Struggling to increase the menopause competency of your inner circle?
Play Menopausy Monopoly!
When was the last time you played a game?
We’ve been a die-hard Monopoly family since our girls were 6 & 8. Come to think of it, my Monopoly love affair goes back even further~ Santa brought me my first Monopoly board in 1979.
Even now with our girls fully grown, any visit back home includes a minimum of 1 full day dedicated to Monopoly.
MONOPOLY DEAL
During COVID our affair with Monopoly became a full-blown obsession in the form of Monopoly Deal. It’s a $10 card game version. Best ten bucks ever. By a few hundred games in… I did say obsession…. we realised a theme: Never give up. Exactly the message we all need to hear during such times of uncertainty with this epidemic.
Again and again, game after game you are reminded: NEVER GIVE UP, which was a crucial message for me during my early struggles with genitourinary dryness during perimenopause.
One minute you can be feeling dejected in the throes of defeat assured the world will engulf you. And the much like the menopausal hormonal rollercoaster, suddenly with the deal of three new cards, the tide turns. You are the victor quashing all doubt fully rejecting the despair from only moments before.
Never give up.
As a result, we simply can’t break up with Monopoly Deal.
MENOPAUSY MONOPOLY
However, this long weekend has revealed a rival. Blogger and quilter Lucy Adams has created an ingenious Monopoly hack entitled Menopausy – Menopause Monopoly.
Remember my post about Men, Menopause & the Jims in our lives who lack understanding regarding The Menopause? Lucy’s Menopausy hack is the perfect antidote. If your immediate family need to learn a little more about menopause, Menopausy can deliver the lesson with laughter.
Get thee to an op shop to nab a second hand Monopoly board. Or dig that disused old Monopoly game out from the back of your cupboard. There are templates for you to attach to the board to guide the rest of your inner circle through the woes and the joys of this chapter of life.
We don’t talk about what we’re going through with menopause enough. Not with our girlfriends, not with our families. Now is the time to giggle your way through a game of Menopausy.
Don’t limit play to just your family circle, Menopausy Monopoly has Girls Night written all over it. Get your girlfriends together and work your way around the board over a bottle or two of wine.
Regardless of your chosen audience, laughter is guaranteed.
Avoid landing on Irritability Avenue or Night Sweat Drive. Try not to get sent directly to Hormone Hell. Hopefully you’ll be the one who gets to own Quiet Corner and Balanced Boardwalk!
The Chance and Community Chest cards are as clever as the rest of the board. You can get a ‘Day of Pampering’ or even a ‘Full Night’s Sleep’. Have fun if ‘Your Libido Temporarily Resurfaces’. Beware being elected the ‘Menopausal B*tch of the Year’. With a bit of luck you might even ‘Remember Where You Left Your Car Keys’.
LAUGHTER
We stopped playing games as often after the kids fled the coop. That initial COVID shutdown rekindled our love of games.
Rediscover an old favourite or try a new game. For us, in addition to receiving the message of Never Give Up courtesy of Monopoly Deal, playing together served a poignant reminder that we all need to laugh together more. Especially as we age.
In conclusion laughter makes anything we’re facing better, even menopause.
You’ve got this!
