It's the little things.

*Trigger warning - mentions suicidal thoughts*

Whether I am running training, working 1:1 or speaking at events, people will often hear me say that ‘.. it’s the small changes that can make the biggest difference…’

Many times this is met with a little skepticism, especially when people are dealing with big challenges. I am asked regularly, how can something so simple, make a such a different to the way I am feeling.

Most of the time when people come to work with me, they re feeling very low, anxious and los and wonder how a small change can make a difference to that? When challenged to try it - many people are pleasantly surprised.

The best way I can illustrate it, is to tell you about an unexpected phone call I recently had. It was a lovely lady who I met at a networking event earlier that week who said she had been trying to track me down for months.

She told she attended an event where I was giving a keynote speech.

She had been struggling for a couple of years with terrible peri-menopausal symptoms in particular, crippling anxiety that she had not experienced before. This was so bad, she finding it almost impossible to function on a daily basis and to the point where she was experiencing suicidal thoughts and feelings.

As she was listening to my talk, she took on board what I was saying about the impact of caffeine in your diet during menopause, particularly if you are having sleep issues and/or experiencing mood issues.

She told me during our phone call …’So I decided to stop drinking caffeinated drinks and I have not had an anxious episode ever since. I wanted you to know that you guidance changed my life!

I wat thrilled to hear that she had got something so incredibly impactful from the talk and the suggestions made had made such a difference to her anxiety - by simply changing ONE thing.

Now, I fully appreciate that this will not be true for everyone who experiences anxiety, whether you are menopausal or not, and for many, there will need to be a number of changes . support mechanisms or strategies put in place to help, but for some - like this lady, one small change can literally be life changing.

When I talk about the impact of caffeine and alcohol on menopausal symptoms and mood related issues, I joke about sucking the fun out of everyones’s life when I say it, but reading what you have today - would you change the way you look at caffeinated drinks in managing your symptoms?

What is one small change that you can commit to making today, that will make a difference to something you are currently experiencing?

Food for thought?…….