Identity - Menopause And Your Life: Menopause

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

Identity

As you approach menopause, you've spent at least 20 to 30 years defining your adult identity. A well-established role as a mother, wife, or career woman may shift as your children pack their bags for college or independent lives, your marriage changes with the years, and young people surround you in the workplace or start families of their own. A woman who felt secure in her identity may now feel the sands shifting beneath her feet. In the workplace she may feel the need to begin to mentor younger colleagues. Or she may seek to define herself in new ways — exploring her artistic talent, starting a business, or even returning to school to start a whole new career. Volunteer work in the community may begin to take on greater importance as childrearing responsibilities lessen.

Adjusting to the changing face in the mirror can be daunting, as more wrinkles and gray hairs appear. The combination of lifestyle changes and some of the physical symptoms women experience during menopause also may put stress on a marriage or partnership. Couples may need to take a new look at their relationships and make adjustments or find new activities to do together and separately as they move into their later years.

Last updated:	August 13, 2007