Inspired Life Wellness Clinic, PLLC

10/29/2025

10/21/2025

Daily inspiration! :)

09/25/2025

Falling into Fall: Preparing mentally for Winter in North Dakota
Chris Aman MBA, MSN, APRN, NPc

Autumn in North Dakota arrives with a sharp shift. The days shorten, the winds cool, and the prairie landscape begins its slow fade into winter’s grip. For many, fall is more than a season—it’s a crucial transition. It offers time to prepare for the long months ahead, but it also invites a quieter rhythm, a chance to reset, reconnect, and protect our mental well-being after the rush of summer.

Practical Preparations with Mental Health in Mind

In North Dakota, winter is not something to stumble into unprepared. Fall is the season for tackling household maintenance: clearing gutters, draining hoses, servicing the furnace, checking chimneys, and readying storm windows. These chores might feel tedious, but they do more than safeguard a home—they safeguard peace of mind. Knowing the house is winter-ready reduces stress and anxiety when the first blizzard hits. Even small steps, like stocking up on ice melt or checking snow shovels, build a sense of control and confidence.

Vehicle prep plays the same role. Having snow tires, emergency kits, and reliable wiper blades isn’t just practical; it removes daily worries about being caught off guard. Each task checked off the list adds a layer of mental ease, turning looming challenges into manageable ones.

Making Space Indoors and Supporting Emotional Balance

Once outdoor chores are complete, fall is about creating comfort inside. Organizing closets, rotating wardrobes, and decluttering spaces isn’t just about efficiency. Research shows that order in the home can help reduce stress and improve focus. Creating cozy nooks for reading, crafting, or meditation gives the mind a safe retreat during the darker months.

Indoor hobbies—knitting, sewing, puzzles, cooking, or woodworking—can double as stress relievers. They provide a healthy way to manage long stretches indoors while keeping hands and minds active. Preparing freezer meals ahead of time also offers mental comfort, reducing daily decision fatigue and ensuring that nourishing food is ready when energy dips.

Reconnection, Reflection, and Mental Wellness

Beyond chores and hobbies, fall invites reconnection. Shared meals, family walks under crisp skies, or movie nights provide warmth and stability that buffer against feelings of isolation. These traditions nurture belonging, which is essential for mental health through the long winter.

Spiritually, the season encourages reflection. Journaling, prayer, or meditation can help people process shifting moods as daylight wanes. Even a few quiet moments outdoors, noticing the natural transition, fosters mindfulness and gratitude. Taking advantage of sunny fall days to get outside—whether for raking leaves, hiking, or just standing in the cool air—boosts mood and helps offset seasonal dips in energy.

Building Mental Health Routines

Because fall naturally slows the pace of life, it’s a good time to establish habits that will carry mental health through the winter. Some strategies include:

Light exposure: Spend time outdoors in natural light or invest in a light therapy lamp to ease seasonal affective symptoms.

Movement: Commit to regular activity—indoor yoga, walks at lunch, or family dance nights—to keep energy up.

Connection: Schedule regular calls or visits with loved ones, ensuring social ties don’t fray when the snow sets in.

Rest: Prioritize healthy sleep routines, which are often disrupted by shorter days.

Creative outlets: Use hobbies as both entertainment and emotional release.

A Season of Readiness, Rest, and Renewal

In North Dakota, fall is both practical and profound. It is a season of readiness—ensuring homes, vehicles, and routines are winter-proof. But it is also a season of rest and renewal, giving families time to gather, reflect, and nurture their inner lives. By preparing not only the household but also the mind and spirit, fall becomes more than a transition—it becomes a foundation for resilience, balance, and well-being through the winter ahead.

08/26/2025

The Weight of the World: Why Women Are So Stressed (and Tired of Pretending We’re Not)

Christine Aman MBA, MSN, APRN, NP-c
www.inspired-lifewellness.com

Stress happens to everyone. Men, women, everyone in between—we’re all swimming in it these days. Men deal with their own unique pressures, and this isn’t about dismissing that. But for women, societal stressors tend to pile up in ways that feel like playing life on “hard mode” while balancing a latte, a to-do list, and the expectation to smile through it.

The Gender Stress Gap (a.k.a. Why Women Are So Damn Tired)

According to the American Psychological Association, 27% of women say they feel “very stressed” most days compared to 21% of men. Women are also nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with anxiety disorders. Not because women are “weaker” or “more emotional” (insert dramatic eye roll), but because the load is different. The pay gap, the caregiving gap, and the invisible emotional labor gap all team up to create one giant pile of burnout. If unpaid stress were currency, women would be billionaires.

Everyday Double Standards That Make Our Eyeballs Twitch
• Work: Be confident, but not “bossy.” Be agreeable, but not a pushover. Basically, Jedi mind tricks are required just to survive a Monday meeting.
• Looks: Men age into silver foxes. Women age into “Have you considered this anti-aging serum that smells like regret?” (George Clooney? Distinguished. Women? Discount codes.)
• Safety: A man walking home at night might think about sandwiches. A woman walking home at night is basically conducting a tactical recon mission with keys between her fingers.

The Fine Print of Stress

Here’s the kicker: chronic stress doesn’t just make you tired—it physically changes your body. Research shows women with high stress levels have a 40% higher risk of heart disease and are more prone to insomnia, digestive issues, and autoimmune disorders. Add hormonal curveballs from periods, pregnancy, or menopause, and it’s like running a marathon while someone pelts dodgeballs at your head.

Coping (a.k.a. Staying Sane-ish)
• Boundaries Are Sexy: “No” is a full sentence. Bonus points if you don’t follow it up with, “Sorry!”
• Build Your Wolf Pack: Therapy, group chats full of memes, or that one friend who sends TikToks at 2 a.m.—connection is medicine.
• Snark = Survival: Laughing at double standards isn’t just sass—it’s a pressure release valve that keeps you from flipping tables.

Final Mic Drop

Stress is universal, but the flavor of it changes with the expectations society piles on. Women aren’t stressed because they’re weak—they’re stressed because they’re often carrying the invisible baggage of everyone around them while still expected to keep it all together. Recognizing that isn’t “man bashing.” It’s calling out the system that leaves everyone, men included, running on empty. And until that system changes? Pass the coffee, the group chat, and the sarcastic memes—we’ve got surviving to do!

08/19/2025

Well! All that menopausal fun and game stuff has ended. Any topic suggestions for the next big thing? If so, just throw them out there! Please 🙏

08/17/2025

Day 25
Mood Swings and Mayhem
Christine Aman MBA, MSN, APRN, NP-c
inspired-lifewellness.com

🏁 Survival Log 23: The Final Entry, Menopause—The Great Estrogen Exodus That Leaves Behind Truth, Power, and One Badass Woman

No longer bleeding, bending, or apologizing.

Menopause isn’t just a medical milestone. It’s a full-body, full-life reset. Your hormones may have packed up and left in the night, but what they left behind isn’t a hollowed-out version of you. It’s the distilled version—sharper, louder, wiser, and utterly done with nonsense. You are the Crone.

This is the phase where:
• You stop asking for permission.
• You start trusting your instincts.
• You no longer trade peace for politeness.
• You claim rest without guilt and joy without justification.

🔥 What’s Left After the Hormones Leave?
• The truth: About who you are, what you want, and what you’re no longer willing to carry.
• The power: That comes from surviving every past version of yourself and still standing.
• The woman: Who now takes up space, asks fewer questions, and makes zero apologies for being whole.

🛠️ How to Keep Rising:
• Keep learning: Your body, your needs, and your voice evolve—stay in tune.
• Move because you can: Not to punish, not to shrink—just to remind yourself you’re still powerful.
• Nourish your body like it’s your best ally: Because it is.
• Laugh at the absurdity: Because menopause will hand-deliver daily doses.
• Claim your story: Because it’s not over. It’s just getting real.

You made it through the night sweats, the rage, the weirdly specific anxieties, the mystery joint pain, the midnight carb raids, the hormonal paradoxes, and the quiet spiritual revolutions.

And what’s left?

A woman who knows herself. Who doesn’t apologize for evolving. Who walks into the second half of life unapologetically wise, loud, soft, fierce, and free.

Congratulations. You didn’t just survive menopause.

You became someone magnificent because of it.

And if you've read this far and all of these posts, you should know that this project was undertaken, first of all without realizing how big it would be, and secondly because I truly don't care what anyone thinks, I had something to say, see me own that Crone phase??

For the warriors, the wise, and everyone who handed me chocolate along the way.

For every woman who sat across from me in the clinic, voice trembling, mascara smudged, wondering if she was “going crazy”… this is for you.

For my patients, my friends, my family, my body—you’ve inspired every page of this. Thank you all for trusting me with your stories, your struggles, and your sweaty truth.
AND:
For the women who came before us, silenced and misdiagnosed—your fight made this possible. And for those walking this wild, fiery road now: you’re not alone, and you’re not broken. You’re becoming.

Let's learn to support and encourage all the women in our lives, move past the competition and petty attitudes that women are often known for, we struggle with the same struggles. Encourage each other!

08/16/2025

Day 24
Mood Swings and Mayhem
Christine Aman MBA, MSN, APRN, NP-c
inspired-lifewellness.com

🔮 Survival Log 22: Crone Power, Activated

This isn’t a decline. It’s an initiation.

Somewhere between the hot flashes, the brain fog, and that one time you nearly throat-punched your husband for breathing, something else quietly emerged: Clarity. Strength. A fierce sense of what matters—and what no longer does.

Welcome to the Crone era.

Before you recoil at the word, know this: Crone isn’t an insult. It’s an upgrade.
In ancient cultures, the Crone was the wise woman. The healer. The keeper of truth and intuition. She wasn’t irrelevant—she was the one you went to when you wanted the real story.

And now? That’s you.

🌱 Why It Happens:

When estrogen drops, so does the pressure to please. When progesterone takes a hike, your patience for nonsense does too. What’s left is something raw, honest, and powerful.

You may feel:
• More confident in your voice (even if it’s shaky at first)
• Less apologetic about your boundaries
• Fiercely protective of your time and peace
• Deeply connected to something bigger—whether spiritual, ancestral, or creative

This is not you fading. It’s you rising.

👑 Crone Isn’t a Curse Word:

It means:
• You’ve survived every version of yourself
• You carry lived wisdom
• You trust your gut more than outside validation
• You no longer bend yourself into shapes to fit expectations

You’re not here to be quiet or invisible. You’re here to be undeniably you—in the body, brain, and voice you’ve earned.

🛠️ What You Can Do to Embody This Power:
• Create rituals that mark this phase—whether it’s a bonfire, a journal, or a tattoo. Celebrate the shift.
• Mentor younger women. Share what no one told you. Break cycles.
• Stop shrinking: Physically, emotionally, socially. You’re not too loud. You’re just finally audible.
• Reclaim the mirror: Your face tells a story of survival and becoming. Own it.
• Call yourself wise, not aging: Because you are.

Menopause is not your undoing—it’s your becoming. You are not less. You are concentrated. This isn’t the end of your story. It’s just the part where the heroine finally stops asking for permission.

08/16/2025

Day 23
Mood Swings and Mayhem
Christine Aman MBA, MSN, APRN, NP-c
inspired-lifewellness.com

👥 Survival Log 21: My Marriage, My Friendships, and Everyone Getting on My Nerves

Menopause: making social grace optional since… now.

No one really warns you that menopause might make you want to slam doors, dodge texts, or fantasize about running away to a yurt with no Wi-Fi. You still love your people—sort of—but suddenly even small talk can feel like too much. And if someone chews near you with their mouth open? You might black out.

Menopause doesn’t just mess with your body—it messes with how you show up in relationships. And sometimes, it makes you question whether some of those relationships are still a fit at all.

💔 Why It Happens:

Declining hormones like estrogen and oxytocin mess with emotional regulation, empathy, and connection. You may notice:
• Less tolerance for drama, noise, or emotional labor
• More irritability or need for space
• Growing awareness of one-sided relationships
• A desire to be real instead of polite

At the same time, you’re reassessing your life—your purpose, your identity, your time. That kind of reckoning? It shakes loose a lot.

📊 So… Why Do Divorce Rates Spike?

It’s not just in your head. Statistically, divorce rates rise for women in their 40s and 50s. Common reasons:
• You’ve been living for others—now you’re ready to live for yourself
• You’ve outgrown the partnership, even if it’s not “bad”
• Menopause stripped away your filter, and now you can see what you’ve been tolerating
• The emotional labor is no longer sustainable

This isn’t failure. Sometimes it’s clarity.

🛠️ What You Can Do:
• Get curious, not impulsive: Emotional clarity is hard in hormone soup. Journal, reflect, and don’t make huge decisions on two hours of sleep.
• Talk to a therapist: Sometimes what feels like a relationship issue is a hormone issue. And sometimes it’s both.
• Communicate what you need now: Your partner/friends can’t support you if they don’t know how you’re changing.
• Protect your energy: Limit draining interactions. It’s okay to take space from people—even ones you love.
• Release the guilt: Evolving isn’t betrayal. It’s growth.

You’re not becoming antisocial. You’re becoming selective. And anyone worth keeping in your life? They’ll meet you in this new season—or at least step aside while you become who you’re meant to be next.

08/15/2025

Day 22
Mood Swings and Mayhem
Christine Aman MBA, MSN, APRN, NP-c
inspired-lifewellness.com

🕯️ Survival Log 20: Faith, Spirit, and What the Shift?

Because you used to light candles for romance, and now it’s just you, some incense, and a meltdown about your soul’s path.

Menopause doesn’t just shake your body—it shakes your foundation. Somewhere between the brain fog and mood swing landmines, you may find yourself questioning… everything. Your faith, your beliefs, your identity, your purpose. And honestly? That’s not a breakdown. It’s a spiritual growth spurt.

🌀 Why It Happens:

Biologically, as your reproductive hormones decline, your neurological wiring starts to shift. Estrogen interacts with serotonin and oxytocin, both of which influence empathy, connection, and emotion. As those shift, so does your sense of self. The “do everything for everyone” identity starts to fall away.

Psychologically and socially, you’re also entering a new phase of life. Kids grow up. Parents age. Relationships evolve. You suddenly have less to prove and more to process. It’s common to reevaluate who you are—beyond titles, roles, and external validation.

🛐 What This Can Look Like:
• Feeling disconnected from past religious practices—or craving new ones
• Becoming more reflective or introspective
• Seeking nature, quiet, or creativity as spiritual outlets
• Experiencing sudden surges of emotion or awe (yes, crying at trees is normal now)
• Questioning long-held beliefs—or doubling down on them with renewed clarity
• Feeling drawn to meditation, prayer, energy work, or ritual
• Wrestling with mortality, meaning, or legacy

🛠️ What You Can Do:
• Don’t resist the shift: It’s not weird—it’s wise. You’re shedding skin, not losing your mind.
• Explore gently: Whether it’s reconnecting with your faith tradition or trying something new (yoga, journaling, astrology, hiking in silence), stay curious.
• Find safe spaces to talk: A trusted therapist, priest, spiritual counselor, or support group can help you navigate without judgment.
• Honor your intuition: Your inner compass gets louder during this time. Listen to it—even when it doesn’t make sense.
• Expect evolution: Belief systems are meant to grow with us. You’re allowed to update your soul software.

Menopause marks more than the end of cycles—it can mark the beginning of alignment. This isn’t just about symptoms—it’s about soul. You’re not going backward—you’re heading deeper.

08/14/2025

Day 21
Mood Swings and Mayhem
Christine Aman MBA, MSN, APRN, NP-c
inspired-lifewellness.com

💊 Survival Log 19: Hormones, Headlines & Hysteria

What HRT actually is, what it does, and why everyone freaked out for 20 years.

You’ve heard it all:
“HRT is dangerous!”
“HRT saved my life!”
“It’ll give you cancer. Or it won’t. Maybe.”

Yeah… not helpful. Let’s get into the facts—minus the drama, plus a little snark.

🧪 What Is HRT?

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) supplements the hormones your body is no longer making during or after menopause—most commonly estrogen, progesterone, and sometimes testosterone.

Used appropriately, it can:
• Manage symptoms like hot flashes, insomnia, mood swings, vaginal dryness, and brain fog
• Prevent or slow osteoporosis
• Support libido, mental clarity, and energy levels
• Improve quality of life when menopause feels like a full-time job with no PTO

🧬 Hormones Involved:
• Estrogen: The lead actor. Comes in pills, patches, creams, gels, sprays, and rings.
• Progesterone: If you have a uterus, this is a must as it prevents estrogen from causing overgrowth in the uterine lining (which can lead to cancer).
• Testosterone: Prescribed less frequently but sometimes added to support libido, muscle strength, and mental drive.

✅ The Pros:
• Reduces most menopausal symptoms (hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, etc.)
• Helps preserve bone density and reduce fracture risk
• May reduce cardiovascular and cognitive risk when started early (within 10 years of menopause)
• Can significantly boost quality of life

⚠️ The Cons and Side Effects:
Not recommended for everyone (especially if you have):
• A personal or strong family history of breast cancer
• A history of blood clots, stroke, or heart disease
• Liver disease or certain autoimmune conditions

Side effects may include:
• Breast tenderness
• Bloating
• Mood changes
• Breakthrough bleeding
• Headaches (especially with oral estrogen)
• Most side effects are dose-related and often resolve with adjustments.

📅 How Long Do You Stay on HRT?

There’s no set expiration date. Here’s what most experts agree on:
• Start early, ideally within 10 years of menopause onset (usually before age 60).
• Stay on it as long as benefits outweigh the risks—for many women, that’s 5–10 years, sometimes longer.
• After age 60–65, risks may increase depending on personal health history, but some women continue long-term safely under close medical supervision.
• You can taper off gradually—or not at all—based on your symptoms and your provider’s guidance.

Important: Stopping HRT doesn’t mean symptoms won’t return. For some, they do. For others, they don’t. It’s a very personal equation.

🧨 Why the Hysteria?

Blame the 2002 Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study. It prematurely stopped a major trial on combined estrogen-progestin HRT, citing increased risk of breast cancer, heart disease, and stroke.

The problems:
• Most participants were over 60 and years past menopause.
• The form of HRT used (oral equine estrogen + synthetic progestin) isn’t the only option.
• Estrogen-only users (with no uterus) had reduced breast cancer risk.
• Media took the data, sensationalized it, and the fallout scared women—and doctors—off HRT for decades.

Today’s evidence is far more nuanced, safer, and individualized.

👩‍⚕️ Talk to Your Provider If:
• You’re experiencing symptoms that interfere with daily life
• You’re unsure about your risk factors or health history
• You want to explore non-hormonal or bioidentical options
• You’ve been on HRT for a while and wonder about tapering

🛠️ Quick Tips:
• Consider your timing: Starting within 10 years of menopause yields best outcomes.
• Use the lowest effective dose: More isn’t always better.
• Reevaluate annually: HRT isn’t one-and-done—check in every year.
• Explore different delivery methods: Patches and creams may offer fewer side effects than oral options.
• Personalize it: What works for your best friend may not work for you—and that’s okay.

You don’t need to be afraid of HRT. You need to be informed. This isn’t a moral decision or a trend—it’s a medical option. Get the facts, check the risks, and decide based on your body, not someone else’s fear. Estrogen isn’t the enemy. It’s the loss of it—without options—that’s the problem. HRT won’t make you 30 again, but it might make you feel like you again. And that’s worth exploring.

08/13/2025

Day 20
Mood Swings and Mayhem
Christine Aman MBA, MSN, APRN, NP-c
inspired-lifewellness.com

⚔️ Survival Log 18: The Hormonal Hunger Games

Where everything you crave makes symptoms worse—and everything you “should” do requires energy you don’t have. – And yes, this is somewhat of a repeat, because its IMPORTANT!

Welcome to the cruel comedy of menopause, where:
• You’re told to sleep, but can’t.
• You’re told to exercise, but feel like you’ve been hit by a truck.
• You’re told to eat healthy, but your cravings are plotting a sugar coup.
• You’re told to lose weight, but your body’s like, “Absolutely not.”

This phase of life can feel like you’re constantly failing a wellness test written by someone who’s never had night sweats or surprise incontinence.

🔄 Why It’s All Fighting With Itself:

Hormonal shifts affect every system—endocrine, neurological, digestive, and metabolic. So the usual “fixes” don’t work the way they used to. Cortisol (your stress hormone) spikes more easily, estrogen plummets, and progesterone goes MIA… which disrupts appetite, energy, mood, metabolism, and sleep. And round and round we go.

😵 The Vicious Loops:
• Crave sugar → eat sugar → feel worse → crave more
• Too tired to move → feel worse from not moving
• Can’t sleep → can’t function → rely on caffeine → sleep even worse
• Try to lose weight → restrict calories → metabolism tanks

🛠️ What You Can Do:
• Break one loop at a time: Don’t try to fix everything at once. Choose one thing—like improving sleep, or walking 10 minutes a day—and let momentum build.
• Fuel, don’t deprive: Nourishing your body consistently is more powerful than crash diets or guilt-driven restriction.
• Rest is productive: Seriously. It repairs hormones, calms the nervous system, and helps you not yell at strangers.
• Cut the perfectionism: You’re not a robot. You’re doing your best in a wildly shifting body.
• Find your non-negotiables: Whether it’s hydration, morning sunlight, or protein with breakfast—build stability one step at a time.
• Laugh at the absurdity: Because sometimes that’s the only cardio you’re getting today.

This phase isn’t linear, tidy, or fair. But it’s not impossible. You’re not lazy, broken, or weak. You’re navigating a chemical war zone—with style.