And it had something to do with this thing for Whisper I've been doing all week on my show. It runs on the last hour of my show and it's called Happy Index, where I give away a $50 hamper if someone can tell me what makes them happy and I also talk about this thing Whisper's started called the 'happy it's here' initiative (basically Whisper talked to like 500 chicks aged 18-24 and found out that 95% of them have a negative perception of periods. To be honest with you - I'd probably be one of those chicks just cos I hardly care about it. It's just become this thing that happens once a month which requires me to walk into like Guardian or Watson and buy tampons. By the way wtf is up with the tampon supply in Singapore?!! Me and Riks both tried to find and they're like out of stock everywhere in SG!)
Anyway Whisper is trying to get girlies to "re-embrace the joys of womanhood"! They made a microsite - www.happyitshere.com.sg - which is aimed at getting pledges from women to be "happy its here!" through FB badges and online etc, and gives you info about your period. Sounded kinda weird and try-hard to me at first but I soon changed my mind. Mainly, because everything is supported by research and actually teaches you something about your body and therefore helps you understand it better, which I think is what makes you feel more positive about your period.
Like - they break down a 28 day cycle for you and reveal "secrets" about it. Now, everyday I've been reading one of the Secrets of the Cycle yeah, and everyday I get this feeling of "oh my god! I've totally had that before!" FOR EXAMPLE
(....... Bah! I left my notes at the office! Ok, I try and remember one!)
YES! Do you know that you typically get PMS from the 15th day of your cycle? Because that's when your estrogen levels are low and your progesterone levels are through the roof. And it lasts the next 4 days!!! So for 4 days, my body is doing this. And it has to do this, because, well, I'm a woman and I can produce children. It does this naturally, without me having to tell it, I don't set some kind of alarm clock, it just - does it. And it just makes me.... the moodiest biatch! Grrrr. Or like, you actually have a good hair day!!! I can't remember which day it is, check the website, but it's a day your hair is at it's best condition! HAHA! And it's so true for me man! Cos I've been wondering why there's a particular day sometimes when my hair is super awesome and manageable!! For real!
And Whisper also gives a tip yeah, like for the hair one they say go flip your hair or something, which is quite random and funny tbh. And for the PMS one they recommend a couple things like, taking acting classes so you have an outlet to just be emotional or going to the gym and work off all the irritability. And prior to knowing this tbh - I HATED PMS. It pissed me off because I couldn't control it, and because guys use it to tell you that you're being a bitch which annoys the shit out of me because.. I can't control it. But after reading the facts about it, I realised that it makes me understand what's happening so that next time I get more antsy/emotional/bitchy that usual, I'll know I will feel a lot better if I go work out. And that actually works by the way - I've done it before. Been slacking on the exercise lately but when I used to do Yoga twice a week, or when I go run at the gym twice a week at least, I feel heaps better. And just knowing that I could do this next time, made me actually feel heaps better.
So two days ago, I had a revelation (that wasn't it, sorry. Just stop reading if you're boooored of this already).
Now the other thing Whisper is also doing is having this event yeah, together with World Vision, so that they can send 3,000 packs/12,000 pads to women in Laos. I dunno if you find that weird but I didn't think nothing of it at first. But then the Whisper chick tells me that there are women in Laos who don't have pads, so they use cloth or leaves.....
LEAVES, DUDE!
How do you frickin use a leaf?! I couldn't believe it. But anyway, the thing is, cos they're using this stuff and it's not properly sanitized, a lot of them actually die from infection!! Can you believe this is happening at our back door?!?! That was a sort of wake-up call for me man. I mean, we don't have to worry about that shit here at all! So they're having an event on the 5th of December at Orchard Cineleisure and they wanna get pledges from women who are "happy it's here" so they can hit their target and send these packs to Laos. If they can't get 3,000 that would be not only ridiculous but sad. And I'd feel partially responsible because, I'm supposed to be helping get the word out about the "happy it's here" initiative so that chicks can understand their periods and therefore not hate a part of ourselves that's supposed to be perfectly natural, and show our support for other women who don't have the luxury of, at the very very least, being able to go to a frickin 7-11 down the road and buy pads! I really wanted to talk about this on air from my heart. Because I actually believe in it. But there was a problem.
I realised that I had been scared about doing the Happy Index on my show. I was afraid that some people would laugh and think what I was doing was stupid. Or some guys would go "Ugrh! That Vandetta weirdo is talking about periods again! Gross!" and just switch stations. But most of all, I was scared that if it didn't come across that I really believe in it, I would be letting down somebody who could benefit from it. Whether it's a young girl who doesn't know what's going on with her body cos she just got her period for the first time a few months ago, or some woman who feels misunderstood because she gets more emotional certain times more than others, or some dude who has no clue about periods and wants to know because there's a girl in his life who he loves... or a woman in Laos whose scared to use a frickin leaf when menstruates because her mum died of an infection from doing it when she was younger. I was scared of letting someone down. But there was someone else I would have let down.....
Which brings me to my revelation.
So, Whisper has a factsheet about the "happy it's here" initiative that they gave me. In it one of their goals is something like "... to change the social stigma surrounding periods...." or something like that. And I realised... the fact that I had been worried about saying what I had to meant that I was reinforcing that social stigma! I had gotten in my own head. I needed to stop thinking that I was alienating listeners. I needed to stop thinking that if I said the word "period" or "cycle" or "womanhood" that some people would be snickering at their radios. And I needed to focus on what my goal was. Because if I didn't, I would have let myself down. I had a chance to break a social stigma just by not participating in it. So I decided instead of executing the Happy Index in 3 talksets, which was what was discussed, that I'd take the whole hour to talk about it like I believed in it. Because I needed to get through to those people who need and want to know about it.
I don't know if I accomplished that in a day. I don't know what I've been able to do over the last few days talking about it. But what matters to me is that I took the time to make sure I never have to feel embarrassed about speaking the truth about something I believe in. And I'm glad I was able to have that moment.
And for that moment I would say "I'm happy it's here".
I know... Frickin cheesy, right??
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The "happy it's here" website (I love the song that plays don't ask why....)
Link to "happy it's here" facebook page
Link to "happy it's here" facebook page
