So Matt, you're on my podcast and I'm very excited to talk to
you because my husband introduced me to you.
Actually, he was scrolling through Instagram as you do in a
very romantic way in the evening.
And it was the one about being an entrepreneur and having loads
of emails. And it's like, oh, don't disturb
me. I've got the same the same other
day and he was showing it with my family and going, this is
your mother. And it was quite funny and so,
and it was a great, great note of video.
And it, it is how I work because I have lots of things going on.
I've, you know, my mission is to improve the global health of
women. And there are lots of women and,
you know, so I'm very busy. But then once I started looking
at your account, then suddenly you're wearing a wig and you're
being a perimenopausal woman. And it's just the most amazing
thing and you have so much engagement.
So I, I'm really keen to talk to you about like, why are you
doing this and, and what, what the response has been.
And like, just tell me a bit about you.
OK, well, I'm, I'm a comedian first.
Yeah, well, I'm a husband first, I suppose.
But. Yes, well done but right answer.
You ask a comedian, no, they're always going to make themselves
comic first. So, so my main thing is I've
just been trying to be a comedy writer, comedian for years and
I've tried a lot of different things.
And so I write scripts. I do stand up also and, and I
also love social media and I love the immediacy of it and I
love making videos and I've made a lot of different kinds of
videos over the years. Actually, I made that
Entrepreneur video a couple of years ago.
And. On December 23rd, so I like try
like a lot of different things on Instagram, like what we'll
see, what we'll hit. And it's been a long road to be
honest with you. So on December 23rd, I made a
video that was like tips for men whose wives are going to
perimenopause was like, don't chew as much, don't be around as
much. But I was just kind of like
trying to be funny And, and I didn't really think much of the
video. Like I was just like, you just
trying to be like, Oh, I haven't made a video in a while.
I got to stay alive. I got to do something to feel
creative, to be funny. So I made that video and that
blew up. And then I was like followed up
with a how to say happy New Years to your perimenopausal
wife. And then that blew up.
And I was like, Oh yeah, if everyone loves the wife stuff,
I'm going to repost the entrepreneur 1.
And this one where I'm being my wife in the drive, in the
passenger seat in the car because she's a huge backseat
driver and it's very annoying. And and then those blew up.
And then I was like, all right, I'm just going to keep the wig
on and be my wife and keep going with this with perimenopause and
entrepreneur and mental load. And that's what happened.
And now and then this I started growing and all these women were
coming out of the woodwork being like, she is us, we are her.
Like it was like an I am Spartacus moment.
And like I was like in there were like, you're, you see me, I
feel validated and I was like, OK, you know, and I love it.
And I get like really nice messages from women and men and
men. They're like, are we?
I show your video to my husband and now he understands me more.
And but my main thing was like, to be funny.
I wasn't trying to become like the king of perimenopause, you
know, and but I'll wear that crown if I have to.
Oh, I'm really happy about it. I'm really happy that people are
getting something out of them. They think it's funny.
And I my wife loves it. I show her them to her before I
post to make sure. Yeah, yeah.
You're cool with this? She's cool with it.
She loves seeing the success of it.
She gives me, helps me. It gives me ideas sometimes.
So that's basically I'm a comedian 1st and then and this
is something that hit and this has now become my lane and I'm
sticking with it. It's great, isn't?
It Yeah, I love it. Yeah, it's very interesting
because I've, I've written a few books and my first book on
menopause was probably about six years ago and it was Penguin
that was my publisher and I wanted to have perimenopause on
the, on the cover. So not just menopause.
And they said, no, it's too long a word, you can't do it.
No one uses that word. And I said, well, OK, if you
wanna publish my book, you have the word perimenopause on.
And it's really interesting cause a lot of people still
don't know what it is or what's going on.
Menopause has always been about stopping periods and hot
flushes, whereas actually the perimenopause, the lead up to
the menopause, is often far worse for women because you get
these real shifts and changes in hormone levels.
And the biggest symptoms are the most commonest and most severe
symptoms are those affecting the brain and mental health.
And so, so many women have been misunderstood for decades
because they have been misdiagnosed with anxiety and
depression. And it's all in your head and it
can't be, it can't be your hormones 'cause you're still
having your periods. So it's so interesting because I
feel very strongly that women are really intuitive and
actually give them the information.
They can work it out themselves, but often they haven't had the
information. So what you're doing is, is
completely just validating them and that you're allowing them to
be heard and understood, which perhaps they haven't been
before. Well, you know, I've always
thought of myself as a healer and I'm just, I love that.
I mean, yeah. Like, I it's good to be doing
something that's funny and doing something helpful that is
beneficial to people. Like I didn't go into comedy to
be any kind of like, you know, validation, source of validation
for any gender. But I but now that it's
happening, I'm really into it and I really like it and I like
it. It feels doubly good.
It feels good to get a laugh. And then it feels doubly good
for it to have this like positive effect, you know?
And one thing I'll say also is that I didn't even realize until
my wife was going through this that I think what most people
think about, like perimenopause is actually most of the period
that it feels like a woman is in.
Like the menopause is what like when the period ends.
I'm using period in two different ways.
But like a period era and then period your period and then like
but like menopause, correct me if I'm wrong, is like when your
period stops and maybe for like a year after.
Well, this is what's interesting actually, because it's
officially when people have been a year since their last period.
But it's just bullshit, excuse my language, because like, why
should we be defined by our periods?
And a lot of women, if they've had, for example, a
hysterectomy, they're never going to have periods.
So you can't work it out. So it's really related to our
hormone levels being low and they stay low forever.
So actually a woman is menopausal forever and that lot
of people think it's just a transition.
And then you come out the other side.
And as you know, one of the things I'm very interested in is
the protective roles of our hormones in our body.
So even if people don't have symptoms, they have health risks
of not having those hormones because they're very
anti-inflammatory in their body. And often when our hormone
levels stabilize, you know, whether they're stable level,
stable, high pregnancy or stable sort of middle of the road,
people often don't get symptoms because the body sort of
acclimatize is really, it's a bit like if you're hungry
initially your brain is like on OverDrive telling you how hungry
you are. And after a while you just, it
just accommodates and it just sort of adapts.
And it's the same as menopause actually.
The body can adapt, but it will often be in a different level
than a different gear. And obviously, is there more
inflammation? But in perimenopause, hormone
levels, especially estradiol, but also testosterone and
progesterone, really do fluctuate.
And it's a bit similar to women before they have their periods.
They can get real changes in their hormone levels just before
their periods. So those symptoms are the same
because of the changing hormone levels.
Yeah. Yeah, I imagine must be like a
lot of before this was gaining more such awareness.
I bet there's, like, a lot of, like, divorce and like, you
know, marriage conflict and everything without the
understanding, like, I could imagine that husbands are like,
my wife's. My wife's crazy.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, the problem is,
you know, it's really sad because the divorce rate
increases in the 40s, but we know that a lot of couples, I
see so many couples who have just their relationships falling
apart. And, and it's not because they
don't love each other, they just can't tolerate each other in the
same way and they don't realise what's going on.
And, you know, I, I was Perry Menopausal about 11 years ago
and, you know, just just looking at the way my husband ate food
and listening to him breathing was just the most frustrating
thing ever. It's really hard to explain.
I had an argument once and I've got three daughters and I, we're
really close. I've known my husband since I
was 18, but he we were having breakfast one morning at our
hotel and another surgeon came over to talk to him and they
just had a nice chat. And then he left.
And I said to Paul, who's this guy?
And he went, well, you've met him before.
Why were you rude? Why didn't you talk to him?
I said, because like, you'd never introduced me.
He said, no, well, you've met him recently.
I said, well, I don't remember. So rather than leaving it like
that, I just went on and on and on at him.
And he said, let's move away from the restaurant because he's
making a bit of a scene here. And when there was a staircase
going up to the bedroom and I was still on the staircase
shouting up at him because go on.
And my children were in front of me.
Like it was just the weirdest thing.
I'm not really a shouting person, but just remember it so
vividly. And it was like I had this demon
in my head saying it's fine. You carry on shouting because
he's awful and you don't need to him and you're fine.
And you know, and if he had said to me, right, Louise, I'm
leaving you, I would have gone good.
Just go because I really had enough.
Like this is just ridiculous. And even my children, one of
them says she was so scared because she'd never heard me
shout out before and was saying, oh, my thinking to herself, oh,
gosh, I think mommy and daddy going to divorce and what am I
going to do? Because I don't want to stay
with her because she's being really horrible.
But Daddy can't cook and he's what should I do?
And he's and they're really young and it.
Yeah. But it does make me realize that
the impact of that is totally really hard for for like both
sexes really in different ways. Yeah, without the awareness of
what's going on. I mean, my, I've had like, it
was like a year or so ago, it was a win.
It was winter was around holiday time.
And like my wife was like, I don't know, she was pissed off
at me about something and she gave me this.
I thought I was getting divorced.
He was like, I don't feel, I don't feel appreciated.
I don't feel taken care of. She's like, I'm done.
You don't like think about me. Like, you know, this whole
tirade and I felt like shit and I was like, wow.
And she's like, you know, just, she's like, I don't know, like I
don't know, she like kind of left the conversation like I
don't know, like it like balls, like it's in your hands now, you
know, And I was like, I don't even know what to do.
Like I don't even not really sure like where this came from.
And like, I mean, I could kind of like, you know, I kind of
know. I mean, like, if that wasn't
she's speaking English, so I'm hearing all the words, but like,
but and then I was like, so I don't know, like a month later I
said or did something in the way along the lines of like what I
thought she had been talking about in that conversation.
I was like, you know, because I was trying to do this because
of, well, you know, the conversation we had.
And she was like, what conversation?
It's like the one where you were on the verge of leaving me, you
know, remember that one Just like, I don't know.
Well, anyway, you know, so it was like, it was like
conversations like that and like we're.
And yeah. So she can get like, really
pissed off. And then like, it's like a
spell, like, kind of like you were describing, you know, and
and it's wonderful, you know, it's great.
I'm just happy to be here, you know, part of everything.
Sabi, she's still with me, but the awareness helps because, you
know, periods men get used to if you're within a relationship,
oh, it's that time of the month. I can see like it's happening
again or whatever. But with the perimenopause,
you're like, it's not the time of the month.
So like what's going on, you know, and then you're just, you
feel crazy and I have to go to another room to eat cereal.
Also, I'm not allowed to eat in the same room with her.
So, and sometimes I'm just like, like I was taking a picture of
our floor, our bathroom floor. And I was like, oh, she's like,
what are you doing? I was like, I'm just taking some
pictures of forum upload. I want to upload the ChatGPT to
see if they know how it can be fixed.
And she's like, why are you doing that?
And I was like, why can't I do it?
You know, like I'm not like hiring, I'm not spending any
money. I'm just literally seeing if it
has any ideas about how to fix it.
And it's like those moments when I'm like, that's also
perimenopausal, where she's just annoyed with me, with whatever
I'm doing. It has no effect on her or our
life. But something about what I'm
doing is horrible. Yeah.
It's triggering, yeah. Yeah.
And I think, you know, it's really difficult for partners
and you know, partners of any gender because I have quite a
lot of patients are in the same sex relationships and you know,
they're both of them are perimenopausal and they're.
Really good. I've been wondering about that
too. I I wrote in my notes that I
keep like like comedy ideas. It's like how do how do you know
same sex partners deal with this that?
Would be insane. They have different often people
have everyone's experience is different.
So the symptoms can be different and you know, they it can be
really difficult. I've had some patients who
you've just treated one of them and they feel really well and
then the other one maybe is a bit younger or different and
then starts, but then they can recognize it a lot quicker.
But it it's very difficult. It can be very disconcerting
because it's also very hard to tease out.
You know, is it because, you know, I've been with my husband
for decades. Is it is it because of that or
is it because of that or is it something else?
And if you've got children, then how do you know what's going on?
Because life's busy and everything.
But one of my big issues is that women have often been gaslit and
told, oh, you're like this because you're stressed, because
you've got three children, because you're working full
time, because because they never say that to my husband.
And it's like, hang on. I've I've always coped with
having three children and a busy job.
So something else has changed. And then I think if people
realize that it could be a hormonal imbalance, the next
thing is thinking about what can I do about the imbalance?
Because women shouldn't be suffering and neither should the
men who are watching them suffer really.
So that's the biggest problem is that the majority of women who
are perimenopausal are still not able to access evidence based
treatment, which is just wrong. So there's all this needless
suffering that's going on and women have to work it out for
themselves. I know it stinks, although it's
starting, it's seemingly it's, I mean, I'm not the only account
I've seen talk about perimenopause on Instagram.
So it seems like it's getting more awareness now, which is
good. I imagine it's even like doubly
difficult if you are the spouse who's not going through
perimenopause. Then if your, if your partner's
like, I'm really pissed off at you and it's not my period and
I'm not, it's not perimenopause. It's actually just you like,
like, then you start to be like, I hope it.
I hope it is. You start to pray.
Like maybe this is just perimenopause that she actually
doesn't make, you know, because then it's like, but yeah, I
mean, I see. I see it happening more, which
is good. I mean, I didn't even know about
it until my wife was going through it.
I'd never heard of the word. I heard of menopause.
I never heard the word Perry. No, a lot of people don't, but
it is interesting because it can work both ways in relationships.
I remember many years ago a lady came back to me and she said I'd
like to thank you because I've now divorced my husband and Oh
dear. Well, she said, well, I suddenly
started to feel so much better on my hormones.
I had a real solid look at myself and thought, what am I
doing with this person that I actually haven't enjoyed being
with for the last five years? But I didn't have the energy, I
didn't have the space, I didn't have the motivation to leave
him. And now I have because I feel
better. And I realised, you know, she
was only in her mid 40s. Should I realised I've got a
whole, you know, hopefully next chapter ahead of me.
And I, I felt really guilty as a doctor that I'd split up the
relationship in a weird way. But I've known her for many
years now and and then she's have this new lease of life.
I just think that's actually something that's, you know, can
be a positive thing as well. And it's interesting.
That's like a thank you menopause, like PSA or
something, you know, thank you. Most people think they're going
to lose out on life. So you get I got my life back
because of it. Yeah.
Hopefully that won't be my story.
No. Yeah.
No, I don't think so. Yeah, it's, it's rough out
there. So what what are the symptoms or
what are the things that you've learned about perimenopals that
have surprised you the most with what you're doing and the
feedback that you're guessing? I mean, I only have the
experience, my direct experience with with my partner, my wife,
so. But just the feedback on social
media for. Well, the feedback on social
media is just been, I got one negative response.
I, I had an interview in People magazine online, people online
and there's like one comment on it or maybe there's like 3, but
like, and the first one was what a self-righteous jerk.
And I was like, Oh, OK, well, so, and if I had gotten hundreds
of those, I would start to take a look at myself and be like,
what am I doing? But it's the only one.
Thank God. Most of them I get, I get and
comments on the videos that are like, I look forward to these.
I can't wait for them. The one this is me.
You understand us. She is her.
Oh my God, my like one of the things my wife says is her
coffee smells like tuna fish. It's like some weird
perimenopausal smell thing. Other people were like, my
coffee smells like tuna fish. Oh my God, the smells.
I did made one in perimenopausal Spidey sense of smell because I
think her smell is like sense of smell is insane.
She's like, there's like rotting water somewhere in the house,
you know, sounds like, oh, they should like work with the police
to like solve crimes or something.
And, and all women are like, that's me.
I'm having Oh my God, I thought I was going some of them like I,
I thought I was going crazy, you know, but no, that I now I
realize like, oh, it's maybe part of this.
Some women are like, I'm not going to pre menopause, but I'm
also experiencing this. But it's been a lot of like
positive validation, feeling seen that kind of thing.
And then, you know, like thinking it's funny also, which
is always good. Yeah, it's a great balance
because I don't feel that you're making fun of women, but you are
enabling them to think and understand and like you say,
feel validated. And and I've written a chapter
in my new book about women who aren't being listened to.
And that's the biggest problem actually, I think in healthcare
in that patients, especially women, and are not believed and
not listened to and not understood.
And as a doctor, you almost have a, a tick box of symptoms.
And if you know you get enough ticks, then they've got this
diagnosis. If they've got some other
symptoms, you've got that diagnosis.
And for so many of us, we haven't had really good training
in hormones and perimenopause. And so, you know, if if I was a
neurologist and someone came to me with tinnitus, ringing in the
ears and maybe some that you say some smell changes, I'd be
trying to work out the pathways in the brain, do a scan and work
out if there was, you know, a tumor or something going on that
was causing. And if the scan was normal, I
would say it's patient when it's normal, you're normal and they
would go well, no, I'm still having these symptoms.
If I was a cardiologist, I and someone had palpitations, I
would just focus on the heart and you can see it.
You know, medicine is very siloed.
So actually to have someone that can explain the reason for those
symptoms is incredibly validating.
Because otherwise you do almost drive yourself mad thinking
maybe I am making it up. You know, like, why would I make
up that my coffee smells of tuna fish?
You know what I mean? But if you're the only person
thinking that, then it's like, okay, well, maybe it's just me
being a bit weird, but you're validating and allowing other
people to go. Oh gosh.
And then, you know, we know that our hormones, progesterone,
estradiol and testosterone work everywhere.
So they affect the, the, the pathways from our nose to our
olfactory centre, which is what determines our, the way we
smell. And those pathways are disturbed
if you don't have hormones or you have fluctuating hormones.
So we know why it happens and and often people when they have
the right dose and type of hormones.
These symptoms really, really improve, but the first thing
about any diagnosis is, is making it, and if people aren't
looking at the bigger picture or doctors aren't, then women are
just being dismissed left, right and centre.
Yeah, it stinks. I it's, it's, it's terrible.
I feel bad. I think even with the awareness,
there's clearly still like a gap because I think that I probably
wouldn't be getting as much attention if it was more
mainstream. You know, I think women are
coming. Like when you see the videos,
they're like, oh, I'm not crazy. And even though I knew about
perimenopause, this is even, it drives it home.
They're like, I feel much better now.
So I think you're right. Like it's like all the more
awareness that we can get as as possible, I mean.
Yeah, I mean, it's great. One of the things I know it
sounds weird as a doctor is I actually don't like to prescribe
drugs that are necessary to people.
And, you know, one in three perimenopausal women, especially
in the US, are taking antidepressants for their
hormonal imbalance, which is just ridiculous actually, when
you think about it. Right.
That's, that's often because of the anxiety and their new mood
and people have misdiagnosed them with clinical depression
and forgotten about the role of hormones in the in the brain.
Yeah, it's really. Yeah, yeah.
So a lot of people have been medicalized inappropriately and
they've not had the knowledge to almost question and push back.
And I feel especially over the last year or two, women have
become more empowered so then they can make choices that are
right for them. And a lot of my work is just
imparting my knowledge so people can make those choices.
But I think when they have this light bulb moment, almost like
me shouting at my husband isn't because I hate him, it's
because, you know, the hormones are changing in my and in my
brain and, you know, just this weird behavior.
It's just different. And then they can join the dots
and then hopefully say to their doctor, a healthcare
professional, look, I'm getting XYZ symptoms.
I feel they're my hormones. Please can I talk to you about
hormones? Whereas before people would just
literally talk about 1 symptom and then the doctor would
compartmentalize it into one diagnosis and that's when often
they were given the wrong treatment.
I was going to say it feels lazy, but I suppose they're just
working with whatever they know. Well, this is the thing and I've
done the same for many years as a family physician.
You know, someone will come maybe with a urinary tract
infection and I'd go, OK, you've got an infection, have some
antibiotic. I didn't, wouldn't then say, oh,
you're having any palpitations. What's the mood like?
What's the sleep like? And that's why we've developed a
symptom questionnaire which people can fill out and then
work it out themselves because, you know, then they can say,
well, actually I'm having these urinary symptoms, but I'm also
having mood changes and I can't sleep whatever.
And I think it's my hormones because my periods of it all
over the place. And then, you know, as a doctor,
you want your patients to help you.
Do you know what I mean? It's so much more productive.
Yeah, totally. Especially if you're limited.
You know, I used to only have 10 minute consultations.
So you would focus very much on the problem that the patient
came with you. Where is that?
When the patients are more empowered, you can start in a
very different level. And I'm hoping, you know, that's
how with all your work, that it's just so brilliant that
women are then going back and thinking, right.
OK, I've worked out that it's it's not me going mad.
So what am I going to do about it?
Because the suffering is immense.
Like it's just awful for women where they have symptoms for
years and years. It's awful.
Well, my goal is that someone, a woman can walk into a doctor's
office and just be like, show her my video.
You know, this, this is this is how I feel.
Yeah. Do you do you find like is there
pushback on from male doctors about all this in London?
I don't know how if you speak to doctors around the world, but or
just in your city, like do you find that like they're less
accepting of your of these beliefs like?
I think male doctors, this is a generalization, are more
accepting than a lot of female doctors.
There's a lot of female doctors that are my age, you know, I
mean, I'm 55, but and my age and older and they've never had a
problem. They've never had a symptom.
So they just think it's all just ridiculous.
And quite a few doctors now have said to our patients or
menopause is just a fad. Perimenopause is just a just a,
a media term or it's just a buzzword, a new fashion
buzzwords. Yeah.
And and it's almost like because they don't.
Have so good. On I know it's like, what?
Because they didn't have a problem, they don't think it's
an issue. And I think that's a very
dangerous place to be as a doctor.
You know, I've never had psychosis, but does that mean I
can't treat people who've had a psychotic episode or somebody?
Like Empathy 101. Yeah, yeah.
So, so there's this sort of willful ignorance and blindness
that goes on, which I think is is really not very validating
for women. And so, and there's this
misunderstanding so much about menopause and hormone treatment.
It's just, you know, a sort of a celebrity drug that people take
rather than something that actually can really transform
the quality of life and improve their future health as well.
And, you know, we know from many studies that women who take
hormones live longer, which is huge, Like, and they have less
osteoporosis, they have less heart disease.
Like it's, it's massive, but it's somehow if doctors don't
know it, they don't tell their patients and then they're
dismissing them. You know, we, we have lots of
patients that are told you're too young to have symptoms.
It can't be your hormones. And like, that's no one's too
young. My youngest patient was 12 when
she became menopausal because her ovaries didn't develop
properly. Yeah, I know.
Yeah. So Can you imagine being
perimenopausal at school and no one being able to pick it up?
You know that's so. What's that called?
Yeah, well, she had these things.
She had streak ovaries. So like the tiny ovaries that
didn't develop, so they weren't producing hormones.
And then I had another patient who was 14, she had a cyst
removed from her ovaries and then a year later, another cyst,
but they essentially removed most of her ovaries.
So she's sitting in class, like not being able to concentrate,
not having a clue what's going on.
And who do you talk to, You know?
So it took, it took both of those people 10 years for
diagnosis and then another. 10 years for.
The right treatment. It's awful.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so you know, and then people
think we can exercise our way out of manifolds or we can, you
know, do some mindfulness or whatever and you know, it's a
humane deficiency. You wouldn't do that if someone
had an under active thyroid gland.
You wouldn't say, OK, just go for a walk in the woods and.
Do a bit of challenge. You'll be you'll be fine.
Show a glass of water. Yeah.
You'll be OK. So yeah, you.
Guys, you go through a lot in this life.
Yeah, we do. And it's so unnecessary,
believable. It's just too much.
Yeah. And, and it's not even, you
know, you're, you're going to have to branch out, have to
mentor a bit because there's a lot of women with PMDD,
premenstrual dysphoric disorder and PMS where, you know, they,
they have essentially perimenopause just for a few
days before each period. So their mood drops, have become
more anxious, they can come more irritable and then the period
comes and they feel fine. But again, it's the same 'cause
it's a hormonal change and that's been normalized.
Like for women, we're told, Oh well, you will feel a bit crap a
few days before your periods. But what?
When I see women like that, I'll often give them some hormones,
usually just some progesterone for a few days.
And then they feel the same every day of the month, which is
incredibly important because if you're getting a symptom on
those days where you've got a big, I don't know, assignment at
work or you're at school and you're doing a big exam or you
know, like you wouldn't say to a man or three days a month,
you're just going to feel a bit shit and you might not go to the
gym and you'll won't be able to sleep and you'll argue with your
partner. Men would go, what?
Well, is there a treatment? Can I?
If any of this happened to men, it would be solved.
Yeah, of course it would. But we've got a solution.
It's just can't be accessed. That's what's really
frustrating, but well at. Least you get, you know, a solid
week or a few days a month where everything's fine you.
Know it was great. You shouldn't complain.
You know you're not looking on the.
Bright, we're so lucky. There's there's a solid two or
three days when everybody's good and I think that's yeah, yeah,
that's a good place to be. So yeah, well, it's great.
I, I, it's, it's brilliant. And I'm looking forward to
seeing how your content progresses and empowers.
Yeah, me too. It's brilliant.
So, so before we end, I always ask for three take home tips.
Actually 3 three things that I'm going to ask you that have
surprised you the most about the work that you do.
What are the three things that you were really surprised about
that you didn't know before? With making these videos.
Just yeah. In general, yeah.
In general, I think I think the validation was a big surprise
the, the, the community that was developing and the the I am her,
she is US. I love your wife.
All this. That's that was an unanticipated
that was unanticipated. Three other surprises.
I think. I mean, it's sort of a offshoot
of that one, but just how popular the topic is, you know,
how how much it blew up like as a as someone who's been trying
to be creative in a different in a lot of different ways over the
years, you know, with stand up clips and other comedy ideas
that I make into social media videos and scripts like, and
that didn't take off. You know, that there was this
sort of ready audience like like a rabbit glide, perimenopausal
audience, like waiting unknowingly perhaps for these
videos. So that was a surprise that just
like the audience that's out there that was, that wanted this
content and and that it would be, and these are all sort of
like subsets of the first one, but and that this would be my
where my success comes from, you know, like that.
I, I thought I would be like, and I may still be, you know, TV
comedy, right? I just had such an idea, a
different idea of like how I would become successful, you
know, You know, I had dreams of like being a successful stand up
and this may get parlayed into like some kind of successful
touring show as my, I don't know when what way it'll be and what
incarnation. But like, you know, I thought I
was going to be like a like a like an original, like edgy
comic stand up or, or some like innovative like TV writer or
something. And it's like, no, I'm going to
be the voice of perimenopause. Turns out, you know, so that was
a big surprise I think because I think I'm going to stay in this
lane for a while. I think that's where my success
is happening. I think this is like, and I like
it and it feels fun and I like the response.
So I think that's just a personal surprise.
It's like where my life is heading.
Well, you know, the more that you can educate people, the more
that you can people resonate with you, the better in my mind.
So keep going. It's thank you.
I plan to, yeah. And I'm so glad.
Thanks for having me.