Ending or Beginning

While menopause is a normal, natural event for all women who live long enough, there is no universal menopause experience. However, for all women, menopause can mark the start of an exciting and liberated new time of life.

There is more reason than ever to abandon old notions about menopause as the end of life as you knew it.

As our society’s views of aging change—did someone say 50 is the new 30?—and as our understanding of sexuality and aging expands, there is more reason than ever before to abandon old ideas about the menopause as the end of life as you knew it. If you keep your body as active and healthy as you can, there’s no reason why you can’t enjoy satisfying sex and a good relationship well into old age. If bumps in the road come along—like vaginal atrophy or dwindling desire—remember that many treatments are out there if you ask.

If you’re not yet as healthy and active as you could be, look at this time as the beginning of a programme of healthier eating, more exercise or better sleep habits. The benefits will pay off over the rest of your life and can extend beyond the bedroom. If your sex life has suffered some neglect in recent years, what better time to revive it than when you no longer need to worry about birth control or whether your period’s about to start? This time of life might also bring other changes, such as more privacy or a bit more free time, that you might use to devote to (or even redefine) your health, your relationship and your sex life.

Menopause can mean new opportunities. What else do you want to do with this new freedom?