Diary of a 16 year old girl.... will be cringe

March 11th, 2023- Periods

Hi, it's L again. Today, I will be writing about my period.

My first period- As a kid who was homeschooled and never got the 5th grade talk, my mother explained it to me at the age of eleven. I ended up getting my first period at the age of 13, on February 7th of 2018. I have, ever since I got my first phone for Christmas a year later in December, logged my period in a period app, so that's why I remember the date.

How my periods have progressed- My periods were supper mild, just some brown splotches... until my one year anniversary of my period.... I was on a school trip... I had not brought any period stuff and was far too shy to ask any of the girls in my class or the teachers for any. Luckily, all the girls were on their periods, and the teacher left a bucket of period stuff out for everyone after relizeing that none of us brought stuff. Ever since, my period has gotten slightly worse every February 🙃 soo yay.

My simptoms- Firstly it is 6 days long, and very heavy for all 6 days. Besides that, I have verry bad cramps, and can tell exactly when my period is going to start due to this. On my last period, I woke up at 2 am feeling weird and was like, "Aw man, my period just started," so I went to the bathroom and nope... no blood. I still felt weird, so I went back to the bathroom, and sure enough, there was blood. It's so helpful, but also very weird to me how every period this happens. Also, whenever I travel to a different time zone, it seriously messes with my period cycle. Like normally, it would start at like 5:45 am or so, as that is my usual wake up time, but 2 am... ok...

Cravings...- On my periods, I am always hungry, and I eat wierd stuff like a runny yolk egg sandwich with ranch, Catalina, chilli powder, salt, and pepper... it was probably the most messy thing I have ever eaten but really good! I also wasn't a huge fan of chocolate before my period but now? I love it soooo much! I love Brownies and hot chocolate especially. Mint tea is one of my favorites and really helps with cramps, I also add hot chocolate powder to make mint hot chocolate sometimes too...

What period products have I used?- I started out with pads, and used those for like 3 years I would like to say. It's been six years now, and for the last few years I have been using tampons. Why? Because I don't like how pads feel when they are filled with blood. The first year I wore tampons, I would need to change a regular sized one every 3 hours... now I need a size ×Super for the same amount of time. When I go out of the house, I also wear a pad cause you never know.

Family views on periods- I can talk to my mom about them, but not my father, brother, or anyone outside our house really. I mean I can, but until now I haven't. Also as my mom likes to say, "A period is no excuse to be rude or ask for things, you can't make anyone question if you are on it." Which has always made me self conscious of it, like I feel like Elsa, "conceal, don't feel, put on a show, make one wrong move and everyone will know..." you know also those arnt my original words so don't kill me.

How do I feel about them?- I mean it's a natural thing that happens to almost every human or other mammal born with female genitalia... so why should we be imbarased of it??? I dont really know. So I am going to try not to be. It is what makes me able to have a baby one day... and I love kids so yay. It does seem unfair to me, another thing girls have to go through, sompthing else society has held over us, and sompthing that some religions believe to be evil or dirty... like it's pretty much the same as sweeting, shedding skin cells, or bleeding, but it isn't seen that way. I don't understand it entirely, but I'm also 16, and have only recently learned about this aspect of life. So hey, why trust a kid.