Autumn cleaning before your period

By Susan Reznik (text) & Silja Elsener (illustration)

Many menstruating people report that during the luteal phase, i.e. in the last week or two before their period, they suddenly feel the urge to clean up or even go into a cleaning frenzy. If tidying up is a foreign concept to you, as it is to me: clearing out and tidying up naturally doesn't just refer to your four walls, but can also be applied to tidying up inside.

According to the four-season theory, the female cycle is divided into four phases: winter (menstruation), spring (follicular phase), summer (ovulation phase) and autumn (luteal phase). From this holistic perspective, the immediate phase before menstruation corresponds to autumn. In traditional Chinese medicine, this time is also associated with the element metal.

The autumn phase

Autumn represents the time of old age. You get rid of the old to make room for the new. Everything superfluous is let go. The element metal represents, among other things, clarity, intuition, courage and detachment. We can use exactly this phase of the month to deal with our habits, patterns and our current state of being.

If the autumn phase is approaching, you can, for example, choose a quiet moment to consciously review and reflect on the past month. You can write down what was good for you, what went well, what gave you satisfaction or made you happy. But also what didn't do you so well, what you're currently dissatisfied with, what took your energy away and what you would like to do differently next month. You can ask yourself the following questions:

• What has to go?

• What should stay?

• What do I need to change to be happier?

The time of new beginnings

Menstruation itself is seen as a cleansing time and the beginning of the new cycle. So it makes symbolic sense alone to separate yourself from old things before the period and tidy up: be it of a material nature, because order on the outside also creates order on the inside, or of things that have disturbed us in this cycle. We can then try to approach this differently next month. (Important: Please stay patient and kind to yourself, because of course certain things don't just change overnight.)

Us at Period. I have already noticed in conversations with each other that we feel particularly strong PMS symptoms and dissatisfaction when we have not paid enough attention to our limits in the current cycle, for example, have planned too much, said 'yes' too much and therefore too strongly heard over our physical and psychological needs.

Strong intuition

The autumn phase is also the time when our intuition is strongest. You feel yourself, your needs and your innermost desires much better. With each cycle you learn more and more to be able to hear this inner voice again and to trust it. And maybe you've already noticed that you're your own biggest critic at this time. You can use this situation positively for yourself by mercilessly naming stressful areas and situations and tackling their change. Your cycle as a mirror of your soul.

So taking your cycle as an opportunity to clean up inside and out every month with a ritual is a nice thought. But please don’t forget: you are enough as you are! This is not about constant self-optimization, but autumn cleaning can serve as an opportunity for you to say goodbye to patterns and things that are not good for you and that you would like to approach differently. And every cycle as an opportunity for a new beginning.