Day 2: the bloodiest of them all

5:30am and my uterus decide to wake me up with some sort of torture. I know the pain of being gutted from the inside out is all my own fault. I know I overdid it yesterday and I didn’t honour my body’s need for rest and today she is really fucking pissed off.

The first 3 days of my period I have a rule that the only exercise I’ll do is walking and gentle yoga [LivinLeggings is great for a variety]. Yesterday, however, on Day 2, the bloodiest day of them all, I went bouldering.

I’d been looking forward to seeing my girlfriends and doing something a bit different. On reflection, I could have seen them for a coffee and a walk and pushed bouldering back by a week.

But the people-pleasing side of me wanted to stick to the plan [as did the high-maintenance planner in me] so off I went, squeezing my toes into tight climbing shoes that curl your toes and hauling my full body weight up higher and higher and spiking my cortisol levels each time I shakily reached the top.

Yeah, in hindsight, it really wasn’t what my poor body needed.

I even have a self-care guide for what to do to look after myself during my period: Resting, snacks, reading, staying home with a hot water bottle – all on the list.

Climbing rocks to test my upper body strength, fearlessness and agility – not on the list.

And now my body has made it very known that we have a lot of damage control to do today. Working from home under blankets, ibuprofen at the ready, nutritious foods filled with iron and magnesium – and, of course, doing the absolute bare minimum – and she may just forgive me.