The Reckoning Years
When the systems you built stop sustaining you, your body delivers the memo.
Midlife isn’t a breakdown—it’s a biological reckoning. The Reckoning Years series tracks what happens when clarity burns through conditioning: the physiology, the metabolism, the nervous system, the life structures that collapse and rebuild.
→ Start here to understand the arc.
Orientation
Why “Reckoning”? Not punishment—perception returning. These are the years when suppression stops working and your physiology demands integrity.
- The Three Movements — Reckoning → Reconstruction → Resonance. Not calendar years; process states.
- Where you might be now — Tired on waking, inflamed by noise, allergic to platitudes, craving signal. Good. That’s capacity waking up.
Featured Essays
Why You Feel Like You’re Falling Apart in Perimenopause
Feeling like you’re falling apart in midlife? It’s not failure—it’s feedback. Perimenopause strips away buffers and reveals what’s true.
PMDD in Perimenopause: Signal, Not Disorder
PMDD isn’t just hormonal chaos—it’s a nervous system signal mismatch. Here’s how to decode it through capacity and flexibility.
Perimenopause Sleep Chaos: Wired at Night, Wrecked by Morning
You’re not failing at sleep—you’re mis-signaled and under-supported. Perimenopause rewires your rhythm. Here’s how to work with it.
Perimenopausal Anxiety Is Not What You Think
You’re not anxious—you’re charged. Perimenopause strips away buffers, revealing the signals underneath. Here’s how to decode them.
When Your Cycle Becomes a Siren
Your cycle isn’t misbehaving—it’s screaming. Learn how nervous system capacity holds the key to perimenopause resilience.
Map the Arc
Three movements you’ll cycle through—not once, but whenever your system is ready for the next level of order.
Reckoning Years — physiological unmasking Body:
Signals get loud. Sleep cracks. Glucose wobbles. Tolerance for BS tanks. You stop outsourcing, start noticing.
- Why You Feel Like You’re Falling Apart in Perimenopause
- Perimenopause Mood Swings or Message Swings?
- Menopause Is Not the Problem/a>
- The Fog Isn’t in Your Brain—It’s in Your Terrain/a>
Micropractice: 90-second breath gate before decisions. Inhale 4, hold 4, exhale 6, hold 2 × 4 rounds.
Reconstruction Years — metabolic rewiring
Rhythm before intensity. Protein timing, light timing, movement as signal—your system relearns “predictable.”
Micropractice: Legs-on-wall, 5–7 minutes mid-afternoon. Exit slowly. Reenter with one clear next step.
Resonance Years — coherent expression
When the inside matches the outside. Less friction, more build. Capacity meets contribution.
Micropractice: The 3-line check: What did I notice? What moved? What matters now?
If the signal feels familiar, you’re not imagining it. You’re remembering yourself.
A living body of work by Dr. Jennifer Steinbachs | © 2025 Syringa Wellness | Updated as the field evolves.