Future Self, Meet Present You ✨ Menopause as a Catalyst

PLUS: New insights to help you prepare and plan ahead

👋 Hello friends!
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Welcome to the September 30th edition of Menopaussible—bringing you the news you can use and the ⚡energy⚡ you need to support your menopause journey.

I’m Maria Caracci Ciccolella—health + life coach and menopause advocate. (Connect with me on IG or LinkedIn!)

This month, as part of Perimenopause Awareness Month, we’ve tackled some of the big challenges facing women entering this transition. We started with a quick 101 introduction to fill the knowledge gap. Then we picked up on the myths and facts clouding Menopause Hormone Therapy and its impact on care. Today, we tackle the mindset that has long surrounded the menopause transition—so we can begin to approach this phase of life with a renewed sense of possibility. After all, there is still a lot of living to do.

As I’ve shared in these newsletters, changing the way menopause is experienced—personally and societally—is a TEAM effort. YOU are very much a part of the driving action. From reading and digesting this information to sharing it with others, you can be an enabler of progress. So share on!

The Wake-Up Call

For those of you who are new-ish to me, this newsletter was the by-product of my own menopause wake-up call. Career-wise, I spent most of it in media and marketing. You could say I discovered I was in perimenopause “on the job,” while researching the challenges and needs of midlife women.

Like many of you, I was surprised—and a bit relieved. Things I had been noticing about my health suddenly had one simple answer: perimenopause. The surprising bit? This wasn’t a journey I’d start in my 50s—it was one I had already been on for years by age 48.

That realization galvanized me to get menopause-educated and to launch a coaching practice and this newsletter.

Why It Feels Like Decline (and Why It Isn’t)

Many women “enter” this transition in a not-so-great headspace—and it’s not hard to figure out why. Start with “not feeling like yourself.” Layer on a lack of preparation, add centuries-old stigma blending misogyny and ageism, then top it off with the body’s natural aging process—which accelerates in your 40s, separate from menopause—and it’s easy to feel like life is in decline.

But mindset and attitude are key to how we move through this transition. Research shows they can even affect symptom experience.

That’s why it helps to remember: menopause is a transition, just like puberty or pregnancy. Remember: despite all the (hormonal) changes of those phases, you also thought about opportunity—puberty marked adulthood, pregnancy marked motherhood.

Menopause is no different. Your body is once again rebooting—upgrading even. So here’s the real question: What is this pause bringing into focus for you?

Meeting Your Future Self (Visualization Exercise)

If menopause is your body’s way of signaling you to pay attention, the next question becomes: attention to what? To find out, let’s look forward—not backward.

✨ Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Imagine yourself 5 or 10 years from now. Notice the details around you. Where are you—indoors, outdoors, surrounded by warmth or crisp air? Are you alone or with people who matter most? Picture the space, the sounds, even the colors.

✨ Now, look closer. See yourself in that place. What are you doing? How are you living? What energy are you carrying—joy, freedom, peace, purpose? Take a moment to notice her. That woman is you.

✨ Do you have a question you’ve been longing to answer? Ask it of her. She’s your guidepost, showing what’s possible on the other side of this transition.

✨ Hold onto that image. The choices you make today—the habits you build, the passions you honor, the boundaries you set—are what will carry you closer to her.

👉 Listen along here to deeply explore what your future may hold.

✨ Journal It Out: Meet Your Future Self ✨

Take a few minutes to capture the vision you just created. These prompts can help you bring it into focus:

🖊️ Describe your future self — What did you see in her? Her energy, her environment, her daily life.
🌟 Name the spark — What feels most exciting or important about the way she’s living?
🪶 Let it go — What’s one thing she has released that you’re still carrying today?
💪 Build it now — What’s one habit, boundary, or practice she’s built that you could start experimenting with today?
💬 Learn from her — What was the one piece of advice she shared with you?

Don’t make this a one-time visit. Use this exercise to uncover more of what you want. As you journal, think about new questions to ask on your next visit.

👉 Ready to go deeper? Listen along here.
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💌 I’d also love to hear from you—hit reply and share one thing your future self whispered to you.
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From Here Forward

The vision you just created isn’t something distant or out of reach—it’s a reminder that menopause isn’t an ending, it’s an opening. This transition is simply your body’s way of asking you to pay attention and prepare for what comes next. And with post-menopause representing up to 30–40% of your life, there’s a lot of time to turn that vision into reality.

A Few Things Your Future Self May Want You to Know…

Perimenopause Starts Sooner Than You Think
​A recent study in Nature Women's Health shows many women aged 30–45 are already experiencing significant perimenopause symptoms—physical and psychological—even before the “classic” age range. This underscores that knowledge is power: understanding this earlier start gives us more time to prepare, adapt, and plan. Share knowledge and resources with those in your circle!

Breaking Down Testosterone Myths with Prof. Susan Davis
​Endocrinologist Professor Susan R. Davis, one of the world’s leading experts in women’s hormone health, recently joined The Proof with Simon Hill to discuss what the science really says about testosterone therapy in women—including libido, mood, aging, measurement, safety, and the common myths that swirl online. If you’re curious about what testosterone could mean for your future self—without the hype—this episode is a solid listen.