Your Christmas Menopause Survival Kit (You Only Need 3 Tools)

Christmas and menopause together can feel like a cocktail of determination, exhaustion, and existential crisis. Let’s be honest… suddenly your energy, patience, artistry — not to mention armpit management — have all gone AWOL. It’s a miracle you even know what day it is… or do you? (Share your secret!)

If you’re nodding along, sister, I hear you. And with goodwill to all in low supply, survival mode is fully on.

Enter PMA — Positive Menopause Attitude: Your grounding menopausal superpower sprinkled with a little monkey magic to help you survive Christmas your way (more of that below).

In strong moments, it’s your calm, curious, “I see you, chaos” stance.

In weaker moments, it’s an irritated karate-swipe at life, signalling a Matrix-style “bring it on”.

Either way, it’s your best friend for surviving Christmas, and these three tools are how us woman can wield it with sanity AND sparkle.

Menopause can feel like your mind and body are throwing their own secret Christmas parties — separate venues, different fancy dress, and you weren’t invited. Rage mingles with surprise tears, fear of misplaced tinsel, and a growing doubt you can make it to Boxing Day. Add in a generous helping of forgetfulness laced with hot flushes — and, well, getting to the 25th feels ambitious.

Tool 1 shines when you’re tackling: Confusion, overwhelm, mood swings, shame, rage, anxiety, comparison — all the “what on earth is wrong with me?” moments.

Your PMA magic move: Shift from being inside the emotion to standing beside it.

How it works in real life, I:

1. Recognise what’s happening and — most importantly — how it’s making me feel.

3. Name it explicitly. Not Bob or Janet, I mean “embarrassed,” “exhausted,” “useless.”

5. Ditch the self-justifications: No more, “Frieda next door always makes perfect mince pies… Oh God, I burnt mine… I’m useless.”

7. Refuse to negotiate: Frieda can go hang and instead I say, “No, you stubborn trout, this is just menopause making you feel crap. I’m not listening anymore.”

9. Acknowledge: This is overwhelm, not failure. A wobble, not my entire truth.

11. Get philosophical: “Ho hum… I may be embarrassed/exhausted/useless… but I can always just buy some mince pies.”

Why it’s Christmas-enhancing:

• Reduces nervous system threat response

• Stops spirals of self-blame

• Halts over-explaining to yourself or others

• Restores a sense of authority: you’re aware and still in charge

This tool quietly covers blindsided, unstable, not enough, shame, anxiety, rage — it’s your foundational move. Use it every day!

Christmas is exhausting, full stop. Menopause adds fatigue, invisible effort, and that prickly “why am I even doing this?” feeling.

Tool 2 glints when you’re tackling: Exhausted & empty, rage & resentment, comparisonitis, invisible woman energy.

Your PMA magic move: Ruthlessly cut what doesn’t matter, kindly protect yourself where it does. You’re the editor of your own festive narrative.

How it works in real life:

• Decide: “This year’s me is lighter-touch.”

• Choose ease at least once a day: buy the mince pies, drop the meringue wreath from the menu, delegate the wrapping.

• Say it out loud or in your head: “Good enough is genuinely great to everyone else.”

Why it’s Christmas-enhancing:

• Lowers emotional and cognitive load instantly — big banana win!

• Prevents post-Christmas burnout — think wise monkey storing a banana for later

• Restores self-respect without confrontation

• Reframes doing less as wisdom, not weakness

This tool is permission, cleverly disguised as competence.

You’ve woven your world around everyone else so far. Now it’s time to knit your own monkey.

Manage yourself and menopause in a deliberate way, especially at Christmas. Choose how you show up, respond, and create, rather than let the season and your hormones run you.

Put simply, my friend, this is your time to take life’s oddities — hormonal or otherwise — and stitch them together into something that empowers and nourishes you.

Tool 3 sparkles when you’re tackling: Restlessness, sadness, subtle loss of identity, disconnection, that nagging sense that something familiar has quietly slipped away.

Your PMA magic move: Shift from reacting automatically to choosing deliberately.

How it works in real life:

1. Notice the pull to default: scroll, distract, people-please, over-perform.

2. Pause — just long enough to ask: “What would actually serve me right now?”

3. Choose one intentional act — small, contained, meaningful to you.

4. Let it be enough. Stop there. No optimisation. No sharing. No pressure.

5. Observe the effect: a subtle sense of agency, calm, and ownership returns.

Examples:

• Make something with your hands (yes, knitting a monkey is valid)

• Write one honest paragraph

• Go for a mindful walk

• Sit with a cup of tea without doing anything else

• Say no quietly, without explanation

• Say yes, because you genuinely want to

Why it’s Christmas-enhancing:

• Rebuilds agency in the face of change

• Grounds you in something tangible

• Offers comfort without cheerleading

• Reconnects you with self-trust and quiet joy

Through change, you choose how to be. Loop by loop, stitch by stitch, your monkey takes shape — slightly wonky, oddly comforting, entirely yours.

Menopause doesn’t stick to the rules, my friend — and you can now decide what the rules are. You don’t need 57 steps, 13 days, or Pinterest-level perfection. The three simple tools, used wisely, are more than enough to survive — and maybe even enjoy — the season:

• Name it. Don’t negotiate. Call it out.

• Become your favourite editor.

• Choose with intention — knit your own monkey.

Now, take a deep breath. Acknowledge what you’ve already survived this year. Laugh, rest, and create just for you. Sprinkle in a little humour, add a dash of defiance, and recognise your brilliance. That’s your festive sparkle. That’s your PMA magic.

This Christmas, give yourself permission to show up imperfectly, embrace the chaos, and still shine.

‘They’re’ gonna enjoy it.

And maybe, just maybe, you can too now.

Like the sound of that? Come and join me on Facebook — I’ve got plans to turn this menopause lark into the baboonas cahoonas!

Big hugs and keep positive!

GK Kingsley

Helping women find freedom, humour, and self-worth in menopause and midlife. YOU still have a yarn to tell…. It’s time to knit your own monkey! 🧶🌸💪✨

Originally published on Medium: Your Christmas Menopause Survival Kit