Becky Andrews - Serenity & Sage

Becky Andrews - Serenity & Sage A creative approach to living with chronic pain. Changing the narrative and reclaiming a language relevant to the feminine experience of pain.

I'm trying to catch the little changes in my garden each morning. Once in bloom, the poppies lose their petals so quickl...
15/05/2024

I'm trying to catch the little changes in my garden each morning. Once in bloom, the poppies lose their petals so quickly. Blink, and they're gone for another year. But I love this stage, when they are bursting with promise of the magnificent display to come ❤️

These gorgeous poppies were transplanted from our old house to new house last year. The garden at the new house was a wi...
24/05/2023

These gorgeous poppies were transplanted from our old house to new house last year. The garden at the new house was a wilderness when we moved in. It's still not perfect but I'm slowly making it more beautiful, and most of the plants that were moved here have come up bigger and brighter this Spring! There has to be an analogy somewhere in that about old roots flourishing in new soil, but my post-menopausal brain is too mushy today to extract anything meaningful ☺️ Happy though that my garden is starting to feel more like my old haven.

Menopause can be an isolated and lonely place to be. It can feel like you're the only one going through it. Until you ta...
23/03/2023

Menopause can be an isolated and lonely place to be. It can feel like you're the only one going through it. Until you talk to other women and realise that what you are experiencing is quite normal for midlife. It's a common theme that has come up during the Menopause and Self-Care sessions with Inspiring Yarns - talking about your Menopause symptoms with other women also going through this transitional period of life can help lighten the mental and emotional load.

So during the remainder of March, and into April, Inspiring Yarns are now running one hour Zoom workshops where you can drop in and discuss any aspect of Menopause that you like - symptoms or worries. You can be in any stage of Menopause - pre, peri, or post - and you can have attended our previous sessions or be a total newbie. You can drop into one Zoom session, or participate in them all. You can bring a cup of tea and your latest knitting project, or you can come just as you are.

These sessions are supported by the Public Health Agency through the Clear Project. If you are interested in joining us, you can book (FREE) through the link in the Inspiring Yarns Instagram bio, or on their website www.inspiringyarns.co.uk/events ❤

The lovely ladies at Inspiring Yarns] have added a series of one hour zoom sessions throughout March and into April, for...
20/03/2023

The lovely ladies at Inspiring Yarns] have added a series of one hour zoom sessions throughout March and into April, for you to drop-in and chat about Menopause and how it is making you feel. We want to normalise talking about Menopause to combat isolation and loneliness during what can be a difficult phase of life, so these support sessions are informal to put you at ease. You can be at any stage of Menopause, just bring yourself, a cup of something warm, and even your latest yarn project to show off ❤️ The link to book is in the Inspiring Yarns] bio.

It's just another Meno-Monday here at Serenity and Sage, and it's been another week of pretty bad sleep, but mostly sel...
20/02/2023

It's just another Meno-Monday here at Serenity and Sage, and it's been another week of pretty bad sleep, but mostly self-inflicted as I have been working into the wee hours most nights.

Cue this week's Meno-Monday tips - Five things to ban (or restrict) for a good night's sleep. Easier said than done, but I'm going to give it a shot this week. Numbers 2 and 5 are my downfall - what about you?

Hope your week is off to a good start and wishing you a day of Serenity and Joy 🌿

It's just another Meno-Monday and another week of sleep struggles! I have been sleeping better but still not honouring ...
13/02/2023

It's just another Meno-Monday and another week of sleep struggles! I have been sleeping better but still not honouring my need for an earlier bedtime, so I'm not getting my quota of 7-9 hours.

I have been moving into new business premises since last Tuesday and trying to juggle the stress of that with getting orders out on schedule, and making time for family commitments. Hence very late nights at the computer and reduced productivity the next day. I'm my own worst enemy because my pain levels are off the chart as a result.

Revisiting these benefits of really great sleep this week to nudge me into better sleep habits for the week ahead.

Hoping your week is off to a good start and wishing you a day of Serenity and Joy 🌿

Good morning, its just another Meno Monday here. Sleep can be a rare and precious commodity when you live with chronic ...
06/02/2023

Good morning, its just another Meno Monday here. Sleep can be a rare and precious commodity when you live with chronic pain, and then when you throw midlife and menopause into the mix, getting enough of it can be a real struggle. 

It's a myth that we need less sleep as we progress into our later years. But we can find it increasingly difficult to get our necessary seven to nine hours as we get older because we naturally wake earlier at this time of life. Therefore if we don't honour the need for an earlier bedtime, we won't get our full quota of restorative sleep which studies show can lead to a number of health problems in the long term.

A good night's sleep has been evading me since before Christmas, and it's a bit of a vicious circle - pain can prevent sleep, and lack of sleep can increase pain. So this month I am revisiting the subject for Meno Mondays to see if it can help me get back on track. This week I'm highlighting just five ways that poor sleep can adversely affect our health and then through the rest of the month I will focus on ways to improve the quality of our sleep and optimise the benefits that good sleep brings.

If you have any tips for  good sleep I would love for you to share them.

Hoping that everyone's week is off to a good start and wishing you a day of serenity and joy.

Good morning! After a long break (it's a long story) I am resuscitating Meno-Mondays, so I will be showing up here every...
30/01/2023

Good morning! After a long break (it's a long story) I am resuscitating Meno-Mondays, so I will be showing up here every Monday morning with a dose of practical advice and tips for navigating midlife hormonal change and managing the M-word - because, let's face it, when you already live with a chronic pain condition you sure as heck don't need the added stress of also having to battle Menopause alone!

I will be touching on a different menopause issue each month, as before, but for today I'm coming at you with 6 really big reasons we need to talk about Menopause. Partly because tonight I am kicking off a new round of the Menopause and Self-Care sessions with the lovely ladies at designed to initiate conversation around menopause in a relaxed group setting, breaking the taboo combating isolation, and raising awareness of menopause issues in an open and engaging way. Also because later this week I will be sharing my latest blog post on this very subject.

Inspiring Yarns will be releasing more dates for the Menopause and Self-Care sessions soon so keep an eye on their page, and I will also be sharing details here.

Hoping that everyone's week is off to a good start and wishing you all a day of Serenity and Joy! 🌿

Last week I found these hyacinth bulbs in the bottom of a dusty box in the shed, where they got thrown 5 months ago when...
23/10/2022

Last week I found these hyacinth bulbs in the bottom of a dusty box in the shed, where they got thrown 5 months ago when we were packing to move home. So I potted them and moved them to our bedroom windowsill hoping they might revive. A week later, and just look at those little shoots reaching for the light!

I always feel awe and wonder when I witness these little miracles of God in our daily lives.

For he is life breaking through 🌿

First time the wellies have been on since we moved to the new house. So having got the inside organised it's time to tur...
05/09/2022

First time the wellies have been on since we moved to the new house. So having got the inside organised it's time to turn my attention to the outside. The garden is a much more manageable size than our last but it is like a wilderness of dry earth, patchy grass and a multitude of weeds. Not a single flower in sight.

Thanks to that torrential downpour of rain last night the ground has softened a bit so I'm taking advantage of that to dig out a couple of flowerbeds. It's probably going to take a while 🤣

No longer MIA and still smiling! It's been nearly four weeks since I last posted so thank you for sticking around 😊So we...
02/09/2022

No longer MIA and still smiling! It's been nearly four weeks since I last posted so thank you for sticking around 😊

So we finally moved into our new home three weeks ago, at the end of a 3-month downsizing marathon which saw us let go of 38 pieces of furniture (yes really!), countless boxes of possessions and numerous bags of clothing. It was stressful, it was emotional, it was exhausting, it was physically painful. But it was also freeing and liberating. I don't miss those things that were cluttering up my life and sapping my energy one little bit.

We are settling in nicely, and this wee ray of sunshine loves Granny's new streamlined home! I'm going to start easing myself back into work next week and letting you know what's going on with Serenity and Sage, and I'm looking forward to catching up with what everyone has been doing over the summer ❤️

Wishing you all a day of Serenity and Joy 🌿

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