Maiden to Mother

why younger women often act like boys

Before I became a Mother, I would fast regularly, drink a LOT of coffee and override my bodies need and desire for rest, constantly.

My career was my predominant focus - I had three businesses on the go, constantly and I pushed myself consistently, quantum leaping all the way into the multimillions, with very little concern for my physical health.

Of course, I thought I was doing the right thing for my body - Keto, MCT and an egg yolk in my coffee so I could skip breakfast and fast, cold ocean swims to wake me up early in the morning, high intensity physical exercise.

You name it.

I was a woman, unconsciously in pursuit of the feminist dream, with a big daddy wound driving all of my “goals”. I wanted to succeed, earn incredible money and be known for my impact on many people.

That was until I fell pregnant.
Then, it all fell apart.

All of a sudden, my female biology screamed at me “you’re not doing this anymore”

Little did I know, I was living like a male, in a woman’s body.

Keto, ice baths - these are all recipes for disaster, for women. They take a huge toll on a womans fertility. They are designed to help support the health of male bodies - but they are detrimental to womens bodies / female biology.

Fertility rates in Australia are at an all time low.

Australia's total fertility rate (TFR) has been on a downward trajectory for decades.

In 2023, the TFR dropped to 1.50 births per woman—the lowest ever recorded and significantly below the replacement level of 2.1 .

Women are living like men.

I remember when I was younger. I mostly hung out with men and I was extremely competitive.

For younger women, this is often normal as we have higher testosterone levels, particularly in our early 20’s when we are in our Maiden years, expanding ourselves into the field of possibility and nurturing / growing our career.

Women who have not been through the journey of Matrescence (of becoming a Mother through childbirth) also usually have higher testosterone levels. Pregnancy and childbirth often result in long-term hormonal shifts, including lower circulating testosterone post birth.

This is most likely die to the hormonal changes that occur in pregnancy and postpartum, which take place to bring a woman more deeply into her maternal role as nurturer and childbearer.

It also takes a woman out of competition and into a more relational, collaborative space - something that is necessary for a woman who is needing to be more open and receptive to being supported.

Whilst I considered myself to be deeply feminine before I became a Mother, the reality is that I was living in a female body, behaving like a male.

Thankyou to my father and my fathers lineage- who always pushed me to be “successful”.

But genuinely, I am thankful - they supported me to develop a level of healthy competition and assertion in the world, something that was necessary to drive my career forwards during the time that this was a priority for me.

AND now that I am a Mother, nurturing my female blueprint and design and living very differently - I can see that the way that I was living was a recipe for deep burnout.

Unfortunately, those burnout symptoms finally caught up with me, the minute I slowed down during pregnancy and postpartum.

I put on weight and started to bear the consequences of my lifestyle, once I was able to rest and really give my body what it needed.

Three years postpartum and my life looks very different.

I eat regularly.

I don’t push myself.

I exercise three times a week (high intensity, within my bodies limits) and walk on other days.

I never fast.

I eat carbs (yes, low carbs actually disrupt our hormones by disrupting insulin and its effect on hormones. Cutting out carbs is detrimental to a womans biology and disrupt ovulation by lowering insulin and leptin too much, both of which are signals to the brain that the body is well-nourished and fertile.)

I sleep in.

I have let go of most of my big “goals” in life and I actually prefer a very simple, sustainable life where I am connected to myself, my body, my pleasure and the joys of daily routine and ritual.

Life is very different now that I am living according to my biological design.