I remember the first time I heard the word “period.” It was in the third grade that a friend asked me in the bathroom if I’d gotten “it” yet.
“Have you gotten yours?” she whispered.
“Gotten what?”
“Your period?”
“What is that?”
She giggled.
In the fourth grade, I watched an animated video of what is happening during a period. It may hurt, the nurse said. She told us to carry extra pads to school every day. She told everyone to come to her if it were ever an emergency. That’s as much as I learned: the stand-alone period. It lasts a few days, and then everything goes back to normal, seemingly.
Now, looking back at my naive understanding of it all, I can’t help but wonder how many more people out there still continue to learn and think that menstruation as an independent, self-contained occurrence that just happens. It comes and goes.
It wasn’t until years later that I realized that menstruation is not an isolated event but part of something larger: something connected to the same natural reality we see around us. Our living world is filled with forests that change colors with the seasons, animals that hibernate and return for the spring harvest, the moon phases that wax and wane and wax again; the natural world is anything but a stand-alone phenomenon. Cyclicality is also the core nature of our bodies. The human heart beats cycles lub-dub. Our circadian rhythm, the brain’s internal clock that the entire body follows, cycles between wake and sleep phases that dictate the release of hormones for hunger, sleep, and libido. Our sleep cycles, as the name suggests, cycle between rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) stages of sleep [1,2]. The same cyclicality extends to the reproductive hormone cycle. It is never just the period.
The Inner Seasons
We begin in winter, a time of hibernation. In nature, plants pull their energy down into their roots. In the body, estrogen and progesterone drop to their lowest levels, and the uterine lining sheds, otherwise called menstruation. Energy is low, but your intuition may be high. It’s a period meant for slowing down, resting, turning inward, and clearing out the old to make room for the new.
As winter thaws, tiny green shoots start to pop up from the soil. In the body, the brain signals the ovaries to mature new follicles at the start of the follicular phase. Estrogen begins to rise, rebuilding the uterine lining and boosting your energy. You experience a rebirth of energy, creativity, and motivation. It is the perfect time to start new projects, socialize, plan ahead, and try new things.
Summer is the season of abundance, warmth, and full bloom. In the cycle, estrogen peaks, leading to the release of an egg (ovulation). Testosterone also spikes, maximizing physical strength and desire. This is your most vibrant, magnetic, and expressive phase. Communication skills are sharp, confidence is high, and you are naturally more extroverted. In the reproductive sense, this is the window of peak fertility.
As fall rolls in, we begin to prepare for the colder months. The leaves change color and begin to shed. In the body, progesterone becomes the dominant hormone, designed to calm the nervous system and stabilize the uterine lining. Energy begins to turn inward. In the first half, you might feel cozy and productive. In the second half, hormone levels drop. It’s a time for nesting and setting boundaries.
Then, winter begins again. Menstruation is not an interruption or inconvenience that briefly disrupts life before everything “returns to normal.” It is part of normal. It reflects a deeper, ongoing cycle that deserves to be understood. It is never too late to learn from and honor our reproductive cycles. Take the time to notice your own patterns this month: What cycles do you notice in your daily life (physical, emotional, etc.)? In what ways does your body communicate with you through the different phases of your hormone cycle? What does “honoring my body” mean to you in practice?
References
- Koop, S., & Oster, H. (2022). Eat, sleep, repeat – endocrine regulation of behavioural circadian rhythms. The FEBS Journal, 289(21), 6543–6558. https://doi.org/10.1111/febs.16109.
- Korobili, G., Miller, K. J., & Eijk, P. J. van der. (2026). Synchronizing the Body in Ancient Medicine and Philosophy. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
- Pawlett Jackson, S. (2024). Menstrual Temporality: Cyclic Bodies in a Linear World. Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, 55(3), 237–254. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071773.2024.2347257.
