50 Women Over 50

Lifting the veil of secrecy surrounding menopause

Episode Summary

Certified health and nutrition coach Dyna Vink explains what perimenopause is and how her own experience was 13 years of feeling unwell and not being offered any kind of useful advice or treatment from doctors, nutritionists nor fitness experts. She had determined to figure it our and researched it herself.

Episode Notes

Certified health and nutrition coach Dyna Vink joins Sherrilynne Starkie in episode two of the 50 Women Over 50 podcast, to discuss life in their fifth decade. 

When her successful career in the technology industry ended abruptly at age 51, Dyna innovated a new career path where she could have a positive impact on others. She founded Holistic Nutrition Lifestyle to help women struggling with symptoms of perimenopause restore their vitality and improve their quality of life. 

In this interview, she shares her lemons to lemonade story and tells us why she’s dedicated to lifting the veil of secrecy that surrounds menopause. 

She explains what perimenopause is and how her own experience was 13 years of feeling unwell and not being offered any kind of useful advice or treatment from doctors, nutritionists nor fitness experts.  She had determined to figure it our and researched it herself.  The result is her own innovative lifestyle framework based on food as medicine, restorative sleep, appropriate movement and a positive mindset. 

About Dyna Vink: 

Following a successful career in the tech sector, Dyna founded her company Holistic Nutrition Lifestyle to help women in perimenopause overcome their symptoms to feel well every day and lead happy, productive lives. 

Resources & Contact Information: 

About the 50 Women Over 50 Podcast: 

Sherrilynne Starkie started this show as a creative project with the goal of interviewing 50 women past their 50th birthday to learn how they see the world, what lessons they’ve learned and what advice they have for us all.  She’s been blogging and podcasting for 18+ years as part of a successful marketing and communications career and looks forward to learning from the women she will interview.

Subscribe to 50 Women Over 50 wherever you get your podcasts and please share it with your friends. 

Episode Transcription

50 Women Over 50 Episode 2

[00:00:00] Sherrilynne: Hello, and welcome to episode two of 50 women over 50 a podcast for women whose personal confidence is born of experience. I'm your host, Sherrilynne Starkie 

My goal with this podcast is to interview 50 fantastic women who are over 50 years of age to learn how they see this world. What lessons they have learned from life. And what advice they have for us. And today I could not be more excited. To welcome Dyna Vink to the show. When her successful career in technology industry ended abruptly at age 51. 

Donna innovated a whole new career path where she could have a positive impact on others. She founded. Holistic nutrition lifestyle, a company to help women's struggling with the symptoms of perimenopause, restore their vitality and improve their quality of life.

In this interview, she shares with us. Her lemons to lemonade story and tells us why she's dedicated to lifting the veil of secrecy that surrounds menopause. 

Today I have the pleasure of welcoming Dyna Vink to the show. Thank you, Donna, for joining me today.

It's my 

[00:01:21] Dyna: pleasure. Sherrilynne this is a fabulous project you've got going. 

[00:01:25] Sherrilynne: I hope so. It's early days yet, but done, and I know I've known each other for many years now. We went, met originally through the I c, which is a professional association for people in pr. I can't even remember when it was.

[00:01:41] Dyna: It was, it was a local event, I think in

[00:01:43] Sherrilynne: in Ottawa I'm thinking it must have been shortly after I came back to Canada. Having lived in Britain for 20 years, I probably, I started going out to some of the networking events and stuff, so that's probably where we ran into each other.

But, certainly a woman with a long and successful career in communications and, a woman whose work I respect, we worked together on awards, programs and stuff, so I certainly got an insight into just, How, experienced and skilled you are as a professional communicator, but I know that you've had a change of career, and which is why I wanted to bring you on the show because, I am trying to invite people that I've done.

Something a little bit different, taking drastic changes in their lives as they've approached their 50th birthday or, or during their fifties. And, when I was, doing it, my first shortlist, you, your, your name was right there at the top, so I'm so glad that you were able to come on.

Well, thank you. So, can we start at the beginning? Can you tell me a little bit about what your 50th birthday looked like? 

[00:02:44] Dyna: Yeah, I had to think a little bit about my 50th birthday. It wasn't a great big party or a celebration or, there, there was no big high-profile thing. I had moved my mother to Ottawa from Montreal.

She'd been here for a couple of years and so I went to her place, and we were going to have like a little, Birthday brunch or something. And when I opened the mail, I discovered that she was being evicted, Oh my. So that became the focus of my 50th birthday.

[00:03:16] Sherrilynne: This is a, an example of something that I think is kind of typical of women as they get into their fifties.

Late forties and, and, sometimes into their sixties where they start to have to take on a lot more hands on approach in, caring for, the elders of their family, their parents and, and other elderly people. And you're just turning 50 and you find yourself in that position.

But had you been in looking after your mom for a long time before. 

[00:03:42] Dyna: Well, for many years I, would go over once a month I'd drive to Montreal, and we'd spend the day together and I'd come back. But then she started to become more dependent on me, and it became every weekend I had to go, and that became quite onerous.

So, I said, Look, I'd love to be your advocate. Let's move you here so that I can do this properly. 

So, she reluctantly agreed to move, and she did. So, she lived down on Kent Street and, and that was, okay for a while. I'm her only daughter, and my, brother lives far away, that parental care basically 

[00:04:20] Sherrilynne: fell to me. Yes, yes. As it so often does.

In my experience, we rise to it, right? Mm-hmm., like I, I know that I certainly, I looked after my dad, when he was very ill, and, managed to incorporate it into my, around my work and made some changes so that I could be on hand to look after my dad, Yeah. Did you do anything thinking about, Oh, I'm going to be 15, a couple of years, and so before I reach this milestone, this is what I have to have done. Was there any kind of thoughts like that?

[00:04:50] Dyna: Well, not very specific thoughts. I did know that I wanted to, work on my own and sort of step out of corporate at some point, but I didn't have, a real, timeline on that. I just thought, okay, by this time I should have. Reached a, a certain, I don't know, level of expertise, a, a certain confidence, a certain, ability to, to do things, on my own and to choose my clients and, and, and have a little more autonomy from a time, perspective.

But I, I didn't really do anything beyond that. Yeah, fifties. In, in my mind, it was harder to find a job in my fifties. And so, this was part of the anticipation that that might become an issue. 

[00:05:33] Sherrilynne: Oh, okay. Yes. Well, I, I shared that too when I was coming up to my 50th birthday. I was really afraid that, that's it, you can be over the hill professionalized now.

. And that, I was worried that if I left the job that I was in that I wouldn't get another job. But yeah, I hung on an extra four years. And, man, I wish I didn't because as soon as I left, an employed position, went out on my own, like my career just actually started to flourish.

I never dreamt age 48 that I'd be saying, age 55. My career was still flourishing, so that was a bit of a surprise for me about life in my fifties. Any other surprises for you for life in your fifties, Things that happened that you weren't expecting? 

[00:06:21] Dyna: Well, one year after, that, eviction notice, I was let go from Bell and, it was, the big downsizing that, that they had.

And they let go 25% of their management I sort of thought that I was, protected just because I knew so much, but it turned out that doesn't matter. I was surprised. And then because of the, the business downturn, I was out of work for 10 months.

But it happened at absolutely the perfect time because I had time to help my mother with this transition, to, to move out of, independent living and into, a senior's reside.

She needed me a lot. And I was quite grateful that I had that time.

[00:07:02] Sherrilynne: Yeah, but your, your career's taken a whole new trajectory since you left, being, in, an on-staff position. Tell us a little bit about that. Yes, that's 

[00:07:11] Dyna: true. Well, I, I did, go out on my own working in marketing and communications, but it didn't really bring me joy. I wasn't getting contracts that really, touched my soul that, turned me on.

That gave me passion. And, they were just, kind of jobs and I was glad to have the jobs, but they, they, they weren't something that I got up in the morning all excited and ready to go and, And, so then I thought, okay, we, we've got this age situation on one hand where, I know that getting a job in corporate is going to be pretty much impossible.

So how can I reinvent myself so that my age is not a, a problem, but it's, instead it's, it's not a liability, it's an advantage. And so, then I thought back, and, I actually had a very difficult time in perimenopause, in corporate, and I didn't really understand what it was. I just thought my body was falling apart.

And it didn't just last for two years. It was like a 13-year undertaking for me. And I quickly realized that medical professionals were, were not, going to help me. They didn't know they'd try one thing, and if it didn't work, then sorry. That's it, Can't help you. And, my trainer, at the gym was no help.

Nutritionists the same thing, offering these, low fat, high carb kind of, Food offerings, which were, not helpful. And so, I just started to. Just depend on myself. I just dove into the research and try to figure out how to deal with this. I figured I can't be the only one, who has this.

And I'd been very healthy until then. So, I thought, let's. Try and figure this out. So, I, I made some, some modest improvements and that made a big difference for me. But at this point when I'm thinking, Okay, how do I reinvent myself? I thought, Why don't I formalize what I've been looking at? Why don't I, dive into this with, with a view of, of becoming a coach where I can work with women to, to guide them through.

So, there's an educational component, there's an empowering component, and you. How do I do that? And so that's, that's what I set myself up to do. And, and it's, it's so rewarding, the impact that I have on women's lives now. It's, it's just so, innovating. I, I just, love doing it.

[00:09:37] Sherrilynne: Tell me a little bit about your services. How do you, how do you help these women? What is, what is exactly, is it you are, well, 

[00:09:44] Dyna: what I have is a, is a, an eight-week program where we look at, four specific lifestyle approaches. And so, the first week we'll kind of study the, the approach, and the second week we practice it.

And so, we, we go through, learn practice, learn practice as we walk through the program. And then I have weekly coaching sessions with. They can, they, they go through the, the program, the, the, the courseware, the videos, and there's resources there for them. And then we talk about how's it going, where are the questions, what's working for you, what isn't working?

Let's, let's see we can make some small changes so that, so that you can have the result that you're 

[00:10:24] Sherrilynne: looking for. You say perimenopause, but that means so many different things to different people. Can you gimme a description of how people are that come to you?

Like what, what are they feeling? What are they trying to rectify? Well, the, 

[00:10:39] Dyna: the first thing that people notice is that their energy flags and that they're, really tired. They may have had some hot flashes. That's kind of the, 

[00:10:48] Sherrilynne: kind of traditional, but we all know about that. Yeah. 

[00:10:51] Dyna: Yeah. So hot flashes are a good one.

And then they, their periods are changing. Yes. But that's kind of, What the general public really knows about per menopause and per menopause is the time from, when the hormones start to change. 

So, per menopause is that time when the hormones are declining and they tend to decline in a very erratic manner, Once, once you haven't had a period for a full year, then you're actually in. Hm. And then once you're in, well, you're in menopause, theoretically for a day, and then you go into post-menopause, 

[00:11:25] Sherrilynne: right?

Okay. 

[00:11:27] Dyna: But that, that transition period can be quite challenging, for women. And it can reveal, just a, a myriad of. Symptoms. You can have things like headaches, You can have, you can have body pain, you can have brain fog. You can have sore feet, right? You can have indigestion. So, you can have just this whole myriad of, different symptoms and not connect them.

With, with this hormonal change. But the fact of the matter is, is that hormones don't just affect, your reproductive system. Of course, they affect your whole body. And women are often delighted to learn that that actually all these different things are part of one.

Specific diagnosis. And that was certainly my experience when, when I started to, to put all these different symptoms that I was having all together in one basket. 

[00:12:22] Sherrilynne: How has your business been with, what's been going on in the world over the last couple of years? Did it impact your business? 

[00:12:29] Dyna: Well, I started it at the beginning of the pandemic, So it, it took me, nine months or so to figure out what I was doing and to, put some kind of a program together.

And, and then I, and then I launched in the midst of the pandemic, and of course, women were, were. Well, a lot of them experiencing a lot of change in their lives. Yes. So, they would have, adult children who would come home. They would have, spouses kicking around who normally weren't, weren't there.

They'd have family members outside of the, of the home, like parents or other relatives that they would be caring for. Plus, they had their own jobs, and they were starting to, to, to struggle under, under the burden of all those, those, those responsibilities. Yeah. 

[00:13:17] Sherrilynne: So, although it seems, counterintuitive to be launching a new business under those conditions, it sounds like your timing was perfect.

[00:13:26] Dyna: Yeah, the, well, the timing was really good in the sense of having a, a digital business because that, that's, I, don't do anything in person. So, with the pandemic that worked out perfectly right. Nobody expected to meet with me in person. Right. And, and having, online digital assets that you could use was, was perfect.

That timing worked out really well. Mm. 

[00:13:49] Sherrilynne: What advice would you give your 30-year-old self then knowing what you know today? Go out 

[00:13:54] Dyna: on your own sooner. 

[00:13:57] Sherrilynne: I totally agree. I totally agree. Very, very good 

[00:14:01] Dyna: answer. Yeah. Yeah. It's, there's, there's fear there of course, Right? And of course, now I have resources that I didn't have when I was 30.

So that made, makes the transition a bit easier. But so, it was okay for me to basically take a year off income to build my business. But the, the internal development, the emotional development, the professional development, the, the building confidence, the, the technology, I mean, it's all, It's all something that, would've benefited from a 30-year old's approach to innovation.

. And then when you're in your fifties that you, you have to be a little bit more deliberate about it. And I think I would've really enjoyed, going out on my own and facing my fear. So, one of the big fears for me was sales. That to me was really difficult. That was probably the biggest obstacle.

Right after I finished grad school, I tried my own little consulting company, but it was the sales thing that just stopped me cold, you know? But, but now I have a completely different perspective on it, where I'm, I'm bringing help and support and I'm, I'm empowering, the women that I work with.

Right. Which is a completely different value proposition. Hmm mm-hmm. 

[00:15:18] Sherrilynne: Yeah. I totally hear you on that.

I agree with you. Go out on your own. Take, the reins. Right? That's really what it's about. It's about taking the reins. Mm-hmm. and, 

[00:15:28] Dyna: And making false steps is, is feedback, right? Mm-hmm.

it, it's not the end of the world. So sure, you have to pick yourself up and dust yourself off every once in a while, but it's just feedback and, knowing that now makes such a, such a huge difference. 

[00:15:44] Sherrilynne: Yeah. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? I would like 

[00:15:51] Dyna: to perfect the digital nomad lifestyle. Wow. Now that my mother is gone, I don't need to, to stay in Ottawa. And after being, on my own in just sort of with a, with a digital face, right? I'm, I'm looking at, okay, where do I want to go and how can I.

Bring my business with me and my cat and, travel around that way. So maybe it'll start with, a couple of experiments in, in a couple of countries that really interest me for over the wintertime. But it, it may, in 10 years I would expect that, that I'm probably doing that full. 

[00:16:31] Sherrilynne: I don't know if you saw the news today or there's a lot of bad news this morning, a lot of bad news that's, kind of worrying about what's happening in this world.

But I try to remain hopeful. Well, sometimes it's difficult. What are you most hopeful about for the, for our future?

Well, 

[00:16:52] Dyna: I try to, think about that in terms of the things that I can control and, so I, I look at how technology is making it easier. To do things, so you can build and operate a business that has some, some heart centered or some, positive contribution that, that you'll make.

So as much as I enjoyed my time working in high tech, right, another widget is not what, turns me on. Mm-hmm. . So, technology is, making it possible to do more and more, both collaboratively and independently. So that, that really, I think warms my heart. Yeah. And I, I'm also hopeful about how.

I can have a, a, a greater impact on the women that I serve, right? If I look at the future, if I look at five or 10 years from now, then there will be hundreds and thousands of women that I will have been able to, to, to support and improve their, their quality of life. And, so that, that's, that 

[00:17:55] Sherrilynne: makes me hopeful.

I feel like a lot of us, as we get older, our circle of influence gets smaller, not larger. I, I kind of like what you're saying there, working on your circle of influence so that you can help as many people as possible.

Mm-hmm. Okay. A few minutes for the quick round of questions. What are you reading, watching binging right now? 

[00:18:21] Dyna: Well, I've got Brene Brown's book that I'm just, getting through. I'm about three quarters of the way through and, dare to 

[00:18:29] Sherrilynne: dare to lead. Okay. I just finished reading Atlas of the Heart.

Okay. Right. Yeah, 

[00:18:36] Dyna: so, she's got some, some really, great suggestions there, which, I'm already trying to put into practice. Especially, that listening right? That listening and, and not reacting, but to take it in. I mean, that to me is the, is the big takeaway. I'm also on the, on the fun front.

I've got this one, Operation Angus, 

[00:18:58] Sherrilynne: which I love you, that Terry Fallis's book? Yes. Yes. Okay. Well, Terry and I used to work together, right? I know, I know. Oh, yeah. I've, I, like, I have not, Sorry, Terry, but I haven't read that one yet. But I have read all the previous ones, and, and he's just such a brilliant writer and he is fun.

Yeah. 

[00:19:16] Dyna: Yeah. Yeah, I, I, I enjoyed his whole series. I'm completely up to 

[00:19:20] Sherrilynne: date. Okay. Your way ahead of me, his 

[00:19:23] Dyna: series. So that's been a lot of fun. And the next one that I'm going to be reading is, who the FMI to be a coach by Megan, Joe Wilson. Okay. And so that was recommended to me about, for some mindset work and, like it's, coaching is different than teaching, right?

Coaching is, is very much a listening and an and, and a curiosity game. 

[00:19:47] Sherrilynne: So that's, and kind of also harkens back to your first career in communications because I feel like the listening part of the model. Like organizations are getting better at it. They are getting better at it, but it is always the last part of the whole communications model that they ever think about is the listening piece.

. Doing that kind of listening is not quite the same as the interpersonal listening skills, the softer skills of, of leadership.

So, I feel like, reading Brene Brown is. The best place for you to be right now, if that's where you want to, expand your skills. I think, there's not a single thing she writes. It's not a hundred percent true. She's, I, I really, really love her stuff. 

[00:20:32] Dyna: Yeah, she's, she walks the talk. 

[00:20:34] Sherrilynne: Yeah, that's for sure.

What are you, doing in terms of community works these days? Charity, volunteering, anything like. Well

[00:20:44] Dyna: since the pandemic, that has, shrunk I guess, but I've been a planned Canada sponsor for 22 years now. Okay. And my current child is, called Modesta, and she's in Indonesia.

Okay. So, I've had, I think, fi, this is the fifth one that I've had. 

[00:21:02] Sherrilynne: All girls. Yes. 

[00:21:04] Dyna: Okay. And they came out with the I'm a Girl campaign. I said, Yes. That's for me. I remember that campaign. Yeah. Yeah. It's still going on. 

[00:21:13] Sherrilynne: What have you learned from this experience? 

[00:21:17] Dyna: Well, I think it's highlighted the significance of the nurturing impact that girls and women have on society in general.

Mm-hmm. And it, it provides the, the girls with, with, with life skills, right? So don't just give them a fish. Teach them how to fish. Right. So that's what this, this program does. And they, they learn so many life skills and often the, the girls go away and do like a teacher's college or something, and then they come back to their communities with those extra skills.

So, it's, it's, it's really lovely to see how, how a community can blossom with, with even, a handful of these girls come. 

[00:22:00] Sherrilynne: Yeah. Well, that's sounds like something fascinating and it's something that, again, you can have a direct impact on not just the girls' lives, but the girls' family's life and, and the wider community. 

What app could you not live without? 

[00:22:14] Dyna: Well, my life is filled with a lot of apps these days, running a digital business. But, but the one that, that, really, is impressive, I think is so simple. It's a calendar app. And so, I use, once hub. And it's, it provides the opportunity to schedule a call, right?

It's simple, but really, powerful app and I don't know how I'd work without it, 

[00:22:39] Sherrilynne: you know? I totally agree. I've recently started using an app like that and, it's simplified because I cannot tell you I, I cannot keep my own calendar. Like, I just don't have the capacity for detail that you need to get all, all that detail in one place.

And, and so of course had a few mis mix-ups and stuff along the way. So, I find that the, using an app like that really does help and it takes the, the pressure off me to remember all the details myself, because I know that it's all going to happen automatically. 

Is there an over 50 life hack that you'd be willing to share?

[00:23:13] Dyna: For me it was using lifestyle approaches and, these lifestyle approaches don't just help with the hormonal life changes, but they also mitigate the risk from underlying conditions like osteoporosis, heart trouble, diabetes, dementia, right?

And so, these lifestyle approaches, include, food is medicine. Restorative sleep hormone, appropriate movement and positive mindset. I intend to walk what I coach, to, to embody that mm-hmm. and it makes such a difference because if I, if I stray outside the lines, then, I wake up with brain fog or I start to get acne all of a sudden, or I get joint pain, or I get indigestion or, right away, I can tell, I've, I've colored outside the lines here I get blow back.

[00:24:07] Sherrilynne: So that's, I just want to make sure that I understand here. So, what you're recommending as a life hack is to adopt a framework. To manage different aspects of your life, your mental health and your physical health. Exactly. Oh, okay. And that's part of what you are you use in your coaching is teaching people to use these frameworks?

Yeah. Okay. Can you list them off for me again, please? Sure. 

[00:24:32] Dyna: The first one is food is medicine. Yeah. The second is restorative sleep. The third is hormone appropriate movement. And the fourth one is positive mindset. 

[00:24:45] Sherrilynne: So, do you like, choose from among them or you have all of them running concurrently? How does this work?

They all, they all run 

[00:24:52] Dyna: concurrently? Yeah. Okay. All right. Yeah. And, and sometimes more one than the other. 

[00:24:59] Sherrilynne: Yeah. Can we dive a little bit deeper on the sleep one? Because I feel that for a lot of women in their fifties, sleep can come become elusive. So, can you tell me a little bit about the, the restorative sleep framework?

[00:25:14] Dyna: Sure. Well, the restorative sleep, has, The, the goal of not only helping you to fall asleep, but to stay asleep. 

[00:25:22] Sherrilynne: Yeah. That's the big thing. for sure. 

[00:25:24] Dyna: Yeah. And there's the, the dread at three o'clock wake up time and, sometimes you can just fall asleep right away. But, other times, you end up, being wide awake, but the, I call it restorative sleep because not any sleep will.

And in order for it to be restorative, it needs to be deep enough to be at the REM level, right? The rapid eye movement level. So that's not the deepest of sleeps, but it's, it's that fairly deep and, and that's where the body maintenance happens. So that's where the, the body restores itself and it cleans out the.

The, the toxins, the debris, the dead cells and, and it's also able to rebuild cells like, build new muscle, new brain cells, et cetera. So, all that restoration and is, is done during that REM sleep. The, the, the trick is to try and maximize that, and there are a couple of different ways to do that.

One is, is through food choices. Mm-hmm., another is through sleep hygiene. And, and another is through movement, right? The hormonal appropriate movement. So, you, and mindset even plays a role there too by telling yourself that it's time to sleep and doing some meditation so you can bring all four of your, of these lifestyle approaches to bear in order to maximize that, that sleep capability.

[00:26:44] Sherrilynne: Is there anything I'm not asking you that you'd like to include?

Well, I have a free offer. Okay. So, tell. 

[00:26:53] Dyna: Sure. So, I offer a free, perimenopause systems assessment to women. And during that assessment we review the per menopause journey, using questions that I put together from a lifestyle approach for. Framework. Right. Just as, as you mentioned earlier. This assessment is able to reinforce positive habits that, that women, tell me about.

And it also identifies gaps and opportunities that we can use to, to improve their lifestyle, to mitigate. Symptoms that are causing them a, a problem. And women love it because they are heard, right? They, they, these symptoms are, they're not imaginary. And they understand better what's going on, and they know that they're not alone because this is, this is often the, the three biggest fears that, that women have about perimenopause and not understanding.

So, the, the outreach supports educational goals, and it provides, women with, tips that they can action pretty immediately, to improve their quality of life. So that's, 

[00:28:01] Sherrilynne: that's available. So that not an alone piece, I think is so powerful because, I mean, this, talking about these things, it, it, it's very personal and be really embarrassing.

Yeah. And so, it's not something that you're going to bring up over, Dinner with your daughters or your mom or, or anybody really. And you certainly don't want to talk about this with your, significant other. I'm quite sure. I know that I didn't never did, that's for sure. So, I think it's, what you're talking about is having like someone in your corner that you can talk about these issues with and in a safe space that, it's not going to provoke any kind of like, teasing or anything.

[00:28:42] Dyna: That, that business of, shame or guilt, I, that, that I think you're describing is, is really not necessary.

We, we don't have the, the same, thoughts about the other end of the reproductive right? When, when, when, when girls start to menstruate, when they, when they start to, to mature, when they go through puberty, and then even, even the whole contraception discussion, I think. Fairly common

Yes. Yeah, 

[00:29:09] Sherrilynne: Yeah. 

[00:29:09] Dyna: I that there and then, then there's the business about having children. Well, good grief right there. It's like all kinds of information about that out there. Mm-hmm. for sure. But, but somehow this, this perimenopause piece, has this veil of secrecy around it.

[00:29:23] Sherrilynne: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 

[00:29:25] Dyna: Yeah, so that's. An unfortunate part of our, our society. I think that I, I hope will change. And you asked about 10 years. I hope that it will change by then. 

[00:29:36] Sherrilynne: Yeah. Well, I think the difference between the this and, and the puberty piece is that it's more than just saying, I'm going through a natural process.

It's, I am. Getting old, I'm getting past it. And people don't want to look at that themselves. And if they, even if they are thinking it, they often don't want to say it out loud, And so, I think that's kind of why it's a bit of a touchy subject and because of all the other things we talked about in the early part of the call, how you.

Couldn't get a job in your fifties and I feared I wouldn't be able to get a job in my fifties. It's all kind of wrapped up into that. Right? Cause if you acknowledge this and you're talking about it, it's admitting that, that we were getting into that stage of life where we're ceased to be, seen as we were when we were in our thirties and forties.

But that, that could be a good thing, right? 

[00:30:29] Dyna: Because with age comes wisdom. Oh, totally agree. Experience. So why does the fact that we're, that we're reproductive active or not, why does that have any bearing on anything? It doesn't. 

[00:30:42] Sherrilynne: No, of course it doesn't. It 

[00:30:44] Dyna: doesn't. Yeah, so I, I, I find that, there, there's some societal pressures here that we need to push back against, right?

That we to, to refuse basically, and, and change things. 

[00:30:57] Sherrilynne: Where could people 

[00:30:57] Dyna: reach you? They could reach me at my website, which is holistic nutrition lifestyle.com. Okay, 

[00:31:07] Sherrilynne: well, thank you very much for joining me today. I think this was a great call.

So much important stuff and I'm hoping that it's going to spur a broader discussion and people, will. Revaluate the way that they've been thinking about things based on what we talked about today. So, thanks for being my co participant in a discussion of a really important issue.

And that's it for episode two of 50 women over 50 a podcast for women whose personal confidence is born of experience. Thank you to entrepreneur and certified health and nutrition coach Dyna Vink for joining me today. Check out the show notes for links to Dyna's offer of a free perimenopause symptoms, assessment, her social connections and other resources that we discussed on today's show. 

I've got lots more interviews lined up with some fascinating women. So don't miss an episode. Subscribe to this podcast now. And if you have a second, please do drop me a rating or a review on apple or wherever you get your podcasts. It'll help other people find the show

and let's connect and create a whole community of wise women over 50 by sharing a link to the show with your friends and connections. See you next time on 50 women over 50. I’m your host Sherrilynne Starkie.