Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that whatever struggles you are experiencing and whatever
Speaker 1: questions you have, you are probably not the only one.
Speaker 1: There is no need to figure out everything yourself. There
Speaker 1: are eight billion people in this world, which adds up
Speaker 1: to a lot of experience, so seek out what you
Speaker 1: can and make use of it. I host another podcast
Speaker 1: called Best of Both Worlds with Sarah Hart Hunger, and
Speaker 1: since we are both forty something women and she is
Speaker 1: a physician, we often get questions about things like hormonal
Speaker 1: changes is that women experience in their forties and beyond.
Speaker 1: It seems that despite basically every female person who lives
Speaker 1: to age fifty experiencing these changes, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: mystery still surrounding them. People have no idea what is
Speaker 1: going on with their own bodies, which is kind of
Speaker 1: strange if you think about it. How can something that
Speaker 1: a billion plus people have experienced be a surprise. To
Speaker 1: that end, we were happy to welcome doctor Gillian Goddard,
Speaker 1: an indocrinologist, to the program recently to talk about the
Speaker 1: late reproductive years. One of the first things she assured
Speaker 1: people is that these changes are normal. She's spelled out
Speaker 1: what people can expect, She's seen thousands of patients, and
Speaker 1: of course there are probably four billion women on this planet.
Speaker 1: None of this really needs to be a mystery. But
Speaker 1: all this got me thinking about how many things we
Speaker 1: all think we need to figure out on our own,
Speaker 1: as if we are Adam and Eve in the garden
Speaker 1: facing the world anew. But for the vast majority of
Speaker 1: human experiences, we are not going to be the first ones.
Speaker 1: We aren't even going to be close to the first ones.
Speaker 1: There is no need to muddle through without guidance or
Speaker 1: the benefit of other people's experiences. So, for instance, if
Speaker 1: you are relatively new in a remote job and you
Speaker 1: are unsure how to let your boss know that you
Speaker 1: will be away from your desk for a medical appointment,
Speaker 1: well you could ask a trusted colleague what she does,
Speaker 1: and even if she has never missed work for any
Speaker 1: reason whatsoever, she has seen someone else do this, Well
Speaker 1: perhaps she can tell you. Or if you are trying
Speaker 1: to navigate how to tell your kids about your spouse
Speaker 1: losing his or her job in a way that they
Speaker 1: won't worry about, well, someone else has done this, They've
Speaker 1: got ideas, or people in general might have suggestions, like
Speaker 1: asking your school guidance counselor for help with scripts that
Speaker 1: might cover this topic. Now, it's possible that no one
Speaker 1: you know personally has navigated something, though maybe they have
Speaker 1: and they just don't talk about it. But if so,
Speaker 1: the good news is that we live in a very
Speaker 1: connected world. It is possible to go on the internet
Speaker 1: and search, read posts, study the literature. Now, of course,
Speaker 1: you do have to be careful about the sources. That
Speaker 1: person telling you that all medical problems can be cured
Speaker 1: by paying attention to your auras perhaps a suspect, But
Speaker 1: there is a lot of helpful stuff too. Humans like
Speaker 1: to help each other. I wound up getting some relief
Speaker 1: from my chronic sore throats by reading about the different
Speaker 1: possibilities and then seeing which options most matched my sonctoms.
Speaker 1: It turns out I am not the only human being
Speaker 1: with a throat. You can have a healthy dose of
Speaker 1: doubt about many things, but see if there's anything that
Speaker 1: seems like it might make sense or is repeated a lot,
Speaker 1: particularly by people who seem relatively normal or experienced and wise,
Speaker 1: like our guest doctor Goddard. We are all unique and wonderful,
Speaker 1: but we are also, on some level not that special,
Speaker 1: which is actually a good thing. Even if only one
Speaker 1: in a million people has experienced something like you, if
Speaker 1: there are eight billion people in this world, that means
Speaker 1: that there are another seven thousand, nine hundred ninety nine
Speaker 1: people who have had that experience. You are not the
Speaker 1: only one, Thank goodness. We can all learn from each other.
Speaker 1: In the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.