Try an Experiment by Kitty Bucholtz
August 9, 2026 by Kitty Bucholtz in category It's Worth It by Kitty Bucholtz, Writing tagged as It's Worth It, Kitty Bucholtz, life choices, menopause, Perimenopause, writing
I was listening to a podcast recently about confidence and the guest said she tries to look at everything in life as an experiment. Can she do it? Let’s give it a try. Did she fail? She found that it didn’t work that way. Did she succeed? She found that this worked. Listening to her, you could tell this was clearly a personality thing for her.
But it reminded me of choices that I’d forgotten. Between the stresses of nearly six decades on Earth and the personal hell perimenopause/menopause have made of my life the last several years, I’ve found myself with a mostly negative and scared attitude about life. This from someone who was called Pollyanna since I was a kid! Huge change. And it seemed like there was nothing at all I could do to stop this downward spiral. (Thanks, hormones.)
I’ve been waiting for the extra hormones I’m taking to even out my thinking and feelings and it seems to finally be working. (Aside from the worldwide estrogen shortage going on!)So when I heard this super cheerful woman talking about how everything is an experiment, I thought, I could try that. At least try it, that would be my first experiment.
It’s only been a week or two, but I think it’s helping me to feel calmer and less stressed overall. And it reminds me of another experiment I started doing a month or two ago that is helping me stay calmer even more — keeping my feelings in the now. Partially because of the hormone changes (and I can’t tell if it’s 50% or 90% or 100%), I’ve been suffering from a lot of anxiety and a fair amount of depression the last few years. But I’ve been remembering to try to bring my thoughts and feelings back to Now and ask myself how I feel right in this moment.
Not thinking about what’s “probably” going to happen in ten minutes or tomorrow or the scary thing I don’t know how to deal with that’s on my calendar for next Tuesday. Just right this second. And if right this second I’m happy because I’m eating a delicious meal my husband made or I woke up to realize I’d slept well or I have time to read five minutes of my favorite new book…then I savor that one moment of being happy and try to keep my thoughts from running into the future fears.
I mention these things because they have helped me as a person trying to survive and thrive in the world, but also as a creative writer who needs to figure out how to continue to be creative when my brain is struggling through the menopause process. For me, it’s working. And I hope the ideas help you too. Anything we can do to help each other live a more joyful, peaceful life — it’s worth it!
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