I I realized that I I I take so much energy away from from your power and my power and everything else that I bring that everyone else brings. And I just focus on that because there is an imprint from so long ago that

I have to look a certain way. And no one else notices it. No one else. But I also hear girlfriends talking about it. You know, I've a I have a I have a friend that also is very hyper aware of photos and how she looks in it and and asks Do you think I look do I really look this fat in person? And I'm like, I asked the same question. Do I is this really how I look to people? And so I've got some work to do and on on I just wanna add really quickly on on the weird things that we buy.

I did buy a vibrating plate.

Plate.

For the stimulation and drainage, yes.

I got one too, yeah.

But I also have the other vibrator. but but that but I bought it because yes, for for the inflammation, but all also because I saw a video of these two women on the vi sitting on the vibrator drinking wine and spilling everywhere as it's vibrating. And I thought, my god, that'd be so fun to do with a friend. So anyway amongst a thousand other contraptions that I have in my home and my kids are like, Mom, why did you buy that? Like you you use it for two minutes and then you don't

I'd love it.

use it anymore. So anyway, so it's it's here. If you ladies want to come over and vibrate

Don, why don't you wind this up for us and give us your your last hot flash confession, please?

Okay.

I'm gonna confess, but before that, I recently heard the saying that I cannot get enough of that you're only a nice person if that includes yourself. Otherwise

who?

so snap. Snap, snap, snap, snap, snap.

speaker-2 (33:47.598)

Thank you.

People pleasing.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. That's amazing. So there's

that. Confession-wise, so I started to get on this thing about a year ago that I want to have another baby in my 40s. And sort of freaked my husband out for a while. He's come around, right? And so I've had to deal with, you know, processing pregnancy losses and fears about what they call pregnancy at this age being geriatric. But I also noticed that one of the biggest reasons I would not do it is because of how I would look.

amongst my peers, right? For being an older mom, for what it's gonna do to my body and not fitting in anymore. And I started to just think like, wow, that I would, you know, keep something so magical from my family when we've all talked about like how wonderful it would be because I'm healthy enough now to actually try again. because of how what people might think or how it would look. And so like very quickly I was like, screw that, right? We're gonna, we're gonna go for it and see what happens.

Mm.

We're gonna be aunties. Yes. We're gonna be anties. I love this. my gosh. I love all of these hot flash confessions. They are all so good. And thank you, ladies, for being so vulnerable and sharing them. I know that's not always easy. So that is it for today's episode of Menopause Love Lounge. We have kept it honest. We've shared our hot flash confessions. We've talked openly about the ups and downs of our body image.

Okay.

Yeah. Amazing.

And our hope is that everyone feels a little more seen and a little less alone, right? That's why we're doing this. So we'd love to hear from you guys out there if something we said today resonated with you. We said a lot of good stuff. So I hope it did. Or if you have your own story to share with us, your own hot flesh confession. Yes, you guys can email us at theladies at menopauselovelounge.com or you can connect with us on Instagram at Menopause Love Lounge.com

We wanna hear.

This space, you guys, this space is ours to share and your place in it. We are locked in. So thank you for everyone for lounging with us today. Your seat is saved and we'll see you guys next week. Bye.

Cheers.