The Secret Superpower of My Menstrual Cycle 🤫

Warning: This piece discusses my menstrual cycle in depth. If that doesn’t interest you, please do something else with your time. I won’t be offended. Thanks!

“Man is an intelligence, not served by, but in servitude to his organs.” — Aldous Huxley, Brave New World.

Dear Wonderful Readers,

I am not a scientific expert when it comes to a complex topic like the menstrual cycle. But as a writer who is curious about the world, since I got my first period 19 years ago, I’ve gathered a lot of data on one menstrual cycle in particular: my own. Today, I’m going to share with you one aspect of my menstrual cycle that I hope you will find reassuring, cool, and downright witchy. It gives me the kind of all-knowing power that I definitely would have been burned at the stake for 400 years ago.

The Phenomena of Phenomenal Thinking

Every month, after I finish my period, I get a few days of incredible clarity on basically every aspect of my life. I also feel incredibly energized. I’m currently in that phase. Just yesterday, I found myself biking extra fast on my way to my co-working space and improvising on the piano like an absolute boss.

I first noticed this experience a couple of years ago. I’ve since started tracking it in my period-tracking app, Clue, which is an awesome company that I also happen to work for (I don’t make money from telling you this because Clue doesn’t have an affiliate program). In Clue, I’ve made a special tag for this experience. I call it my “Post-Period Strategic Clarity.”

How does my “Post-Period Strategy Clarity” manifest in my life? Well, this week, I pitched five new clients before midday on Wednesday. I’d also been feeling a bit lost in my career, but when I went to a concert on Tuesday, I could picture my future self, sitting on that same stage, selling out an audience of 3,500 people as I talked about my writing tools and techniques and sharing them with the world. In the last couple of days, as I go to bed, I find myself reaching for a piece of paper and a pen to jot down strings of incredible ideas on who I should be reaching out to, how I should be asking for help, and where I should be focusing my energy because I know where I’m going. It’s like unrolling a blueprint created by my brain and knowing all my next moves. I even redownloaded Hinge and started messaging people.

There’s evidence that I’m not making this up. Here’s what hormonal health expert Alissa Vetti says about the menstrual cycle and the follicular phase:

“So first, you have the follicular phase. Fascinating phase. And neuro-chemically these hormonal ratios change your brain chemistry. So, you are a different person week-over-week within a month…In that follicular phase where the eggs are coming up to maturity, one is going to make it to the fallopian tube, very exciting time. Neuro-chemically speaking, you have the most access to creative energy than that you will have the entire month. Effortlessly. This is a perfect time to begin new projects: mastermind plan, dream big, all of that.”

My next question is: why does my body do this? Well, here is my totally non-scientific answer. I’m 30 years old, and these days I’m feeling super intense baby fever and what can only be described as extreme horniness every time I ovulate, which occurs in the days right after the follicular phase. So, right after my period ends, once my body has rid itself of the last cycle, it’s gearing up again for ovulation. And so, I get a surge of energy. And this energy makes sense because, for survival, it would probably be a good idea for me to gather a lot of resources (i.e., pitch a s**t ton of cl