there is no dark side of the moon, really. matter of fact, it's all dark.

Saturday, 02/27/16, 2:46, 6:27pm; Sunday, 02/28/16, 7:11am

I'm going to talk about something that may make some people uncomfortable. But it too, like depression, should be talked about. I'm going to talk about periods. Menstruation, "that time of the month", or my personal favorite, Aunt Flo is in town. Guess what? All those feelings of discomfort, embarrassment, cheeks growing red? Those are due to shame.

Why the hell do we think we should be ashamed of periods? I mean COME. ON. They are a biological process that female bodies undergo. They are a critical cycle within the bigger picture of reproducing. Yeah that's right, important for having babies. Something totally natural and honestly, instinctual.

So I don't get why we have to get all embarrassed about periods. Sure, it can feel and look a bit gross, but it's not dirty. (Now I'm sure others could argue that we don't talk about peeing and pooping regularly, but I'm not sure that's healthy either. How many people develop symptoms of colon cancer, but refuse to get checked out out of embarrassment to talk about their pooping with someone? Natural stuff people, get over the shame, for all our sakes.)

The reason I wanted to talk about periods, though, is because I tend to realize my period's coming by a change in mood and higher likelihood for depression. This is most likely the entire reason for my string of bad days this week. Ugh. That is not fun to experience every single month. I guess knowing this about myself allows me to try to do something about it. If I was really good, I'd get better about mood journaling and comparing my mood to changes in my cycle. Then I could really up those activities that help me when I know my period is coming: things like exercise, blogging, eating right, getting enough sleep.

I've had some not so great cramping today here and there, but I know that some women have much more severe period pains. I read an article recently about how period pain tends to get ignored in the medical industry. Yet some people say the pain can be as bad as a heart attack. So again, I ask, why can't we talk about this? Just make this a part of the conversation.

I suppose I'm done talking about periods for now. I hope you stayed with me. Because everyone needs to chill out about them. Whether or not you are a woman, or you just know some or are raising some, it's worth knowing about and appreciating the difficulties of menstruation.