Go with your flow

01/02/2021 The Colour of Life.

The colour red signifies passion, love, or seduction. In some cases, it signifies anger, adventure, danger or violence. I say red, signifies life. The extremes of life and death. The best part of life in my option is to be loved, and the worst way to go would be with violence. But either way, I think it is necessary to live life with passion for something.

My passion happens to be the wonders of menstruation, and everything around this life creating function that many who have a uterus have the power to do. Create life, preserve life, inspire life, nourish and nurture life, teach life, and give everything within and around and about them to a life. 

From denying ourselves the right to acknowledge that menstruation is an experience we should talk about, we deny ourselves connection to and awareness of ourselves.

Yet somehow, this red that overflows from a vagina, a sign of the essential cycles of life has been made taboo. A thing of whispers and shame. Embarrassment is the death many menstruators face without even knowing what brought them to this, but the story is so common – it is one of silence and miseducation. 

We are taught that periods should be whispered about, hidden and out of sight, disgusting, dirty, impure, a major inconvenience (yes it can be) and overall, something that should be packed away and discarded without second thought. 

The consequence then, is that so many menstruators are finding themselves battling lifelong conditions alone.

They find out they have something sinister lingering around when it is far too late to do anything about it. They suffer in silence, not knowing that things don’t have to be as horrible as they have always been. 

They’re walking around, on edge, full to the brim with anxiety and overwhelmed every single month, with no true release and no real empathy, and no validation of what the entire experience menstruation encompasses. 

I say experience, because that is what it is. It is bloody hard work. 

With silence, miseducation and embarrassment, we don’t appreciate that a healthy steady flow should be a bright red. That dark red leaning into browns is usually old blood, which can happen in early pregnancy, or at the beginning and end of our periods. We don’t get to truly observe the shades of pink that can come mixed with cervical fluid that can signify anaemia, or an unhealthy diet. Or super clotting that could be a sign of something absolutely worth investigating.

From denying ourselves the right to acknowledge that menstruation is an experience we should talk about, we deny ourselves connection to and awareness of ourselves. It can be difficult and triggering for some, but I recommend to those who are able, have a look, perhaps have a feel, talk about it, and ask questions. That red, stays with you for almost half of your life. It is the colour of our lives – and it is worth being passionate about.

Watch this video message from Augustina Aedeola.