Tag: moods

Giveaway · Health

Have a BERRY Good Day!

JayneLeave a comment

The Berry CompanyDid you know, that according to The Berry Company, the average person knows if they’re going to have a good day by 8.12am? The girls and I try to leave the house by 8am every day, in order to get Sausage to school on time (and to ensure I can park somewhere within a 2 mile radius of the school as the parking around there is HORRENDOUS!) and the be honest, 8.12am is pretty much the exact time that we know if we’re going to hit traffic or not, so I totally agree with this statement!

They made a video of their newly-appointed CMO (that’s Chief Mood Officer to you and I!) who made it his business to spend a morning in London seeing if he could improve people’s days…watch the video to see if he was successful:

I’m not going to lie, I might be a little bit weirded out if someone randomly offered me a hug, but I’d be thrilled if someone paid a tenner towards my taxi fare, although I’m wondering if that makes me a terrible person?! I’m a sucker for a high five though so that would definitely give me a chuckle, especially if I was having a stressful morning.

The Berry Company has decided to take its mission even further and is running a competition to help people win a good start to the day, with one of the prizes being a lift to and from work in a supercar with Le Mans Driver Oliver Jarvis! All you have to do is head over to The Berry Company website to nominate someone who you think deserves to win. It’s as simple as that! Runners up can also win a hair and make up session before work or a bunch of flowers delivered to their desk, both of which would be a really welcome pick-me-up.

If you’d like to nominate someone, or find out more about The Berry Company’s range of fruit juices, simply head over to their site.

We hope you’re having a BERRY good day!

Family · Health · Personal

Slave to my Hormones

Jayne1 Comment

PMTEver since I was about 9 years old, I’ve been a slave to my hormones. Every month I’d get that feeling of irrationality creeping in and making me react in ways that were far less reasonable than I would normally be. Sometimes, I’d know it was happening; like an out of body experience, I’d watch myself being aggressive and over-sensitive. Other times, I’d know fully well that I was acting differently and I didn’t care. I suffered physically too and I was diagnosed with PCOS at the age of about 14, which accounted for the pain and other issues that I suffered.

When I was 16, I went on the pill. I had a boyfriend and it was a no-brainer, serving as protection and helping to regulate things that had been so irregular in the past. Trouble was, it gave me hideous migraines, so I started having a Depo injection, which was far from perfect and I put on a ton of weight.

Over the years, I’ve tried every type of contraception there is, and after Sausage was born, I had an implant fitted. It wasn’t immediately perfect but after the first three months, everything stopped. And I mean everything. I didn’t feel the monthly struggle with irrationality and although towards the end I got a bit of pain at a certain time of the month, it worked. Trouble is, implants don’t last forever and I had it removed a couple of months ago. I didn’t have it replaced because we may decide to try for another child and I don’t want to either wait another 3 years or potentially have to have another surgical procedure to have it removed. So, I’m going contraceptive-commando at the moment, which is fine, except that I can feel the hormones creeping up on me again.

Poor Husband, I can fully admit that I’m not a picnic to live with. I can be over-sensitive at the best of times, but when you chuck raging hormones into the mix…well, he must have a halo hidden somewhere in his desk drawer! I’m like a stroppy teenager when I get going.

BUT.

I’ve decided to take a stand.

I’m not going to be a slave to my hormones any more. I’m taking control and employing a level of self-awareness to overcome my irrationality. I’m not saying that I’m going to be successful 100% of the time, but I’m an adult with a brain and I refuse to allow myself to act and feel badly when there’s something I can do about it. Whenever I feel myself starting to slip into that place where I snap, over-react and generally escalate every conversation to a point of confrontation and aggression, I’m setting an internal bell to ring to remind me to reel myself in.

I’m not trying to betray the sisterhood. There’s no denying that being bloated and in pain, with the added injection of crazy-making hormones can make you feel lousy and PMT is a genuine medical condition with real symptoms. And, do you know what? Sometime’s it’s NOT PMT, sometimes the person you’re snapping at just is a douchebag, regardless of where you are in your cycle! But I’ve allowed my mood swings to rule my life for too long and I have to try to take control for my own sanity and the sake of those who have to live with me.

So, sistaz, how do you cope with the monthly black cloud? I’m guessing copious amounts of crisps and chocolate aren’t a cure otherwise I’d be an angel every month. What do you do when PMT rears its ugly head?

(ON a slightly different note, do you know how hard is was to find a PMT-related illustration for this post that wasn’t MASSIVELY patronising/sexist/offensive? What the frick, dudes of the world? What the frick?)