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[Applause]
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all right
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i'm willing to bet
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that either you
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or someone you know
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someone you love
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goes through a monthly menstrual cycle
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that's right
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today i'm talking about
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periods
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how do you feel when you see that word
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how do you feel when you see this image
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do you feel like
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a little uncomfortable
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do you feel like maybe this is not
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something that should be discussed in
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public
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let alone in the tedx stage
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or maybe
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you're like i love periods
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no
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well
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what if i told you that by the end of
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this talk you will be able to talk about
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your periods more freely
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you will realize that your period in
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your menstrual cycle carry this innate
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guidance
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that can help you to live to your full
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potential
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and if you ever wondered why is it that
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we know so little about periods
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well let's take a trip back to school
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days
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in school i learned all sorts of great
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subjects
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geometry trigonometry i even learned to
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recite a periodic table
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you know what i didn't learn
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how my female body works
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and what it goes through on a monthly
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basis
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not even in sex ed
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in fact the most memorable thing from
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sex ed involved banana and a condom
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and for those of you that felt a little
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uncomfortable when i brought up that
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picture and that word there's a reason
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for that and i want to take you down
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history lane
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throughout history
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period has been masked in magic and
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mystery
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in some ancient cultures it was believed
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that menstrual cycle and menstrual blood
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had magical powers
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and menstruators had the ability to see
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the future
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things have changed in the middle ages
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when a massive religious
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and cultural shift has occurred
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menstruators were no longer admired
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periods were considered dirty
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menstruators dangerous
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and period blood toxic enough and it was
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believed that it could make crops wither
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make men impotent and cause natural
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disasters
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well we've come a long way since then
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yet this long-held cultural
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ignorance around our periods
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resulted in many of us starting our
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menstrual journey in the dark
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not sure what's normal
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what's not
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i've had quite the journey with my
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period today as a bomb said i am in love
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with my period
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and it's not something that you hear
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very often
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yet my love story hasn't been so rosy
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i want to take you back to 10 years ago
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i was in my early 20s
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on this particular day in september
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i woke up in so much pain
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i thought my appendix has burst
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and i thought i needed immediate medical
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attention so i called an ambulance
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medics arrived to my house
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i was inspected
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and told that
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my appendix was intact
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there was no medical emergency
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and what i was experiencing caused by my
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period crams
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so i was advised to take some
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painkillers and sleep it off
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and for years i've been sleeping off my
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pain
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often missing school
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work
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and social commitments
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and i know
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i was not alone
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because according to the online survey
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done by yougov 30 of women
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have taken time off because of their
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periods
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i'd like to highlight the difference
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between the menstrual cycle and the
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periods
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so the menstrual cycle is the entire
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hormonal fluctuation throughout a female
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reproductive system
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while the body prepares for possible
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pregnancy
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the average length of a menstrual cycle
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is about 28 days
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the bleeding part what we know as period
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only lasts 5 days and marks the start of
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the period
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so
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your period
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is not your menstrual cycle
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but rather just a small
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part of it
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and according to catherine woolley who
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is a professor at northwestern
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university female brain changes by up to
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25
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meaning our appetite changes our mood
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changes our desire to be social our
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desire to be alone
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and i'm sure i've no you've noticed
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those changes
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you know the coolest thing i wasn't
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taught about my period
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and my menstrual cycle is that
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throughout month it goes through these
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incredible phases
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mimicking the seasons of nature
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i also have my inner winter
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my inner spring
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my inner summer
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and my inner fall
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men
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you're not excluded you have seasons two
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except yours operate on a different
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timeline
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instead of 28 days like they do for us
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women menstruators
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yours work on the 24-hour clock
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and it goes something like this
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your winter
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happens while you sleep
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about six o'clock in the morning you
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wake up with a full hormonal potion
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ready to go for the day ahead the laser
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focus is yours to be hot
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in the afternoon you enter your inner
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summer
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this is a great time to pitch ideas
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go for happy hours
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and in the evening as your hormones wane
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all you're interested in is chilling on
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a couch watching netflix maybe reading
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something inspirational to quiet down
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the mind
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that's it
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24 hours
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365 days
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lather rinse repeat
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women's body
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is not static
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nor does it follow a linear energy path
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our energy bank is not synced to happy
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hours
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and we do not cocoon when we sleep our
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cocooning happens during our winter
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which is our period
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and we have never asked does this 24
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hour clock works for us
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we have been fitting to this 24 hour
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schedules not entirely sure whether it
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makes sense for our bodies
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and statistics show that it affects our
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health
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well-being
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and our performance
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because women are 50 percent more likely
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to experience burnouts
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75 of people with autoimmune disease are
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women
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85 of women yes most of you in this
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audience experience some sort of
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hormonal imbalances ranging from
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migraines hormonal acne periods pain
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cramping
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and even an innocent sort of symptom
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that's been normalized as hormonal acne
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has a cost
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i used to work with a woman who shared
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with me that she did not go to a job
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interview because she did not feel
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confident because of her acne
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and i'm sure she's not alone
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the standard advice would have been she
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should have pushed through
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gone anyway
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and women are no strangers to pushing
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through discomfort
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this is a perfect example this is kieran
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gandy who is a musician she ran a london
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marathon on her period
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without a pad or a tampon
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you know what we really need
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is to create a menstrual cycle awareness
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in the workplace if we truly want to
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achieve
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gender diverse and inclusive
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environments and yes it will help women
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but also everyone else
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because according to the mckinsey
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research teams that are the most gender
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diverse are 48
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more likely to outperform other teams
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and the most inclusive teams are
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typically the ones that are most
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successful and happier at work
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so understanding a female body
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is everyone's business
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menstruators are you ready to learn new
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superpowers
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yay
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men what about you
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let's get going this is your menstrual
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phase your inner winter
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winter is time for renewal
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rebirth
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shedding of the old layers
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the superpower of the season is
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restoration
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winter gives you opportunity to let go
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it is only through rest that we able to
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switch off the noise from the outside
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and tune in to what's truly important to
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us
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i tend to block few days on my calendar
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for the arrival of my period and i have
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observed that i've become more focused
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more lively more determined and just
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more fun to be around
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and if you don't restore
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your energy you'll be just like a fruit
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tree
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robbed of a full winter producing fewer
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and weaker buds
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support yourself throughout this time
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with foods that are rich in iron and
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minerals that you lose through bleeding
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personally i crave steak during this
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time which actually highlights my body's
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wisdom my body says tanar are you
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bleeding oh my gosh you're losing iron
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quick grab a hunk of meat
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and then i do that and support yourself
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with activities that are slightly more
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gentle in nature walking and stretching
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to support your restoration season
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and just like the nature wakes up so do
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you
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welcome to spring
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this is known as the follicular phase
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this is the time after period you might
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find an immediate shift in your energy
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and enthusiasm for life
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the superpower of this season is
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initiation
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you might notice an immediate floodgate
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of ideas and inspirations everywhere i
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get mine on the run
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in the middle of my walk in the middle
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of the shower i even have a
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brainstorming folder dedicated to this
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whisper respirations on my phone
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and in fact in preparation for the
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static stock i scheduled my
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brainstorming specifically for this time
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so i can let my ideas run wild and then
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i sort them out in the rest of the
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season
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light
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vibrance
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fresh fruits and vegetables like sauteed
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lighter grains will give you just enough
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energy to get you through the day
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and given that you've been gifted with
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this extra spring in your step focus on
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endurance activities things that you
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have energy for running biking walking
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you can go for hours and it will feel
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amazing
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and just like that
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from the warmth of spring we come into
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summer
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this is ovulatory phase
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the superpower of this phase
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is confidence
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this particular time for women coincides
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with our fertility window and given that
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our god-given purpose on this earth was
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to reproduce
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we are gifted with a gift of confidence
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to go out and look for a potential mate
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i noticed that i instinctively put out a
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red lipstick or wears slightly more
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revealing clothing
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because i want to be noticed actually i
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think it's my biology wants me to get
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noticed
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and in chinese medicine
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this particular time is known as our
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hot season
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so to counterbalance that you want to be
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focused on cooling foods things like
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berries salads and smoothies
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and
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this is the only time for women
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where we ser our levels of our
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testosterone surge
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those dystocia and hormone that we
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associate with the hunky men we produce
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it too and it's very important to us
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so if the muscle definition is
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your goal then hit up the gym or better
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yet go to a group class and introduce
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yourself to a stranger
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menstruators also notice that they
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become
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much better communicators during this
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time
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they become much confident at expressing
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themselves so that offer you wanted to
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pitch
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that race you wanted to ask for
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that hot date you've been postponing
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it's go time baby
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and just like that from the full
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sunshine of summer
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we're moving to the competence of fall
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this is the luteal phase
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fall used to be a very challenging time
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for me before i realized what menstrual
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cycle does and how it works within my
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body
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i wanted to keep going my body wanted me
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to slow down
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and i continuously pushed against it
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and that left me with premenstrual
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syndromes
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premenstrual syndrome
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are varied from all sorts of things mood
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swings brain fog migraines cramps and
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pms today has become so
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common that now we make jokes about it
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and we've abbreviated to all sorts of
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things
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like perpetual munching spree
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pc mood syndrome
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or the one that used to describe me best
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please meet satan
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the superpower of this phase is focus
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typically women begin to notice
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things that they wouldn't have noticed
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before so i usually schedule a lot of my
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admin spreadsheet for paperwork stuff
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that i can't sit or deal with any during
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any other time and i actually weirdly
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enjoy it
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another thing that i tend to notice is
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actually dust in my house i become hyper
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focused and hyper vigilant to any mess
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and this is the only time when i enjoy
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deep clean
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pay attention to yourself when you're in
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the fall i promise you it will come
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through
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women's metabolism during this time
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speeds up
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you need more food
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this would explain your all too familiar
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cravings
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so to offset your cravings for cake just
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before your period focus on foods that
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are more full in nature denser stews
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root vegetables
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and given that the fall invites us to
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slow down focus on things that are more
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resistant slower yoga
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winter is frustration
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spring
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initiation show your confidence in the
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summer
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and focus on things in the fall
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your menstrual cycle is predictable it's
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cyclical and it's monthly why not plan
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for it if it means less emotional and
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physical discomfort
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why not have menstruators take time off
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during the time where they need it most
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on their period
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period leave is not a new concept
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it's been introduced for years in
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countries like japan
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and south korea
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and many companies across australia
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argentina and france introducing it
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in conclusion of this talk i'd like you
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to take away
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three messages can you do that
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number one
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let's take away stigma and shame
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taboo around period it's a very natural
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process the more we know about our
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bodies the better transparent we can be
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with others and our children
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second message is your menstrual cycle
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is so much more than just your period
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as you've seen it's a symphony orchestra
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of all sorts of things so use it so you
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can show up better and more confidently
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in the world
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and the third message is cyclical
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awareness must be introduced in
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workplace
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if we want to achieve diverse
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inclusive environments and address
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burnout
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so
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i really hope
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that we can stop dreading our periods
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and move
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into a place where we can embrace and
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even celebrate it
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are you ready
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to turn an old enemy
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into a new ally
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thank you
00:17:22
[Applause]
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