Andropause...The "male equivalent to menopause"!
I just so happened to be on Manitoulin Island (one of my favorite places in the world) this past weekend; after one of those "sunday drive" kind of going nowhere days. The Island is about 2 hours from Sudbury, my home town. After a great prime rib dinner at the Anchor Inn in Little Current, I bought the local paper on the way out of the restaurant, on a whim, just for someone to have something to read on a sunny Sunday evening ride back home.
I guess I miss the island after a whole winter of not going to it, and wanted to "catch up" on islander life by reading their"local rag".
There was an article in there that was titled "Wellness Corner" and in it, the author described the "men's health" issue of Andropause. He went on to describe the statistics of those who "suffer" or are "afflicted" with andropause and to describe the following symptoms: decreased strength, decreased endurance, decreased libido, decreased sexual performance, dysphoria (restlessness), fatigue, loss of self-esteem, increased anxiety, difficulty in concentration, forgetfulness, insomnia, and an altered state of well-being. Phew!!! sign me up for that one, right away! Sounds like a ton of fun! I was especially interested because apparently at my age (40+) I am at risk of "suffering" from Andropause!? You tell me, with guys like that around, don't you think there should be statistics on how many women suffer because of this "disease" too!? ha ha - I jest...
Now, it's not my intention here to besmirch the author or diminish the importance of men paying attention to their health more than they do; I just found this too juicy to leave to the very low level consideration and conversation that allows us to leave what seems to be, to me, more about loud "signals from the inner self" to mere medical/physical profiling and symptomology.
I wonder what we might discover about ourselves (men), after living some 40+ years and more, if we were to consider what else these "signals", this "information", can tell me about my life and the results I'm getting? Maybe, we might discover that after some 40+ years, that living the way we "always have" (history - past) is not working the same way for me as I move forward (future)?!
Maybe we might find that it is extremely tiring, even exhausting, to keep pushing and moving "against the grain", swiming upstream, instead of going with our "natural flow"?
How is having a condition like "andropause" useful and intelligent? Can my body be telling me that it's time to "stop" or slow down and take a good look at how I'm living my life, and if anything in it is really what I intended for myself? When we are unwilling to tell ourselves our own truth about how we are, or how we feel about our "situation", is it any wonder that our bodies end up paying for it?! ...and then dish it back to us, in louder and louder signals, until we hear the call, or not?
I was also struck by the closeness (a gestalt for me) of the combined words "Android pause"! that's me, I'm weird like that, to see things where others might not...
And after I stopped giggling, I started seeing the similarities between just "going through the motions" (like an android) and "suffering", eventually, from the symptoms of "Andropause".
And, what might we discover if we would allow ourselves to "wake up" from our slumber, and take an "android pause" (or pause from being androids) to really living, to really going deep and allowing ourselves to admit the things we really want for ourselves, to allow ourselves to make wish lists for our lives and turn those into realities!? whether they be about the friends we have, the relationships we're in, the kind of neighborhood, job, conditions we're in?!!
Take an android pause. Take a break from living numb, being quiet, or quieted, if only for an hour or two, to allow yourself to rekindle that fire that burns deep within and ignite the passions of your life and be kind to yourself and others all-the-while...
creating at the rhythm of my breath,
RAY